A brief history of Vue.js

I first picked up Vue.js at version 1.0 when Taylor Otwell and Jeffrey Way started talking about it, and it genuinely changed how I write JavaScript. Vue began as a lightweight, progressive framework that let me drop it into existing pages without a full rewrite. Vue 2 refined the component model and developer experience, and the ecosystem matured around routing, state management, and tooling. Vue 3 arrived with a new reactivity system, the Composition API, better TypeScript support, and a leaner, more modular core. Today, Vue stays true to its progressive roots while powering everything from small widgets to large-scale applications.

What can you do with Vue.js?

• Build production-ready single page applications with a clear component model and predictable data flow.
• Compose complex features using the Composition API, custom composables, and dependency injection for scalable architecture.
• Structure code with Single File Components that bundle template, logic, and styles together for reuse and maintainability.
• Manage client-side navigation with route-based code splitting, nested routes, and data loading patterns.
• Handle app-wide state with lightweight stores, modular organization, and devtools time-travel debugging.
• Create accessible, interactive UIs with transitions, animations, and thoughtfully managed focus and ARIA attributes.
• Optimize performance via template compilation, memoized getters, lazy loading, and component-level caching strategies.
• Integrate seamlessly with backends like Laravel or Express using fetch or Axios, plus CSRF and auth flows.
• Adopt TypeScript incrementally with typed props, emits, and strongly typed composables.
• Test components and composables with fast unit tests, component harnesses, and end-to-end checks.
• Ship server-rendered or statically generated sites, hydrate on the client, and stream HTML for faster first paint.
• Target multiple platforms, including desktop with Electron and mobile with frameworks that wrap Vue for native capabilities.

Good reads about Vue.js

If you are new to Vue or coming back after a few releases, start with the core concepts in the official Vue 3 guide. It explains how templates, components, and reactivity fit together better than anything else I have used. I recommend working through the sections in the order they appear in the guide to build a solid mental model, beginning with the overview in the official Vue 3 guide.

Once you grasp the basics, go deeper on components and data flow. The walk-through on component basics in the Vue guide paired with the explanation of reactivity fundamentals will clarify how to structure props, emits, and computed state. When you are ready to add polish, the chapter on transition and animation primitives shows how to craft high-quality UI interactions.

For scalable architecture, I lean on the Composition API. Start by learning how to organize logic with composables in the official guide, then adopt the streamlined syntax from <script setup> in Single File Components. If you work in typed codebases, the section on TypeScript with Vue will help you add robust typing without friction. I also keep the Vue style guide handy to maintain consistency across teams.

As apps grow, you will need routing and shared state. Reach for Vue Router’s documentation to implement nested routes, guards, and lazy loading. For state, the official store library is Pinia, and the Pinia documentation covers everything from basic stores to plugins and SSR integration.

Tooling matters for developer experience. Vite is the standard build tool in the Vue ecosystem, and the Vite guide will get you productive with lightning-fast dev servers and HMR. Keep the Vue Devtools docs open to inspect component trees, track state, and profile performance. For testing, combine Vue Test Utils with the blazing-fast Vitest documentation to write reliable unit and component tests.

If you need server rendering or static generation, study server-side rendering in the Vue guide. When you want a batteries-included meta framework with routing, data fetching, and server APIs, the Nuxt 3 documentation provides a cohesive path from local development to deployment.

Laravel developers often ask how to integrate Vue into an existing codebase. I documented my preferred workflow in my guide to adding Vue.js to any Laravel project, which shows how to scaffold, organize assets, and progressively adopt Vue without a rewrite.