livewire-development

SKILL.md

Livewire Development

When to Apply

Activate this skill when:

Creating or modifying Livewire components

Using wire: directives (model, click, loading, sort, intersect)

Implementing islands or async actions

Writing Livewire component tests

Documentation

Use search-docs for detailed Livewire 4 patterns and documentation.

Basic Usage

Creating Components
Single-file component (default in v4)

{{ $assist->artisanCommand('make:livewire create-post') }}

Multi-file component

{{ $assist->artisanCommand('make:livewire create-post --mfc') }}

Class-based component (v3 style)

{{ $assist->artisanCommand('make:livewire create-post --class') }}

With namespace

{{ $assist->artisanCommand('make:livewire Posts/CreatePost') }}

Converting Between Formats

Use php artisan livewire:convert create-post to convert between single-file, multi-file, and class-based formats.

Component Format Reference

Format
Flag
Structure

Single-file (SFC)
default
PHP + Blade in one file

Multi-file (MFC)
--mfc
Separate PHP class, Blade, JS, tests

Class-based
--class
Traditional v3 style class

View-based
⚡ prefix
Blade-only with functional state

Single-File Component Example

Livewire 4 Specifics

Key Changes From Livewire 3

These things changed in Livewire 4, but may not have been updated in this application. Verify this application's setup to ensure you follow existing conventions.

Use Route::livewire() for full-page components; config keys renamed: layout → component_layout, lazy_placeholder → component_placeholder.

wire:model now ignores child events by default (use wire:model.deep for old behavior); wire:scroll renamed to wire:navigate:scroll.

Component tags must be properly closed; wire:transition now uses View Transitions API (modifiers removed).

JavaScript: $wire.$js('name', fn) → $wire.$js.name = fn; commit/request hooks → interceptMessage()/interceptRequest().

New Features

Component formats: single-file (SFC), multi-file (MFC), view-based components.

Islands (@island) for isolated updates; async actions (wire:click.async, #[Async]) for parallel execution.

Deferred/bundled loading: defer, lazy.bundle for optimized component loading.

Feature
Usage
Purpose

Islands
@island(name: 'stats')
Isolated update regions

Async
wire:click.async or #[Async]
Non-blocking actions

Deferred
defer attribute
Load after page render

Bundled
lazy.bundle
Load multiple together

New Directives

wire:sort, wire:intersect, wire:ref, .renderless, .preserve-scroll are available for use.

data-loading attribute automatically added to elements triggering network requests.

Directive
Purpose

wire:sort
Drag-and-drop sorting

wire:intersect
Viewport intersection detection

wire:ref
Element references for JS

.renderless
Component without rendering

.preserve-scroll
Preserve scroll position

Best Practices

Always use wire:key in loops

Use wire:loading for loading states

Use wire:model.live for instant updates (default is debounced)

Validate and authorize in actions (treat like HTTP requests)

Configuration

smart_wire_keys defaults to true; new configs: component_locations, component_namespaces, make_command, csp_safe.

Alpine & JavaScript

wire:transition uses browser View Transitions API; $errors and $intercept magic properties available.

Non-blocking wire:poll and parallel wire:model.live updates improve performance.

For interceptors and hooks, see reference/javascript-hooks.md.

Testing

Livewire::test(Counter::class)
->assertSet('count', 0)
->call('increment')
->assertSet('count', 1);

Verification

Browser console: Check for JS errors

Network tab: Verify Livewire requests return 200

Ensure wire:key on all @foreach loops

Common Pitfalls

Missing wire:key in loops → unexpected re-rendering

Expecting wire:model real-time → use wire:model.live

Unclosed component tags → syntax errors in v4

Using deprecated config keys or JS hooks

Including Alpine.js separately (already bundled in Livewire 4)