Overview of the Nx Vite Plugin

The Nx plugin for Vite and Vitest.

Vite is a build tool that aims to provide a faster and leaner development experience for modern web projects.

Why should you use this plugin?

Instant dev server start
Lightning fast Hot-Module Reloading
Fast builds using Vite.
Vite-powered tests with smart and instant watch mode

Read more about Vite and Vitest in the Vite documentation.

Setting up a new Nx workspace with @nx/vite

Here's an example on how to create a new React app with Vite

npx create-nx-workspace@latest --preset=react-standalone --bundler=vite

Installation

In any Nx workspace, you can install @nx/vite by running the following command:

nx add @nx/vite

This will install the correct version of @nx/vite.

How @nx/vite Infers Tasks

The @nx/vite plugin will create a task for any project that has a Vite configuration file present. Any of the following files will be recognized as a Vite configuration file:

vite.config.js
vite.config.ts
vite.config.mjs
vite.config.mts
vite.config.cjs
vite.config.cts
vitest.config.js
vitest.config.ts
vitest.config.mjs
vitest.config.mts
vitest.config.cjs
vitest.config.cts

View Inferred Tasks

To view inferred tasks for a project, open the project details view in Nx Console or run nx show project my-project --web in the command line.

@nx/vite Configuration

The @nx/vite/plugin is configured in the plugins array in nx.json.

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "plugin": "@nx/vite/plugin",
      "options": {
        "buildTargetName": "build",
        "previewTargetName": "preview",
        "testTargetName": "test",
        "serveTargetName": "serve",
        "serveStaticTargetName": "serve-static"
      }
    }
  ]
}

The buildTargetName, previewTargetName, testTargetName, serveTargetName and serveStaticTargetName options control the names of the inferred Vite tasks. The default names are build, preview, test, serve and serve-static.

Using @nx/vite

Generate a new project using Vite

You can generate a React application or library or a Web application that uses Vite. The @nx/react:app, @nx/react:lib and @nx/web:app generators accept the bundler option, where you can pass vite. This will generate a new application configured to use Vite, and it will also install all the necessary dependencies, including the @nx/vite plugin.

To generate a React application using Vite, run the following:

nx g @nx/react:app apps/my-app --bundler=vite

To generate a React library using Vite, run the following:

nx g @nx/react:lib libs/my-lib --bundler=vite

To generate a Web application using Vite, run the following:

nx g @nx/web:app apps/my-app --bundler=vite

Modify an existing React or Web project to use Vite

You can use the @nx/vite:configuration generator to change your React or Web project to use Vite. This generator will modify your project's configuration to use Vite, and it will also install all the necessary dependencies.

You can read more about this generator on the @nx/vite:configuration generator page.

Modify an existing project to use Vitest

You can use the @nx/vite:vitest generator to generate Vitest configuration for your project. This generator will generate a vitest.config.ts file in the root of your project, and it will also install all the necessary dependencies.

You can read more about this generator on the @nx/vite:vitest generator page.

Splitting E2E Tests

If Vitest is used to run E2E tests, you can enable splitting the tasks by file to get improved caching, distribution, and retrying flaky tests. Enable this Atomizer feature by providing a ciTargetName. This will create a target with that name which can be used in CI to run the tests for each file in a distributed fashion.

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "plugin": "@nx/vite/plugin",
      "include": ["e2e/**/*"],
      "options": {
        "testTargetName": "e2e-local",
        "ciTargetName": "e2e-ci"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Customizing atomized unit/e2e tasks group name

By default, the atomized tasks group name is derived from the ciTargetName. For example, atomized tasks for the e2e-ci target will be grouped under the name "E2E (CI)" when displayed in Nx Cloud or nx show project <project> UI. You can customize that name by explicitly providing the optional ciGroupName plugin option as such:

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "plugin": "@nx/vite/plugin",
      "include": ["e2e/**/*"],
      "options": {
        "testTargetName": "e2e-local",
        "ciTargetName": "e2e-ci",
        "ciGroupName": "My E2E tests (CI)"
      }
    }
  ]
}