/nuxt-ui

Conventions

Coding patterns specific to Nuxt UI.

Auto-registered modules

Nuxt UI automatically registers @nuxt/icon, @nuxt/fonts, and @nuxtjs/color-mode. Do not add them to your modules array. Configure them via root-level keys in nuxt.config.ts:

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['@nuxt/ui'],
  icon: { /* @nuxt/icon options */ },
  fonts: { /* @nuxt/fonts options */ },
  colorMode: { /* @nuxtjs/color-mode options */ }
})

Disable any of them: ui: { fonts: false }, ui: { colorMode: false }.

Content module integration

When using @nuxt/content, it must come after @nuxt/ui in the modules array — otherwise prose components won't be available:

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['@nuxt/ui', '@nuxt/content']
})

Add @source in your CSS so Tailwind generates classes used in markdown/MDC:

/* app/assets/css/main.css */
@import "tailwindcss";
@import "@nuxt/ui";

@source "../../../content/**/*";

Use mapContentNavigation to transform content navigation for components like UBreadcrumb:

import { mapContentNavigation } from '@nuxt/ui/utils/content'
import { findPageBreadcrumb } from '@nuxt/content/utils'

const breadcrumb = computed(() =>
  mapContentNavigation(findPageBreadcrumb(navigation.value, page.value?.path))
)

IDE setup

Recommended .vscode/settings.json for Tailwind IntelliSense autocomplete with Nuxt UI:

{
  "files.associations": { "*.css": "tailwindcss" },
  "editor.quickSuggestions": { "strings": "on" },
  "tailwindCSS.classAttributes": ["class", "ui"],
  "tailwindCSS.classFunctions": ["defineAppConfig"]
}

UApp wrapper

Always wrap your app in UApp — it provides:

• Toast container (useToast)
• Tooltip provider
• Programmatic overlay context (useOverlay)
• i18n locale support

<UApp :locale="fr">
  <NuxtPage /> <!-- or <RouterView /> for Vue -->
</UApp>

Icons

Nuxt UI registers @nuxt/icon automatically. Format: i-{collection}-{name}. Prefer lucide collection.

<UIcon name="i-lucide-sun" class="size-5" />
<UButton icon="i-lucide-plus" label="Add" />
<UAlert icon="i-lucide-info" title="Heads up" />

Install collections locally for reliable SSR and best performance:

pnpm i @iconify-json/lucide
pnpm i @iconify-json/simple-icons

Custom local collections (Nuxt only):

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  icon: {
    customCollections: [{
      prefix: 'custom',
      dir: './app/assets/icons'
    }]
  }
})

Default icon overrides

Components like Modal, Select, Accordion, etc. use default icons from appConfig.ui.icons. Override them globally:

// app.config.ts
export default defineAppConfig({
  ui: {
    icons: {
      loading: 'i-lucide-refresh-cw',
      close: 'i-lucide-x',
      check: 'i-lucide-check',
      chevronDown: 'i-lucide-chevron-down',
      chevronRight: 'i-lucide-chevron-right',
      arrowLeft: 'i-lucide-arrow-left',
      arrowRight: 'i-lucide-arrow-right'
    }
  }
})

Slot patterns

Most components follow consistent slot naming:

Items arrays

Many components accept an items prop. Two patterns:

Flat array — plain list:

const items = [
  { label: 'Edit', icon: 'i-lucide-pencil' },
  { label: 'Delete', icon: 'i-lucide-trash', color: 'error' }
]

Nested array — groups with automatic separators between them:

const items = [
  [
    { label: 'Edit', icon: 'i-lucide-pencil' },
    { label: 'Duplicate', icon: 'i-lucide-copy' }
  ],
  [
    { label: 'Delete', icon: 'i-lucide-trash', color: 'error' }
  ]
]

Components supporting nested arrays: UDropdownMenu, UContextMenu, UNavigationMenu. UCommandPalette uses a groups prop instead, with an items array on each group.

Composables

useToast

const toast = useToast()

toast.add({
  title: 'Success',
  description: 'Item saved',
  color: 'success',
  icon: 'i-lucide-check-circle',
  duration: 5000,
  actions: [{ label: 'Undo', onClick: () => {} }]
})

toast.remove('toast-id')
toast.clear()

useOverlay

Programmatic modals, slideovers, drawers — no template v-model needed. See overlays recipe for full patterns.

const overlay = useOverlay()
const modal = overlay.create(MyComponent)
const instance = modal.open({ title: 'Confirm?' })
if (await instance.result) { /* confirmed */ }

defineShortcuts

defineShortcuts({
  meta_k: () => openSearch(),
  escape: () => close(),
  meta_enter: {
    handler: () => submit(),
    whenever: [isFormValid]
  }
})

Keys: meta (Cmd/Ctrl), ctrl, alt, shift. Separator: _.

extractShortcuts

Wire up keyboard shortcuts from menu items:

const items = [
  { label: 'New file', kbds: ['meta', 'n'], onSelect: () => newFile() },
  { label: 'Save', kbds: ['meta', 's'], onSelect: () => save() }
]

defineShortcuts(extractShortcuts(items))

Internationalization (i18n)

Nuxt UI supports 50+ locales. Set the locale on UApp — all components inherit it.

Static locale

<script setup lang="ts">
import { fr } from '@nuxt/ui/locale'
</script>

<template>
  <UApp :locale="fr">
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>

Extend a built-in locale

extendLocale is auto-imported. Override specific messages or the code (affects date/time formatting in Calendar, InputDate, InputTime):

import { en } from '@nuxt/ui/locale'

const locale = extendLocale(en, {
  code: 'en-AU',
  messages: {
    commandPalette: { placeholder: 'Search a component...' }
  }
})

Custom locale from scratch

import type { Messages } from '@nuxt/ui'

const locale = defineLocale<Messages>({
  name: 'My locale',
  code: 'en',
  dir: 'ltr',
  messages: {
    // all component message keys
  }
})

Dynamic locale with @nuxtjs/i18n

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['@nuxt/ui', '@nuxtjs/i18n'],
  i18n: {
    locales: [
      { code: 'en', name: 'English' },
      { code: 'fr', name: 'Français' },
      { code: 'ar', name: 'العربية' }
    ]
  }
})

<script setup lang="ts">
import * as locales from '@nuxt/ui/locale'

const { locale } = useI18n()

const lang = computed(() => locales[locale.value]?.code)
const dir = computed(() => locales[locale.value]?.dir)

useHead({
  htmlAttrs: { lang, dir }
})
</script>

<template>
  <UApp :locale="locales[locale]">
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>

Each locale has a dir property ('ltr' or 'rtl'). UApp uses it to set directionality on all components. Use useHead to propagate lang and dir to the <html> element.

Color mode

Nuxt UI registers @nuxtjs/color-mode automatically. Built-in components for switching:

• UColorModeButton — single button toggle (light/dark)
• UColorModeSwitch — toggle switch
• UColorModeSelect — dropdown with system/light/dark options
• UColorModeAvatar — displays different avatar per mode
• UColorModeImage — displays different image per mode

For custom color mode UI, use useColorMode with ClientOnly to avoid hydration mismatch:

<script setup lang="ts">
const colorMode = useColorMode()

const isDark = computed({
  get: () => colorMode.value === 'dark',
  set: (v) => { colorMode.preference = v ? 'dark' : 'light' }
})
</script>

<template>
  <ClientOnly>
    <USwitch v-model="isDark" />
    <template #fallback>
      <div class="size-8" />
    </template>
  </ClientOnly>
</template>

Official templates

Bootstrap a project from a template instead of starting from scratch:

npx nuxi@latest init -t ui              # Starter
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/dashboard    # Dashboard
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/docs         # Docs (Nuxt Content)
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/landing      # Landing page
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/saas         # SaaS (landing + pricing + docs + blog)
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/chat         # AI chat (Vercel AI SDK)
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/editor       # Rich text editor
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/portfolio    # Portfolio
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/changelog    # Changelog
npx nuxi@latest init -t ui/calendar     # Calendar

Responsive patterns

• Dashboard sidebar hides on mobile, shows a slideover/drawer via UDashboardSidebar mode prop
• UHeader body slot is the mobile menu content (shown when hamburger is tapped)
• Most components handle responsiveness automatically — avoid manual breakpoint classes unless needed
• Use UPageAside for sidebars that should hide below lg breakpoint