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)