Vite 7

Build tooling and dev server for React projects. Vite 7 (June 2025) is ESM-only, requires Node.js 20.19+ / 22.12+, and defaults browser target to

baseline-widely-available

. The user's stack uses

rolldown-vite

(Rust-based drop-in replacement),

@vitejs/plugin-react

@tailwindcss/vite

@tanstack/router-plugin

@cloudflare/vite-plugin

, and

@tanstack/react-start

Critical Rules

Plugin Order Matters

TanStack Start or TanStack Router plugin MUST come before

@vitejs/plugin-react

plugins: [
  tanstackStart(),      // or tanstackRouter() for SPA
  tailwindcss(),
  react(),              // ALWAYS last among framework plugins
]

Wrong order causes route generation failures and HMR breakage.

Vite 7 is ESM-Only

Vite 7 distributes as ESM only. Your

vite.config.ts

must use

import

export

syntax. CJS

require()

is not supported in config files. Node.js 20.19+ supports

require(esm)

natively, so Vite can still be required by CJS consumers.

tailwind.config.js

Tailwind CSS v4 uses CSS-first configuration. Never create

tailwind.config.js

tailwind.config.ts

. Use

@tailwindcss/vite

plugin and configure in CSS via

@theme

@utility

@plugin

Environment Variables Need VITE_ Prefix

Only variables prefixed with

VITE_

are exposed to client code via

import.meta.env

. Server-only secrets must NOT use this prefix. For type safety, augment

ImportMetaEnv

vite-env.d.ts

splitVendorChunkPlugin Is Removed

Removed in Vite 7. Use

build.rollupOptions.output.manualChunks

for custom chunk splitting.

Configuration

vite.config.ts (Full Stack with TanStack Start)

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import { tanstackStart } from '@tanstack/react-start/plugin/vite'
import { cloudflare } from '@cloudflare/vite-plugin'
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    tanstackStart(),
    cloudflare(),
    tailwindcss(),
    react(),
  ],
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      '@': new URL('./src', import.meta.url).pathname,
    },
  },
})

vite.config.ts (SPA with TanStack Router)

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import { tanstackRouter } from '@tanstack/router-plugin/vite'
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    tanstackRouter({ autoCodeSplitting: true }),
    tailwindcss(),
    react(),
  ],
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      '@': new URL('./src', import.meta.url).pathname,
    },
  },
})

React Compiler

react({
  babel: {
    plugins: [['babel-plugin-react-compiler', {}]],
  },
})

Install:

pnpm add -D babel-plugin-react-compiler

. Auto-memoizes components and hooks - no manual

useMemo

useCallback

Path Aliases

Use

import.meta.url

for ESM-compatible resolution (no

__dirname

in ESM):

resolve: {
  alias: {
    '@': new URL('./src', import.meta.url).pathname,
  },
}

Mirror in

tsconfig.json

"paths": { "@/*": ["./src/*"] }

Environment Variables

Files:

.env

.env.local

.env.[mode]

.env.[mode].local

. Only

VITE_

-prefixed vars exposed to client. Built-in constants:

import.meta.env.MODE

.DEV

.PROD

.SSR

.BASE_URL

Type augmentation in

src/vite-env.d.ts

interface ImportMetaEnv {
  readonly VITE_API_URL: string
}
interface ImportMeta {
  readonly env: ImportMetaEnv
}

Plugin Ecosystem

@vitejs/plugin-react

Provides Fast Refresh (HMR for React), JSX transform, and optional Babel plugin pipeline. Always place last among framework plugins.

import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'

react()                          // zero-config default
react({ fastRefresh: false })    // disable for debugging HMR issues

@tailwindcss/vite

Native Vite integration for Tailwind CSS v4. Replaces PostCSS-based setup - no

postcss.config.js

needed.

import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'

tailwindcss()  // zero-config, reads @theme from CSS

@tanstack/router-plugin/vite

File-based route generation for TanStack Router. Must come before

react()

import { tanstackRouter } from '@tanstack/router-plugin/vite'

tanstackRouter({ autoCodeSplitting: true })

@tanstack/react-start/plugin/vite

Full-stack plugin for TanStack Start. Includes router plugin internally - do NOT add both.

import { tanstackStart } from '@tanstack/react-start/plugin/vite'

tanstackStart()                           // default SSR
tanstackStart({ spa: { enabled: true } }) // SPA mode (no SSR)

@cloudflare/vite-plugin

Runs Worker code inside

workerd

during dev, matching production behavior. Uses Vite's Environment API for runtime integration.

import { cloudflare } from '@cloudflare/vite-plugin'

cloudflare()  // reads wrangler.jsonc by default

// Programmatic config (no wrangler file needed)
cloudflare({
  config: {
    name: 'my-worker',
    compatibility_flags: ['nodejs_compat'],
  },
})

Dev Server

Proxy Configuration

server: {
  proxy: {
    '/api': {
      target: 'http://localhost:8787',
      changeOrigin: true,
      rewrite: (path) => path.replace(/^\/api/, ''),
    },
    '/ws': { target: 'ws://localhost:8787', ws: true },
  },
}

HMR Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Full reload instead of HMR	Check `plugin-react` is loaded
HMR not connecting	Set `server.hmr.clientPort` if behind reverse proxy
Stale state after edit	Component must export a single component
CSS not updating	Ensure `@tailwindcss/vite` is in plugins

Behind a reverse proxy:

server: {
  hmr: { protocol: 'ws', host: 'localhost', port: 5173, clientPort: 443 },
}

File Warmup

server: {
  warmup: {
    clientFiles: ['./src/components/*.tsx', './src/routes/__root.tsx'],
  },
}

Build Optimization

Default Browser Target

Vite 7 targets

baseline-widely-available

(Chrome 107+, Edge 107+, Firefox 104+, Safari 16+). Override:

build.target: 'es2020'

['chrome90', 'safari14']

Manual Chunks

build: {
  rollupOptions: {
    output: {
      manualChunks: {
        'react-vendor': ['react', 'react-dom'],
        'tanstack': ['@tanstack/react-router', '@tanstack/react-query'],
      },
    },
  },
}

Dynamic splitting by function:

manualChunks(id) {
  if (id.includes('node_modules')) {
    if (id.includes('react')) return 'react-vendor'
    if (id.includes('@tanstack')) return 'tanstack'
    return 'vendor'
  }
}

Bundle Analysis

bash

pnpm add -D rollup-plugin-visualizer

import { visualizer } from 'rollup-plugin-visualizer'

// Add to plugins array
visualizer({ filename: 'stats.html', open: true, gzipSize: true })

See build-optimization.md for detailed chunking strategies, CSS splitting, asset inlining, source maps, and performance tuning.

Rolldown Integration

What is rolldown-vite

rolldown-vite

is a Rust-based drop-in replacement for Vite's bundler, developed by the Vite team (sponsored by VoidZero). It replaces both esbuild and Rollup with a single high-performance tool built on Rolldown and the Oxc toolkit. Build time reductions of 3x to 16x have been reported, with memory usage cut by up to 100x on large projects.

Rolldown will become the default bundler in Vite 8 (currently in beta). Using

rolldown-vite

today prepares your project for the transition.

Note: Vite 7 requires Vitest 3.2+ for compatibility. Earlier Vitest versions will not work.

Installation

package.json

, alias

vite

rolldown-vite

json

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "vite": "npm:rolldown-vite@latest"
  }
}

For monorepos or frameworks with Vite as a peer dependency, use overrides:

json

{
  "pnpm": {
    "overrides": {
      "vite": "npm:rolldown-vite@latest"
    }
  }
}

Then run

pnpm install

. No config changes needed - it is a drop-in replacement.

Key Differences from Standard Vite

No esbuild dependency - Oxc handles all transforms and minification (config still shows
```
minify: 'esbuild'
```
but the underlying engine is Oxc)
Faster builds - Rust-native bundling, especially for large projects
Same plugin API - Rollup/Vite plugins work without changes in most cases
Patch versions may break -
```
rolldown-vite
```
follows Vite major/minor but patches are independent

Compatibility Notes

Most frameworks and Vite plugins work out of the box. Check the rolldown-vite repo for known issues and changelog. Some warnings about unsupported options may appear during the transition period.

Environment API

Experimental API introduced in Vite 6, improved in Vite 7 with the

buildApp

hook. Enables multi-target builds (browser, Node.js, edge runtimes) from a single Vite config.

How It Works

Each environment has its own module graph, plugin pipeline, and build config. The

@cloudflare/vite-plugin

uses this to run Worker code inside

workerd

during dev, matching production behavior.

buildApp Hook (Vite 7)

Frameworks coordinate building multiple environments. Config-level form (most common):

export default defineConfig({
  builder: {
    async buildApp(builder) {
      await builder.build(builder.environments.client)
      await builder.build(builder.environments.server)
    },
  },
})

Plugin hook form (for plugin authors):

{
  name: 'my-framework',
  buildApp: async (builder) => {
    const environments = Object.values(builder.environments)
    return Promise.all(
      environments.map((env) => builder.build(env))
    )
  },
}

Multi-Environment Config

export default defineConfig({
  environments: {
    client: {
      build: { outDir: 'dist/client' },
    },
    server: {
      build: { outDir: 'dist/server' },
    },
  },
})

For most projects, the

@cloudflare/vite-plugin

@tanstack/react-start

handles environment configuration automatically. Direct Environment API usage is for framework authors.

Deployment

Cloudflare Workers (via TanStack Start)

Add

cloudflare()

to plugins and create

wrangler.jsonc

jsonc

// wrangler.jsonc
{
  "name": "my-app",
  "compatibility_date": "2025-01-01",
  "compatibility_flags": ["nodejs_compat"],
  "main": "./dist/server/index.js",
  "assets": { "directory": "./dist/client" }
}