Vue Lynx

Vue Lynx

Vue Lynx is a Vue 3 custom renderer for Lynx. It lets you build native Lynx applications using Vue's Composition API, single-file components, and reactivity system. If you know Vue 3, you mostly know Vue Lynx — the differences are in elements, events, and the dual-thread runtime.

The Three Things That Change from Vue Web

1. Import from vue-lynx

Vue Lynx re-exports the full Vue 3 API surface, so swap your import source:

import { ref, computed, onMounted, watch, nextTick } from 'vue-lynx'

2. Use Lynx elements instead of HTML

Lynx renders natively, not in a browser. There are no <div>, <span>, or <img> tags:

Text wrapping caveat: Lynx does not support bare text nodes inside <view>. All visible text needs a <text> wrapper, otherwise it silently won't render:

<!-- Won't render the text -->
<view>Hello</view>

<!-- Correct -->
<view><text>Hello</text></view>

3. Use Lynx events instead of DOM events

Lynx has its own event system. The most common change: @click becomes :bindtap.

Available event names: tap, longtap, longpress, touchstart, touchmove, touchend, touchcancel, scroll, scrollend, focus, blur, layoutchange, transitionend, animationend.

Dual-Thread Architecture

Vue runs on a background thread while native rendering happens on the main thread. Changes flow as batched ops to the main thread; user interactions flow back as events. This keeps the UI responsive — Vue reconciliation never blocks rendering.

Background Thread (JS)              Main Thread (Native)
┌───────────────────────┐           ┌──────────────────────┐
│ Vue 3 runtime         │   ops     │ Native elements      │
│ Reactivity, components│ ────────> │ Layout & rendering   │
│ Lifecycle, your code  │           │ MTS handlers         │
│                       │ <──────── │ User events          │
└───────────────────────┘  events   └──────────────────────┘

What this means in practice:

• onMounted() fires when the component tree is built on the background thread. Native elements may not exist yet on the main thread. If you need to query native elements (layout, measurements), wrap in nextTick():

<script setup lang="ts">
import { onMounted, nextTick } from 'vue-lynx'

onMounted(() => {
  nextTick(() => {
    // Native elements are now fully materialized
    lynx.createSelectorQuery()
      .select('.target')
      .invoke({ method: 'boundingClientRect', success: (res) => console.log(res) })
      .exec()
  })
})
</script>

If your onMounted only sets up reactive state, timers, or data fetching, nextTick isn't needed — those don't touch native elements.

• nextTick() resolves after a full cross-thread round trip (ops flushed, main thread applied), not just Vue's scheduler. Same mental model as Vue web's nextTick, extended across threads.

• There's no document or window. Libraries that depend on browser globals need adaptation. Lynx provides its own APIs via the lynx global object.

Vue Feature Compatibility

Almost all of Vue 3's API surface works identically because Vue Lynx uses @vue/runtime-core directly:

Works as expected: ref, reactive, computed, watch, watchEffect, provide/inject, defineComponent, <script setup>, props, emits, defineModel, slots (default/named/scoped), v-if/v-else/v-for/v-show, <style>, <style module>, imported CSS files, Suspense, defineAsyncComponent, Options API.

Experimental: <Transition> and <TransitionGroup> work but need an explicit :duration prop (the background thread can't call getComputedStyle() to auto-detect duration).

Not available:

• <KeepAlive> — no native storage container equivalent
• <Teleport> — no querySelector for string targets across threads
• <style scoped> / v-bind() in CSS — not yet implemented
• v-model on native <input> — Lynx inputs use synchronous main-thread APIs that the background thread can't reach. Use the manual pattern:

<input :value="text" @input="(e) => text = e.detail.value" />

Project Setup

Scaffold a new project:

npm create vue-lynx@latest
cd my-app && npm install && npm run dev

The build config lives in lynx.config.ts:

import { defineConfig } from '@lynx-js/rspeedy'
import { pluginVueLynx } from 'vue-lynx/plugin'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    pluginVueLynx({
      optionsApi: false,               // tree-shakes Options API (~9 kB savings)
      enableCSSSelector: true,         // default
      enableCSSInheritance: false,     // enable for CSS variables
      enableCSSInlineVariables: false,  // enable for --* in :style bindings
    }),
  ],
})

Entry point — no selector needed, it mounts to the Lynx page root:

import { createApp } from 'vue-lynx'
import App from './App.vue'
createApp(App).mount()

Common Patterns

Scroll view:

<scroll-view scroll-orientation="vertical" style="height: 500px">
  <view v-for="item in items" :key="item.id">
    <text>{{ item.name }}</text>
  </view>
</scroll-view>

Virtualized list (for large datasets — Lynx handles lazy rendering):

<list scroll-orientation="vertical" style="height: 500px">
  <list-item v-for="item in items" :key="item.id" :item-key="item.id">
    <text>{{ item.name }}</text>
  </list-item>
</list>

Dynamic styling (workaround for missing v-bind() in CSS):

<script setup>
import { ref, computed } from 'vue-lynx'
const color = ref('#1565c0')
const style = computed(() => ({ color: color.value }))
</script>
<template>
  <text :style="style">Dynamic color</text>
</template>

Deeper Topics

For more detailed guidance on specific areas, read the relevant reference file:

• Performance-critical interactions (scroll animations, touch gestures, eliminating cross-thread delay): Read references/main-thread-script.md
• Ecosystem libraries (Vue Router, Pinia, TanStack Query, Tailwind CSS setup and patterns): Read references/ecosystem.md
• Testing (vitest setup, dual-thread test environment, fireEvent, waitForUpdate): Read references/testing.md

Source: derrickobedgiu1/vue-lynx — distributed by TomeVault.