v-proximity-prefetch

Vue plugin that prefetches routes when the mouse approaches links for faster navigation

Vue Proximity Prefetch

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Boost your Vue app's perceived performance by prefetching routes when the mouse approaches links

Features

  • 🔍 Smart Detection: Detects when the user's mouse approaches navigation links
  • Automatic Prefetching: Preloads route components before the user clicks
  • 📈 Enhanced UX: Reduces perceived loading times for smoother navigation
  • 🔌 Simple Integration: Two easy ways to integrate - Vue component or Vite plugin
  • 🔧 Highly Configurable: Customize threshold distance, prediction intervals, and more
  • 🪶 Lightweight: Minimal overhead with intelligent throttling

Installation

# npm
npm install v-proximity-prefetch

# yarn
yarn add v-proximity-prefetch

# pnpm
pnpm add v-proximity-prefetch

Getting Started

There are two ways to use Vue Proximity Prefetch:

Method 1: Using the Vue Component and Plugin

This method gives you fine-grained control over which parts of your app use proximity prefetching.

1. Register the Plugin in your Vue app:

// main.ts or main.js
import { createApp } from 'vue'
import { createRouter, createWebHistory } from 'vue-router'
import App from './App.vue'
import { ProximityPrefetchPlugin } from 'v-proximity-prefetch'

const app = createApp(App)
const router = createRouter({
  history: createWebHistory(),
  routes: [
    // your routes...
  ]
})

app.use(router)
app.use(ProximityPrefetchPlugin) // register the plugin

app.mount('#app')

2. Use the Component in your template:

<!-- App.vue or any layout component -->
<template>
  <header>
    <nav>
      <router-link to="/">Home</router-link>
      <router-link to="/about">About</router-link>
      <router-link to="/contact">Contact</router-link>
    </nav>
  </header>

  <main>
    <!-- Wrap your router-view with ProximityPrefetch -->
    <ProximityPrefetch :threshold="200" :prediction-interval="0">
      <router-view />
    </ProximityPrefetch>
  </main>
</template>

<script setup>
import { ProximityPrefetch } from 'v-proximity-prefetch'
</script>

Method 2: Using the Vite Plugin Only

This method is simpler and doesn't require adding components to your app. Perfect for quick implementation.

// vite.config.js or vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
import { viteProximityPrefetch } from 'v-proximity-prefetch'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    vue(),
    viteProximityPrefetch({
      threshold: 200,
      predictionInterval: 0,
      maxPrefetch: 3,
      automaticPrefetch: true // This enables automatic prefetching!
    })
  ]
})

Configuration Options

Component Props

Prop Type Default Description
threshold number 200 Distance in pixels at which prefetching triggers
predictionInterval number 0 Interval in ms for checking link proximity (0 means reactive to mouse movements)
debug boolean false Enable debug logging

Vite Plugin Options

Option Type Default Description
threshold number 200 Distance in pixels at which prefetching triggers
predictionInterval number 0 Interval in ms for checking link proximity
maxPrefetch number 3 Maximum number of routes to prefetch at once
debug boolean false Enable debug logging
automaticPrefetch boolean false Enable automatic prefetching without the Vue component

Debug Mode

You can enable debug mode by setting the PPF_DEBUG environment variable:

PPF_DEBUG=true npm run build

Or in the browser console:

window.PPF_DEBUG = true

When to Use Each Method

  • Component Method: More control, prefetches both Vue Router components and routes
  • Vite Plugin Method: Simpler implementation, uses browser's standard prefetching

Demo

Check out the live demo to see the performance difference!

Browser Support

Vue Proximity Prefetch works in all modern browsers that support <link rel="prefetch">.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

License

MIT


If you find this plugin useful, please ⭐ the GitHub repository and share it with other Vue developers!