Nuxt 4+ Development
Progressive guidance for Nuxt 4+ projects (v4.3+) with latest patterns and conventions.
When to Use
Working with:
- Server routes (API endpoints, server middleware, server utils)
- File-based routing (pages, layouts, route groups)
- Nuxt middleware (route guards, navigation)
- Nuxt plugins (app extensions)
- Nuxt-specific features (auto-imports, layers, modules)
Available Guidance
Read specific files based on current work:
- references/server.md - API routes, server middleware, validation (Zod), WebSocket, SSE
- references/routing.md - File-based routing, route groups, typed router, definePage
- references/middleware-plugins.md - Route middleware, plugins, app lifecycle
- references/nuxt-composables.md - Nuxt composables (useRequestURL, useFetch, navigation)
- references/nuxt-components.md - NuxtLink, NuxtImg, NuxtTime (prefer over HTML elements)
- references/nuxt-config.md - Configuration, modules, auto-imports, layers
For Vue composables: See vue skill composables.md (VueUse, Composition API patterns)
For UI components: use nuxt-ui skill
For database/storage: use nuxthub skill
For content-driven sites: use nuxt-content skill
For creating modules: use nuxt-modules skill
For project scaffolding/CI: use ts-library skill
Loading Files
Consider loading these reference files based on your task:
- [ ] references/server.md - if creating API endpoints or server middleware
- [ ] references/routing.md - if setting up pages, layouts, or route groups
- [ ] references/nuxt-composables.md - if using Nuxt composables (useFetch, useRequestURL, etc.)
- [ ] references/middleware-plugins.md - if working with middleware or plugins
- [ ] references/nuxt-components.md - if using Nuxt components (NuxtLink, NuxtImg, etc.)
- [ ] references/nuxt-config.md - if editing nuxt.config.ts
- [ ] references/project-setup.md - if setting up CI/ESLint/build tools
DO NOT load all files at once. Load only what's relevant to your current task.
Quick Start
// server/api/hello.get.ts
import { z } from 'zod'
export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
const { name } = await getValidatedQuery(event, z.object({
name: z.string().default('world'),
}).parse)
return { message: `Hello ${name}` }
})
Nuxt 4 vs Older Versions
You are working with Nuxt 4+. Key differences:
| Old (Nuxt 2/3) | New (Nuxt 4) |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------- |
| <Nuxt /> | <NuxtPage /> |
| context.params | getRouterParam(event, 'name') |
| window.origin | useRequestURL().origin |
| String routes | Typed router with route names |
| Separate layouts/ | Parent routes with <slot> |
If you're unsure about Nuxt 4 patterns, read the relevant guidance file first.
Latest Documentation
When to fetch latest docs:
- New Nuxt 4 features not covered here
- Module-specific configuration
- Breaking changes or deprecations
- Advanced use cases
Official sources:
- Nuxt: https://nuxt.com/docs
- h3 (server engine): https://v1.h3.dev/
- Nitro: https://nitro.build/
Token Efficiency
Main skill: ~300 tokens. Each sub-file: ~800-1500 tokens. Only load files relevant to current task.