Setup

This section uses single-file component syntax for code examples

This guide assumes that you have already read the Composition API Introduction and Reactivity Fundamentals. Read that first if you are new to Composition API.

Arguments

When using the setup function, it will take two arguments:

1. props
2. context

Let's dive deeper into how each argument can be used.

Props

The first argument in the setup function is the props argument. Just as you would expect in a standard component, props inside of a setup function are reactive and will be updated when new props are passed in.

// MyBook.vue

export default {
  props: {
    title: String
  },
  setup(props) {
    console.log(props.title)
  }
}

If you need to destructure your props, you can do this by utilizing the toRefs inside of the setup function:

// MyBook.vue

import { toRefs } from 'vue'

setup(props) {
  const { title } = toRefs(props)

  console.log(title.value)
}

If title is an optional prop, it could be missing from props. In that case, toRefs won't create a ref for title. Instead you'd need to use toRef:

// MyBook.vue

import { toRef } from 'vue'

setup(props) {
  const title = toRef(props, 'title')

  console.log(title.value)
}

Context

The second argument passed to the setup function is the context. The context is a normal JavaScript object that exposes other values that may be useful inside setup:

// MyBook.vue

export default {
  setup(props, context) {
    // Attributes (Non-reactive object, equivalent to $attrs)
    console.log(context.attrs)

    // Slots (Non-reactive object, equivalent to $slots)
    console.log(context.slots)

    // Emit events (Function, equivalent to $emit)
    console.log(context.emit)

    // Expose public properties (Function)
    console.log(context.expose)
  }
}

The context object is a normal JavaScript object, i.e., it is not reactive, this means you can safely use ES6 destructuring on context.

// MyBook.vue
export default {
  setup(props, { attrs, slots, emit, expose }) {
    ...
  }
}

attrs and slots are stateful objects that are always updated when the component itself is updated. This means you should avoid destructuring them and always reference properties as attrs.x or slots.x. Also note that, unlike props, the properties of attrs and slots are not reactive. If you intend to apply side effects based on changes to attrs or slots, you should do so inside an onBeforeUpdate lifecycle hook.

We'll explain the role of expose shortly.

Accessing Component Properties

When setup is executed, the component instance has not been created yet. As a result, you will only be able to access the following properties:

• props
• attrs
• slots
• emit

In other words, you will not have access to the following component options:

• data
• computed
• methods
• refs (template refs)

Usage with Templates

If setup returns an object, the properties on the object can be accessed in the component's template, as well as the properties of the props passed into setup:

<!-- MyBook.vue -->
<template>
  <div>{{ collectionName }}: {{ readersNumber }} {{ book.title }}</div>
</template>

<script>
  import { ref, reactive } from 'vue'

  export default {
    props: {
      collectionName: String
    },
    setup(props) {
      const readersNumber = ref(0)
      const book = reactive({ title: 'Vue 3 Guide' })

      // expose to template
      return {
        readersNumber,
        book
      }
    }
  }
</script>

Note that refs returned from setup are automatically shallow unwrapped when accessed in the template so you shouldn't use .value in templates.

Usage with Render Functions

setup can also return a render function which can directly make use of the reactive state declared in the same scope:

// MyBook.vue

import { h, ref, reactive } from 'vue'

export default {
  setup() {
    const readersNumber = ref(0)
    const book = reactive({ title: 'Vue 3 Guide' })
    // Please note that we need to explicitly use ref value here
    return () => h('div', [readersNumber.value, book.title])
  }
}

Returning a render function prevents us from returning anything else. Internally that shouldn't be a problem, but it can be problematic if we want to expose methods of this component to the parent component via template refs.

We can solve this problem by calling expose, passing it an object that defines the properties that should be available on the external component instance:

import { h, ref } from 'vue'

export default {
  setup(props, { expose }) {
    const count = ref(0)
    const increment = () => ++count.value

    expose({
      increment
    })

    return () => h('div', count.value)
  }
}

The increment method would then be available in the parent component via a template ref.

Usage of this

Inside setup(), this won't be a reference to the current active instance Since setup() is called before other component options are resolved, this inside setup() will behave quite differently from this in other options. This might cause confusions when using setup() along other Options API.