key Attribute

breaking

Overview

• NEW: keys are no longer necessary on v-if/v-else/v-else-if branches, since Vue now automatically generates unique keys.
  • BREAKING: If you manually provide keys, then each branch must use a unique key. You can no longer intentionally use the same key to force branch reuse.
• BREAKING: <template v-for> key should be placed on the <template> tag (rather than on its children).

Background

The key special attribute is used as a hint for Vue's virtual DOM algorithm to keep track of a node's identity. That way, Vue knows when it can reuse and patch existing nodes and when it needs to reorder or recreate them. For more information, see the following sections:

• List Rendering: Maintaining State
• API Reference: key Special Attribute

On conditional branches

In Vue 2.x, it was recommended to use keys on v-if/v-else/v-else-if branches.

<!-- Vue 2.x -->
<div v-if="condition" key="yes">Yes</div>
<div v-else key="no">No</div>

The example above still works in Vue 3.x. However, we no longer recommend using the key attribute on v-if/v-else/v-else-if branches, since unique keys are now automatically generated on conditional branches if you don't provide them.

<!-- Vue 3.x -->
<div v-if="condition">Yes</div>
<div v-else>No</div>

The breaking change is that if you manually provide keys, each branch must use a unique key. In most cases, you can remove these keys.

<!-- Vue 2.x -->
<div v-if="condition" key="a">Yes</div>
<div v-else key="a">No</div>

<!-- Vue 3.x (recommended solution: remove keys) -->
<div v-if="condition">Yes</div>
<div v-else>No</div>

<!-- Vue 3.x (alternate solution: make sure the keys are always unique) -->
<div v-if="condition" key="a">Yes</div>
<div v-else key="b">No</div>

With <template v-for>

In Vue 2.x, a <template> tag could not have a key. Instead, you could place the keys on each of its children.

<!-- Vue 2.x -->
<template v-for="item in list">
  <div :key="'heading-' + item.id">...</div>
  <span :key="'content-' + item.id">...</span>
</template>

In Vue 3.x, the key should be placed on the <template> tag instead.

<!-- Vue 3.x -->
<template v-for="item in list" :key="item.id">
  <div>...</div>
  <span>...</span>
</template>

Similarly, when using <template v-for> with a child that uses v-if, the key should be moved up to the <template> tag.

<!-- Vue 2.x -->
<template v-for="item in list">
  <div v-if="item.isVisible" :key="item.id">...</div>
  <span v-else :key="item.id">...</span>
</template>

<!-- Vue 3.x -->
<template v-for="item in list" :key="item.id">
  <div v-if="item.isVisible">...</div>
  <span v-else>...</span>
</template>