Frontend svelte

Svelte Production Patterns

Production-ready patterns for Svelte 5 and SvelteKit applications.

Core Concepts

Svelte 5 Reactivity (Runes)

<script>
  let count = $state(0);
  let doubled = $derived(count * 2);

  function increment() {
    count++;
  }
</script>

<button onclick={increment}>{count} × 2 = {doubled}</button>

Key Runes

Rune	Purpose
$state	Reactive state declaration
$derived	Computed values
$effect	Side effects (like useEffect)
$props	Component props
$bindable	Two-way bindable props

State Management Patterns

Factory Pattern with Props-Based DI (Multi-Instance Isolation)

Use Case: Web Components that need per-instance state isolation (multiple <my-widget> elements on same page).

Problem: Singleton stores are shared across all Web Component instances. Shadow DOM isolates CSS, NOT JavaScript state.

Solution: Factory functions + Props-based dependency injection + Backward compatible defaults.

Implementation:

Step 1: Convert Store to Factory

// src/lib/stores/chat.svelte.ts
export class ChatStore {
  messages = $state<Message[]>([]);
  error = $state<string | null>(null);
  // ...
}

// Factory function (NEW)
export function createChatStore(): ChatStore {
  return new ChatStore();
}

// Singleton for backward compatibility (KEEP)
export const chatStore = createChatStore();

Step 2: Per-Instance Stores in Web Component

// src/main.ts
class MyWidgetElement extends HTMLElement {
  private _chatStore: ChatStore;
  private _configStore: ConfigStore;

  constructor() {
    super();
    this._shadowRoot = this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });

    // Create isolated stores per instance
    this._chatStore = createChatStore();
    this._configStore = createConfigStore();
  }

  private mountApp() {
    this._app = mount(MyWidget, {
      target: container,
      props: {
        chat: this._chatStore,      // Pass instance stores
        config: this._configStore
      }
    });
  }
}

Step 3: Props Pattern in Components

// src/lib/components/MyWidget.svelte
<script lang="ts">
  import { chatStore, configStore } from '@/lib/stores';

  interface Props {
    chat?: ChatStore;
    config?: ConfigStore;
  }

  // Destructure with singleton defaults (backward compat)
  let { chat = chatStore, config = configStore }: Props = $props();

  // Always use prop, never global
  const hasError = $derived(chat.error !== null); // ✅ Uses prop
</script>

<MessageList {chat} {config} /> <!-- Pass to children -->

Anti-Pattern to Avoid:

// ❌ WRONG: Component has prop but uses singleton
let { chat = chatStore }: Props = $props();

const isDisabled = $derived(chatStore.error !== null); // ❌ Uses singleton
//                            ^^^^^^^^^ Should be `chat.error`

Testing Pattern:

it('test__multi_widget__state_isolation', async () => {
  const widget1 = document.createElement('my-widget');
  const widget2 = document.createElement('my-widget');
  document.body.append(widget1, widget2);

  // Access internal stores
  const store1 = (widget1 as any)._chatStore;
  const store2 = (widget2 as any)._chatStore;

  // Trigger in Widget 1
  store1.setError('Error 1');

  // Assert Widget 2 unaffected
  expect(store1.error).toBe('Error 1');
  expect(store2.error).toBeNull(); // ✅ Isolated
});

Benefits:

• Multi-instance isolation (each widget has own state)
• Zero breaking changes (singleton defaults preserve behavior)
• Testability (inject mock stores)
• Bundle optimization (-0.3KB, tree-shaking improves)

Detection Command (find singleton usage in props-based components):

for file in $(grep -l "let {.*Store.*}: Props" src/**/*.svelte); do
  grep -n "[a-z]Store\." "$file" | grep -v "= $props()"
done

SvelteKit Patterns

Routing

• File-based routing in src/routes/
• +page.svelte for pages
• +layout.svelte for shared layouts
• +server.ts for API endpoints

Data Loading

• +page.ts for universal load
• +page.server.ts for server-only load
• +layout.ts for shared data

Rendering Modes

• SSR (default): Server-rendered, hydrated
• CSR: Client-side only
• Prerender: Static generation

Performance Targets

Metric	Target
LCP	< 2.5s
FID	< 100ms
CLS	< 0.1
Initial JS	< 100KB

When NOT to Use Svelte

• Simple interactivity → Vanilla JS
• Static content → Plain HTML + CSS
• < 50KB JS budget → Web Components
• SEO-critical, no JS → Static site generator

CSS Triangle Arrows (Standard Dimensions)

Create consistent directional indicators using border-based triangles.

Standard dimensions for visual harmony:

• Border width: 7px (transparent sides)
• Border height: 12px (colored edge)
• Opacity: 0.7 for decorative elements

/* Downward arrow (▼) */
.arrow-down {
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
  border-left: 7px solid transparent;
  border-right: 7px solid transparent;
  border-top: 12px solid var(--accent-primary);
  opacity: 0.7;
}

/* Right-pointing arrow (▶) */
.arrow-right {
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
  border-top: 7px solid transparent;
  border-bottom: 7px solid transparent;
  border-left: 12px solid var(--accent-primary);
  opacity: 0.7;
}

/* Curved connector */
.curve-connector {
  border-left: 2px dashed var(--color);
  border-top: 2px dashed var(--color);
  border-top-left-radius: 20px;
}

Anti-pattern: Use HTML elements for arrows — conic-gradient and complex CSS-only solutions need browser-specific fallbacks and fail on older WebKit.

Use case: Workflow diagrams, process flows, directional UI.

Shadow DOM Layout Patterns

Shadow DOM as Ticket-Routing Boundary

When validating UX tickets for an embedded widget, the Shadow DOM boundary is the first question. Issues about layout/positioning around the widget are host-page changes; issues about widget internals are widget changes.

Host Display Mode

Problem: Custom elements default to display: inline, breaking height: 100% inheritance in child elements.

Solution:

:host {
  display: block;
}

Why: Without display: block, percentage-based heights in children have no reference height to calculate from. This is a Web Component fundamental, not a Svelte-specific issue.

Two-Style-Element Pattern

Problem: Theme switching can cause layout regressions when all styles are in one <style> element that gets replaced.

Solution: Separate permanent layout styles from mutable theme styles using two <style> elements — one prepended (never replaced), one appended (swapped on theme change).

See examples.md for the full TypeScript implementation.

Thin-Shell Layout Variant

Add a display variant by building a new shell component that mounts the same presentational components and stores/services, swapping only container and positioning logic. Keeps existing internals intact.

See reference.md § Thin-Shell Layout Variant for the composition pattern.

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Pattern
sticky/absolute + left:50% + translateX(-50%) for centering	align-self: center + max-width — position-based centering overflows in narrow fixed-width containers
Web Component attributes read only in connectedCallback	Declare observedAttributes and handle changes in attributeChangedCallback; mount-only reads miss runtime updates

Responsive Image Optimization

WebP with <picture> fallback preserves compatibility while serving 60-80% smaller files. At 4x CSS display size, small images (icons, thumbnails) remain sharp on Retina displays; 2x causes visible blur. Full-width images need original resolution as a high-DPI srcset option (e.g., 1440px viewport × 2x = needs 2880px source). macOS sips + cwebp provides a zero-dependency processing pipeline.

See examples.md for the WebP <picture> pattern and image processing pipeline.

See reference.md for detailed patterns and examples.md for component implementations.