Primevue patterns

PrimeVue Patterns

PrimeVue 4 is themed through design tokens, not CSS warfare. Most "PrimeVue is hard to style" pain is someone overriding generated classes instead of changing the token.

When to use

• Building or reviewing Vue UIs that use PrimeVue 4
• Customizing look & feel (brand colors, density, dark mode)
• Wiring DataTable/forms to a Laravel or API backend
• CSS files full of !important targeting .p-* classes

Principles

• Tokens before CSS. Change primary, surface, radius etc. in a theme preset and every component follows. A .p-button { background: … !important } fixes one button and breaks the design system.
• Layered customization, in order: token preset → component dt (design tokens per component) → pt (pass-through attributes) → scoped CSS. Each step only when the previous can't express it.
• Server-side from row one. DataTable with lazy + server pagination/sort/filter from the start for real datasets — retrofitting client-mode tables hurts.
• The component does a11y; keep it wired. Labels, aria, keyboard nav work when you use the documented compositions (e.g. label + input association) — not when inputs float free.

Process

1. Set up the theme deliberately

import { definePreset } from '@primeuix/themes'
import Aura from '@primeuix/themes/aura'

const MyPreset = definePreset(Aura, {
  semantic: {
    primary: { 50: '{indigo.50}', /* … */ 500: '{indigo.500}', 950: '{indigo.950}' },
  },
})
app.use(PrimeVue, { theme: { preset: MyPreset, options: { darkModeSelector: '.dark' } } })

• Define the brand once in the preset; never hard-code brand colors in component CSS
• Dark mode: pick the selector strategy up front and align it with Tailwind's (.dark) if both are present
• Tailwind + PrimeVue: Tailwind for layout (grid, spacing), tokens for component look — don't restyle .p-* internals with utilities

2. DataTable — the standard server-side recipe

<DataTable :value="rows" lazy paginator :rows="20" :totalRecords="total"
           :loading="loading" @page="load" @sort="load" @filter="load"
           v-model:filters="filters" dataKey="id">

• lazy + emit-driven load(event) → backend receives page/sort/filter params (pairs naturally with a Laravel endpoint or Inertia partial reload)
• dataKey always — selection and row updates break silently without it
• Define filters structure up front (match modes); debounce text filters
• Empty state via #empty slot — design it, don't leave the default
• Row actions in a #body slot; bulk actions from v-model:selection

3. Forms

• Compose field → label → input → small error text consistently; associate labels (for/id) — that's where a11y lives
• Validation: PrimeVue's invalid prop + your validation source (server errors from Laravel/Inertia, or a schema lib) — one pattern per project
• Use the right widget instead of configuring a generic one into shape: Select, DatePicker, InputNumber, AutoComplete (lazy @complete for big datasets)

4. Overlays and feedback

• Dialog/ConfirmDialog/Toast: register ToastService/ConfirmationService once, use useToast()/useConfirm() — don't hand-roll modals next to them
• Destructive actions: useConfirm() with explicit danger wording, consistent app-wide

5. Keep the bundle honest

• Import components individually (or use the unplugin resolver) — no global "register everything" in production apps
• Audit: chart/editor-class components are heavy; lazy-load routes that use them

6. Review pass

grep -rn "\.p-[a-z-]* *{" src/ --include="*.css" --include="*.vue"   # CSS targeting internals
grep -rn "!important" src/ | grep -i "p-"

Plus: hard-coded brand colors outside the preset, tables loading full datasets client-side, missing dataKey, mixed dark-mode strategies.

Output format

## PrimeVue review: <feature/app>

### Theming
Preset: ✅/❌ — hard-coded brand colors found: N — dark mode strategy: …

### Tables
| Table | lazy | dataKey | server-side | empty state |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|-------------|

### Findings (ranked)
1. <file:line> — <issue> → <fix (token/dt/pt/css layer)>

### Bundle
Import style: individual/resolver — heavy components lazy-loaded: ✅/❌

Anti-patterns

• ❌ .p-button { … !important } instead of changing the token or using dt/pt
• ❌ Brand colors duplicated across CSS files instead of one preset
• ❌ Client-mode DataTable on a 50k-row dataset ("we'll paginate later")
• ❌ Selection/expansion without dataKey
• ❌ A custom modal component in an app that already ships Dialog + ConfirmDialog
• ❌ Two dark-mode systems (Tailwind .dark + PrimeVue default) fighting each other
• ❌ Global registration of the full component suite in a production bundle