Vue 3 SSR: Introduction to Server-Side Rendering

Server-Side Rendering (SSR) is a technique where your app’s HTML is generated on the server for each request, rather than in the browser. This can improve performance, SEO, and user experience.

What is SSR?

SSR means rendering your Vue components to HTML on the server, sending that HTML to the client, and then hydrating it into a fully interactive app.

Why Use SSR?

• Faster Time-to-Content: Users see content sooner, even on slow networks.
• SEO Benefits: Search engines can index your content more easily.
• Social Sharing: Rich previews for social media platforms.

How Vue 3 Supports SSR

Vue 3 provides official APIs for SSR , making it easier to render your app on the server and hydrate it on the client.

Basic SSR Flow

• Server receives a request
• Vue renders the app to HTML on the server
• Server sends HTML to the browser
• Vue hydrates the static HTML into a live app

Minimal Example

// server.js (Node.js example)
import { createSSRApp } from 'vue';
import { renderToString } from 'vue/server-renderer';

const app = createSSRApp({
  data: () => ({ msg: 'Hello SSR!' }),
  template: `<h1>{{ msg }}</h1>`
});

const html = await renderToString(app);
console.log(html); // <h1>Hello SSR!</h1>

In the next post, we’ll set up a real SSR project using Vue 3 and Vite.