Web Components in Production: Coexisting with React and Vue

Web Components in Production: Coexisting with React and Vue

Introduction

Web Components have gained significant traction as a native way to create reusable, encapsulated UI elements. However, in modern web development, frameworks like React and Vue dominate the landscape. The question arises: Can Web Components work alongside these frameworks in production?

The answer is yes, but it requires careful integration. One key challenge is ensuring compatibility between Web Components (particularly Custom Elements) and React/Vue’s rendering systems. This is where the Custom Elements Everywhere (CEE) polyfill comes into play.

The Challenge: Framework Interoperability

React and Vue handle the DOM differently, which can lead to issues when integrating Custom Elements:

1. React’s Synthetic Event System – React doesn’t natively listen to Custom Element events.
2. Vue’s Prop Handling – Vue treats all props as strings by default, which can break non-primitive data passing.
3. Re-rendering Issues – Framework components may re-render unexpectedly, breaking Web Component state.

The Custom Elements Everywhere compatibility test suite highlights these gaps, and the accompanying polyfill helps bridge them.

Solution: Using the Custom Elements Everywhere Polyfill

The CEE polyfill ensures smoother interoperability by:

1. Fixing React’s Event Handling

• Patches addEventListener to work with React’s synthetic events.
• Example:

  <my-counter onCountChange={(e) => console.log(e.detail)} />  
  

2. Properly Passing Props in Vue

• Ensures non-string props (objects, arrays, booleans) are correctly passed.
• Example:

  <template>  
    <my-element :config="{ size: 'large' }" />  
  </template>  
  

3. Preventing Double Rendering

• Mitigates framework re-renders that could disrupt Web Component internals.

Best Practices for Coexistence

1. Use @webcomponents/webcomponentsjs Polyfills

   • Ensure Custom Elements v1 and Shadow DOM support in older browsers.

2. Wrap Web Components for Framework Use

   • In React:

     function MyWCWrapper(props) {  
       const ref = useRef(null);  
       useEffect(() => {  
         ref.current.addEventListener('change', props.onChange);  
       }, []);  
       return <my-web-component ref={ref} />;  
     }  
     

   • In Vue:

     <template>  
       <my-web-component @change="handleChange" />  
     </template>  
     

3. Avoid Direct DOM Manipulation

   • Let frameworks manage rendering; treat Web Components as black boxes.

4. Test with Custom Elements Everywhere

   • Verify compatibility before production deployment.

Conclusion

Web Components can coexist with React and Vue in production, but seamless integration requires:
✅ The Custom Elements Everywhere polyfill for event and prop fixes.
✅ Proper wrapping to handle framework-specific quirks.
✅ Testing to ensure stability.

By following these strategies, teams can leverage the best of both worlds: framework power for app structure and Web Components for reusable, framework-agnostic UI elements.