This is the developer documentation for Svelte.
# Overview
Svelte is a framework for building user interfaces on the web. It uses a compiler to turn declarative components written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript...
```svelte
```
...into lean, tightly optimized JavaScript.
You can use it to build anything on the web, from standalone components to ambitious full stack apps (using Svelte's companion application framework, [SvelteKit](../kit)) and everything in between.
These pages serve as reference documentation. If you're new to Svelte, we recommend starting with the [interactive tutorial](/tutorial) and coming back here when you have questions.
You can also try Svelte online in the [playground](/playground) or, if you need a more fully-featured environment, on [StackBlitz](https://sveltekit.new).
# Getting started
We recommend using [SvelteKit](../kit), which lets you [build almost anything](../kit/project-types). It's the official application framework from the Svelte team and powered by [Vite](https://vite.dev/). Create a new project with:
```bash
npx sv create myapp
cd myapp
npm install
npm run dev
```
Don't worry if you don't know Svelte yet! You can ignore all the nice features SvelteKit brings on top for now and dive into it later.
## Alternatives to SvelteKit
You can also use Svelte directly with Vite by running `npm create vite@latest` and selecting the `svelte` option. With this, `npm run build` will generate HTML, JS, and CSS files inside the `dist` directory using [vite-plugin-svelte](https://github.com/sveltejs/vite-plugin-svelte). In most cases, you will probably need to [choose a routing library](faq#Is-there-a-router) as well.
>[!NOTE] Vite is often used in standalone mode to build [single page apps (SPAs)](../kit/glossary#SPA), which you can also [build with SvelteKit](../kit/single-page-apps).
There are also plugins for [Rollup](https://github.com/sveltejs/rollup-plugin-svelte), [Webpack](https://github.com/sveltejs/svelte-loader) [and a few others](https://sveltesociety.dev/packages?category=build-plugins), but we recommend Vite.
## Editor tooling
The Svelte team maintains a [VS Code extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=svelte.svelte-vscode), and there are integrations with various other [editors](https://sveltesociety.dev/resources#editor-support) and tools as well.
You can also check your code from the command line using [sv check](https://github.com/sveltejs/cli).
## Getting help
Don't be shy about asking for help in the [Discord chatroom](/chat)! You can also find answers on [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/svelte).
# .svelte files
Components are the building blocks of Svelte applications. They are written into `.svelte` files, using a superset of HTML.
All three sections — script, styles and markup — are optional.
```svelte
/// file: MyComponent.svelte
```
## `
```
You can `export` bindings from this block, and they will become exports of the compiled module. You cannot `export default`, since the default export is the component itself.
> [!NOTE] If you are using TypeScript and import such exports from a `module` block into a `.ts` file, make sure to have your editor setup so that TypeScript knows about them. This is the case for our VS Code extension and the IntelliJ plugin, but in other cases you might need to setup our [TypeScript editor plugin](https://www.npmjs.com/package/typescript-svelte-plugin).
> [!LEGACY]
> In Svelte 4, this script tag was created using `
```
Unlike other frameworks you may have encountered, there is no API for interacting with state — `count` is just a number, rather than an object or a function, and you can update it like you would update any other variable.
### Deep state
If `$state` is used with an array or a simple object, the result is a deeply reactive _state proxy_. [Proxies](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Proxy) allow Svelte to run code when you read or write properties, including via methods like `array.push(...)`, triggering granular updates.
> [!NOTE] Classes like `Set` and `Map` will not be proxied, but Svelte provides reactive implementations for various built-ins like these that can be imported from [`svelte/reactivity`](./svelte-reactivity).
State is proxified recursively until Svelte finds something other than an array or simple object. In a case like this...
```js
let todos = $state([
{
done: false,
text: 'add more todos'
}
]);
```
...modifying an individual todo's property will trigger updates to anything in your UI that depends on that specific property:
```js
let todos = [{ done: false, text: 'add more todos' }];
// ---cut---
todos[0].done = !todos[0].done;
```
If you push a new object to the array, it will also be proxified:
```js
let todos = [{ done: false, text: 'add more todos' }];
// ---cut---
todos.push({
done: false,
text: 'eat lunch'
});
```
> [!NOTE] When you update properties of proxies, the original object is _not_ mutated.
Note that if you destructure a reactive value, the references are not reactive — as in normal JavaScript, they are evaluated at the point of destructuring:
```js
let todos = [{ done: false, text: 'add more todos' }];
// ---cut---
let { done, text } = todos[0];
// this will not affect the value of `done`
todos[0].done = !todos[0].done;
```
### Classes
You can also use `$state` in class fields (whether public or private):
```js
// @errors: 7006 2554
class Todo {
done = $state(false);
text = $state();
constructor(text) {
this.text = text;
}
reset() {
this.text = '';
this.done = false;
}
}
```
> [!NOTE] The compiler transforms `done` and `text` into `get`/`set` methods on the class prototype referencing private fields. This means the properties are not enumerable.
When calling methods in JavaScript, the value of [`this`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/this) matters. This won't work, because `this` inside the `reset` method will be the `