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Trying to use official VueJS libraries with browser ESM CDN imports

Official VueJS libraries, e.g. vue-router, are simultaneously dependencies and dependents of vue, seemingly making those impossible to use with ESM CDN import statements without using <script type="importmap">, which isn't supported everywhere.

VueJS standalone boilerplates

Basic, working

Full code snippet :

<script type="module">
    import { createApp } from 'https://unpkg.com/vue@3.2.11/dist/vue.esm-browser.js';
    const app = createApp({
        template: `
            <p>
                Hello,
                <br>
                World !
            </p>
        `
    });
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => app.mount('.app'));
</script>
<body class="app"></body>

JSFiddle : 7y6v8rse

Full, working

Tree :

.
├── index.html
└── src
    ├── app.js
    └── components
        ├── App.css
        ├── App.js
        ├── AppMain.js
        ├── AppMainMessage.css
        └── AppMainMessage.js

Source code repository: KaKi87/template-vue3-cdn

Although this template will not be used here, it aims to illustrate how close we can get to a bundled project development experience without bundling.

Import attempts

Raw *.esm-browser.js import with <script type="importmap">, working

Full code snippet :

<script type="importmap">
    {
        "imports": {
            "vue": "https://unpkg.com/vue@3.2.11/dist/vue.esm-browser.js",
            "@vue/devtools-api": "https://unpkg.com/@vue/devtools-api@6.1.4/lib/esm/index.js"
        }
    }
</script>
<script type="module">
    import { createApp } from 'https://unpkg.com/vue@3.2.11/dist/vue.esm-browser.js';
    import { createRouter, createWebHistory } from 'https://unpkg.com/vue-router@4.0.14/dist/vue-router.esm-browser.js';
    const app = createApp({
        template: `
            <router-view>
            </router-view>
        `
    });
    app.use(createRouter({
        history: createWebHistory(),
        routes: [
            {
                path: '/:pathMatch(.*)*',
                component: {
                    template: `
                        <p>
                            Hello,
                            <br>
                            World !
                        </p>
                    `
                }
            }
        ]
    }));
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => app.mount('.app'));
</script>
<body class="app"></body>

JSFiddle : ms4hgbpe

Raw *.esm-browser.js import without <script type="importmap">, failing

JSFiddle : zpx9shfu

Error :

Failed to resolve module specifier "vue". Relative references must start with either "/", "./", or "../".

Transpiled *.js imports using various CDNs, all failing

CDN File Error JSFiddle
cdn.jsdelivr.net esm-browser Cannot read properties of null (reading 'parent') kLtdpoqc
esm.sh ^ ^ cjsb8phm
^ cjs ^ 0m6scf5p
^ esm-bundler Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'value') 2pgz0dLc
cdn.jsdelivr.net ^ ^ 8gockz96
^ cjs Cannot read properties of null (reading 'defineComponent') 5xsrqm6h

Disqualified transpilation CDNs

The following CDNs are excluded from the comparison table because of not being able to export.

CDN File Error
dev.jspm.io esm-browser The requested module '/npm:vue@3' does not provide an export named 'computed'
^ esm-bundler ^
^ cjs HTTP 500
cdn.skypack.dev esm-browser "vue@v3.2.31" could not be built. (Imported by "vue-router")
^ esm-bundler ^
^ cjs ^
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