Vue Launch Checklist: 25 Essential Steps

Run `vite build` and confirm the output contains no Vue devtools or development-mode warnings. Vue's development mode adds significant overhead with reactivity tracking and component validation that should never ship to users.

Add `rollup-plugin-visualizer` to your Vite config and inspect the generated treemap. Identify any unexpectedly large dependencies — common offenders include moment.js, lodash (use lodash-es), and full icon libraries when you only need a few icons.

Use `defineAsyncComponent` or dynamic `import()` in Vue Router's `component` field so each route loads its own chunk. Without code splitting, users download your entire app on the first page load, increasing Time to Interactive significantly.

Configure `resolve.alias` in `vite.config.ts` (e.g., `@` for `./src`) and ensure your `tsconfig.json` paths match. Mismatched aliases are a common cause of production build failures that work fine in development.

Use `vite-plugin-compression` or configure your CDN/server to compress assets. Brotli typically achieves 15-20% better compression than gzip on JavaScript and CSS files, directly reducing load times for your users.

Use `createWebHistory()` instead of `createWebHashHistory()` for clean URLs. Configure your server to return `index.html` for all routes so deep links and page refreshes work. Without this, users get 404s when refreshing any non-root page.

Define a `/:pathMatch(.*)*` route at the end of your routes array that renders a proper 404 page. Without it, unmatched URLs show a blank page or default content, confusing users and hurting SEO.

Use `beforeEnter` on individual routes or a global `router.beforeEach` guard to check authentication state before rendering protected pages. Redirect unauthenticated users to a login page rather than showing a flash of protected content.

Use `router.beforeEach` and `router.afterEach` hooks to show a progress bar (e.g., NProgress) during route changes. Async components and data fetching can cause noticeable delays — without feedback, users think the app is broken.

Configure `scrollBehavior` in your router to return `{ top: 0 }` for new navigations and `savedPosition` for browser back/forward. Without this, users land mid-page when navigating between routes, breaking the expected browser behavior.

Check that every `$subscribe` and `watch` in your stores is properly cleaned up when components unmount. Stores persist across route changes, so leaked subscriptions accumulate and degrade performance over time — especially in SPAs with long sessions.

Wrap Axios or fetch calls with retry logic for transient failures (5xx, network errors) and set reasonable timeouts (10-15s). Production networks are unreliable — a single failed request without retry can break an entire user flow.

Create a validation function that checks every required `import.meta.env.VITE_*` variable at app initialization and throws a clear error if any are missing. Missing env vars are the most common cause of 'works locally, breaks in production' bugs.

For actions like toggling favorites or posting comments, update the UI immediately and roll back on failure. Waiting for server confirmation before updating the UI makes your app feel sluggish — users expect sub-100ms feedback on interactions.

Use `pinia-plugin-persistedstate` to persist authentication tokens, user preferences, and cart data to localStorage. Without persistence, users lose their state on page refresh, which is especially frustrating for multi-step forms and shopping carts.

Set `app.config.errorHandler` to catch all unhandled errors in components, watchers, and lifecycle hooks. Log them to an external service like Sentry or Datadog. Without this, Vue silently swallows errors in production and you only learn about them from user complaints.

Use `onErrorCaptured` in wrapper components to catch and display fallback UI for non-fatal rendering errors. A single broken widget should not take down your entire page — isolate failures so the rest of the app remains functional.

Use the `web-vitals` library to measure LCP, INP, and CLS in production and report metrics to your analytics. Lab tools like Lighthouse miss real-user conditions — field data reveals performance issues that only appear on slow devices and networks.

Log the HTTP method, URL, status code, request duration, and user ID for every failed API call. Generic 'request failed' logs are useless for debugging — you need enough context to reproduce the issue without asking the user what they were doing.

Run your E2E test suite and fail on any console.error output. Unhandled promise rejections, missing props, and deprecation warnings often indicate real bugs that manifest differently in production.

Install `@unhead/vue` and use `useHead()` in each page component to set unique titles, descriptions, and Open Graph tags. Without per-page metadata, every route shows the same title in search results, killing your click-through rate.

Use `@axe-core/cli` or the browser extension to scan each route for WCAG violations. Fix all critical and serious issues — missing labels, low contrast, keyboard traps, and missing landmarks. Accessibility issues are legal liabilities in many jurisdictions.

Tab through every page without using a mouse. Every button, link, form field, and modal must be reachable and operable via keyboard. Custom components built with `<div>` instead of `<button>` almost always break keyboard navigation.

Use Nuxt.js or `vite-ssg` to server-render or prerender pages that need to rank in search. Client-only Vue apps return empty HTML to crawlers — Google can render JavaScript but often delays indexing, and other search engines may not render at all.

Create a sitemap.xml listing all public routes with lastmod dates and submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. For SPAs, use a build-time sitemap generator since your routes are not discoverable by crawling alone.