Nuxt is a free and open-source framework with an intuitive and extendable way to create type-safe, performant and production-grade full-stack web applications and websites with Vue.js.
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⚠️ Deprecations
The changelog mentions deprecation; it may still be compatible.
In preparation for Nitro v3 and H3 v2, we're moving to use Web API naming conventions (#33912). The old properties still work but are deprecated in advance of v5:
The changelog points readers to a migration guide.
Keep an eye out on the Upgrade Guide – we'll be adding details about how you can already start migrating your projects to prepare for Nuxt v4 with future.compatibilityVersion: 5.
Check out our upgrade guide if upgrading from an older version.
3.21.0 is the next minor release.
Nuxt 4.3 and 3.21 bring powerful new features for layouts, caching, and developer experience – plus significant performance improvements under the hood.
📣 Some News
Extended v3 Support
Early this month, I opened a discussion to find out how the upgrade had gone from v3 to v4. I was really pleased to hear how well it had gone for most people.
Having said that, we're committed to making sure no one gets left behind. And so we will continue to provide security updates and critical bug fix releases beyond the previously announced end-of-life date of January 31, 2026, meaning Nuxt v3 will meet its end-of-life on July 31, 2026.
Tip
As usual, today also brings a minor release for v3, with many of the same improvements backported from v4.3.
Preparing for Nuxt 5
We're closer than ever to the releases of Nuxt v5 and Nitro v3. In the coming weeks, the main branch of the Nuxt repository will begin receiving initial commits for Nuxt 5. However, it's still business as usual.
Continue making pull requests to the main branch
We'll backport changes to the 4.x and 3.x branches
Keep an eye out on the Upgrade Guide – we'll be adding details about how you can already start migrating your projects to prepare for Nuxt v4 with future.compatibilityVersion: 5.
🗂️ Route Rule Layouts
But that's enough about the future. We have a lot of good things for you today!
First, you can now set layouts directly in route rules using the new appLayout property (#31092). This provides a centralized, declarative way to manage layouts across your application without scattering definePageMeta calls throughout your pages.
Payload extraction now works with ISR (incremental static regeneration), SWR (stale-while-revalidate) and cache routeRules (#33467). Previously, only pre-rendered pages could generate _payload.json files.
This means:
Client-side navigation to ISR/SWR pages can use cached payloads
CDNs (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare) can cache payload files alongside HTML
Fewer API calls during navigation – data can be prefetched and served from the cached payload
Related to the above, payload extraction now also works in development mode (#30784). This makes it easier to test and debug payload behavior without needing to run a production build.
Important
Payload extraction works in dev mode with nitro.static set to true, or for individual pages which have isr, swr, prerender or cache route rules.
🚫 Disable Modules from Layers
When extending Nuxt layers, you can now disable specific modules that you don't need (#33883). Just pass false to the module's options:
Route groups (folders wrapped in parentheses like (protected)/) are now exposed in page meta (#33460). This makes it easy to check which groups a route belongs to in middleware or anywhere you have access to the route.
<script setup lang="ts">
// This page's meta will include: { groups: ['protected'] }
useRoute().meta.groups
</script>
Module authors can now use async functions when adding build plugins (#33619):
export default defineNuxtModule({
async setup() {
// Lazy load only when actually needed
addVitePlugin(() => import('my-cool-plugin').then(r => r.default()))
// No need to load webpack plugin if using Vite
addWebpackPlugin(() => import('my-cool-plugin/webpack').then(r => r.default()))
}
})
This enables true lazy loading of build plugins, avoiding unnecessary code loading when plugins aren't needed.
🚀 Performance Improvements
This release includes several performance optimizations for faster builds:
Hook filters - Internal plugins now use filters to avoid running hooks unnecessarily (#33898)
SSR styles optimization - The nuxt:ssr-styles plugin is now significantly faster (#33862, #33865)
Layer alias transform - Skipped when using Vite (it handles this natively) (#33864)
Route rules compilation - Route rules are now compiled into a client chunk using rou3, removing the need for radix3 in the client bundle and eliminating app manifest fetches (#33920)
🎨 Inline Styles for Webpack/Rspack
The inlineStyles feature now works with webpack and rspack builders (#33966), not just Vite. This enables critical CSS inlining for better Core Web Vitals regardless of your bundler choice.
⚠️ Deprecations
statusCode → status, statusMessage → statusText
In preparation for Nitro v3 and H3 v2, we're moving to use Web API naming conventions (#33912). The old properties still work but are deprecated in advance of v5:
Enabled allowArbitraryExtensions by default in TypeScript config (#34084)
Added noUncheckedIndexedAccess to server tsconfig for safer typing (#33985)
Important
Enabling noUncheckedIndexedAccess in the Nitro server TypeScript config improves type safety but may surface new type errors in your server code. This change was necessary because Nuxt's app context performs type checks on server routes (learn more).
While we recommend keeping this enabled for better type safety, you can disable it if needed:
Clarified type-checking context limitations for server routes (#33964)
🎉 Nuxt 3.21.0
Alongside v4.3.0, we're releasing Nuxt v3.21.0 with many of the same improvements backported to the 3.x branch. This release includes:
All the same features: Route rule layouts, ISR payload extraction, layout props with setPageLayout, #server alias, draggable error overlay, and more
All performance improvements: SSR styles optimization, hook filters, and route rules compilation
Module disabling: Disable layer modules by setting options to false
Critical bug fixes: Async data reactivity in Options API, useCookie number parsing, head component deduplication, and more
✅ Upgrading
Our recommendation for upgrading is to run:
npx nuxt@latest upgrade --dedupe --channel=v3
This will deduplicate your lockfile and help ensure you pull in updates from other dependencies that Nuxt relies on, particularly in the unjs ecosystem.
Tip
Check out our upgrade guide if upgrading from an older version.
