Micro-Frontend Migration Approaches: From Nuxt 2 to Nuxt 3

Upgrading to Nuxt 3: Strategies for Micro-Frontend Architecture and Workflow OptimizationPhoto by Simon Berger on UnsplashReasonsThere is a new version of Nuxt available (Nuxt 3) that is handier and requires less configurationNuxt 3 requires Vue 3Both …


This content originally appeared on Bits and Pieces - Medium and was authored by David

Upgrading to Nuxt 3: Strategies for Micro-Frontend Architecture and Workflow Optimization

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

Reasons

  • There is a new version of Nuxt available (Nuxt 3) that is handier and requires less configuration
  • Nuxt 3 requires Vue 3
  • Both of these improve DX and maintainability over time
  • Last and more important: Vue 2 will no longer receive support from version 7

Content

  • The Architecture
  • The Problem
  • The Strategy
  • The Workflow
  • Other Considerations

The Architecture

Let’s see what we have:

Layer 1 or Main Layer, Layer 2 or Module Layer, and Layer 3 or Shared Layer

This is a pretty common micro-frontend distribution, consisting of 3 layers:

  • Layer 1 or Main Layer exposes modules through a single window to the user.
  • Layer 2 or Module Layer contains different domains or modules from our application, payments, blogs, and so on.
  • Layer 3 or Common Layer is responsible for sharing reusable code within modules. Here we can find our Design Systems and cross-module utilities, for example.

In our particular case, our main repository exposes modules to the rest of the world and contains our internal APIs using Vue 2 and Nuxt 2, the other repositories are normal Vue 2 SPAs (Single Page Applications).

We use Module Federation (MF), to share and consume code between repositories using a “remote” and “host” pattern where the remote exposes code, and the host uses it as if it were from itself.

The Problem

Although Module Federation discloses a huge potential it also offers a weakness: it leads us to a tightly coupled micro-frontend architecture:

If we update a common dependency between any repository we could break the whole app 🫠🤯

This is true especially when using different versions of Vue as we move from version 2 to version 3.

The Strategy

So let’s see the options we have:

  1. Expose components in the remote as Web Components, so the host receives it as native and framework-independent code.
  2. Upgrade to Vue 3 and use a compatibility package that supports Vue 2 code inside of it.

Web Components Advantages:

  • make it easier for future updates not having to write Web Component configuration once again
  • allows upgrading repositories in Layers 2 and 3 without a specific order
  • allows using different frameworks if needed

Although the first option sounds promising, components lose their styles when we share web components made on Vue 2 (See example). On the other hand, a compatibility package just works and it’s doable if we implemented it from top to bottom in our architecture, otherwise, we end up exposing Vue 3 components inside Vue 2 repositories which isn’t allowed.

Vue 3 app supporting Vue 2 code using a compatibility package

Note: Vue 3 solved the styles problem and this option shouldn’t be discarded for future upgrades

That being said the process should be divided into 2 stages:

Stage 1

Use the compatibility package in every repository from top to bottom

Use the compatibility package and fix errors in Layer 1
Use the compatibility package and fix errors in each repository on Layer 2
Upgrade repositories in Layer 3 to Vue 3 (doesn’t require compatibility package)

Stage 2

Upgrade the repositories from bottom to top to Vue 3 style and remove the compatibility packages once it’s not required

Upgrade each repository in Layer 2 and remove the compatibility package
Remove the compatibility package in Layer 1

The Workflow

At the same time we work in the migration process we should allow a continuous workflow for other teams to work on their normal tasks, once again we have 2 options:

  1. make the migration inside the current repository through a new branch
  2. make a new repository and migrate progressively our code

First Approach

Advantages

  • Doesn’t require building a new infrastructure because we are using what we have

Disadvantages

  • as other teams introduce features we are prone to invest a decent amount of time in resolving conflicts when we pull them to our migration branch
  • we test if it works only when we merge our branch at the end
  • we are isolated from other team’s work

In summary, it’s suitable for small projects: when dependencies are few and teams are small.

Second Approach

Advantages:

  • when we move code to the new repository we remove it from the old one reducing the number of conflicts
  • increase collaboration: other teams can accomplish their tasks in the new repository
  • we quickly ensure that our new repository is working because we are using it in parallel with the old one

Disadvantages

  • requires a reverse proxy to point to the old or the new repository
  • requires building a new automatic pipeline for the new repository
  • developers should use 2 repositories for the same project

In summary, it’s suitable for medium to large projects: when dependencies and teams are many.

In our case, we are multiple teams working through the whole architecture and we already have a reverse proxy implemented, so the additional effort would be building a new pipeline for the new repository, and for that reason, this is our way to go.

Other Considerations

Bundler

We use Webpack 5 in all our repositories but at this time the information on the web is scarce on how to use it in a Nuxt 3 app. Because Vite is the default and offers a better Developer Experience we choose this one.

Node Version Update

We are currently using Node 14 but Nuxt and Vue 3 require version 16 or higher, we are going to use version 18.

Conclusions

As we are a medium size team and we use a lot of dependencies within our app we decide to:

  1. Use a compatibility package to update our code
  2. Create new repositories to migrate progressively and collaboratively
  3. In the process upgrade our node version and replace Webpack with Vite

Resources

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Learn more:


Micro-Frontend Migration Approaches: From Nuxt 2 to Nuxt 3 was originally published in Bits and Pieces on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.


This content originally appeared on Bits and Pieces - Medium and was authored by David


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