SVG Sprite for Vite Without a Framework

A quick guide to creating an SVG sprite in a Vite application without a framework.

Generate the sprite

Choose a folder for the sprite. This example uses assets/app-icons, with source SVG files, including the check.svg used below, in assets/svg-icons.

Create assets/app-icons/svg-sprite.config.json:

{
  "mode": "standalone@vite",
  "name": "app",
  "input": "../svg-icons/**/*.svg"
}

The input path is relative to the config folder.

Add generation commands to package.json. Generated files are excluded from Git by default, so predev and prebuild rebuild the sprite before every start and build:

{
  "scripts": {
    "sprites": "npx --yes @gromlab/svg-sprites assets/app-icons/svg-sprite.config.json",
    "predev": "npm run sprites",
    "dev": "vite",
    "prebuild": "npm run sprites",
    "build": "vite build"
  }
}

Use the sprite

The value name: "app" creates the <app-icon> element.

Create the entry point assets/app-icons/index.ts:

export * from './.svg-sprite/index.js'

import { defineAppIconElement } from '../assets/app-icons'
import './style.css'

defineAppIconElement()

Use the icon in HTML:

<app-icon icon="check" role="img" aria-label="Done"></app-icon>

The file check.svg is available as icon="check". Set its size and colors with CSS:

app-icon {
  font-size: 24px;
  color: #334155;
  --icon-color-2: #f59e0b;
}

A monochrome icon inherits color, while colors in a multicolor icon are overridden with --icon-color-N. Viewer shows the variables you need.

Vite automatically adds sprite.svg to the production build. You do not need to copy it to public.

Debug and preview

Viewer displays all icons on one page so you can check their rendering, change colors, and inspect the related CSS variables. It is only needed for development and is installed separately:

npm install --save-dev @gromlab/svg-sprites

Create svg-sprite.html in the project root:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Project icons</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- Viewer component for debugging and previewing the SVG sprite -->
    <gromlab-sprite-viewer viewer-title="Project icons"></gromlab-sprite-viewer>

    <!-- Load the debug script created below -->
    <script type="module" src="/src/svg-sprite-debug.ts"></script>
  </body>
</html>

Create src/svg-sprite-debug.ts:

import '@gromlab/svg-sprites/viewer/element'
import type { SpriteViewerElement } from '@gromlab/svg-sprites/viewer'
import spriteManifest from '../assets/app-icons/.svg-sprite/svg-sprite.manifest.js'

const viewer = document.querySelector<SpriteViewerElement>('gromlab-sprite-viewer')!
viewer.sources = [spriteManifest]

Run npm run dev and open /svg-sprite.html.

Viewer is not required for <app-icon> and is not imported by the application's main code.

3.0 KiB Raw Blame History

SVG Sprite for Vite Without a Framework

Generate the sprite

Use the sprite

Debug and preview

3.0 KiB

Raw Blame History