Using Element UI with Vue 3

Before diving deep into how to "use Element UI with Vue 3," we must first confront a core technical reality: this is a widely misunderstood misconception. Element UI (now rebranded as Element Plus) is a component library written in native JavaScript, and its underlying logic is deeply coupled with the specific features of Vue 2.6.x. While it is theoretically possible to make it run in Vue 3 through build tooling or source porting, this approach not only leads to severe issues such as performance bottlenecks, broken type inference, and inconsistent lifecycle hook behaviors but also forces developers to incur significant maintenance costs.

Therefore, the core purpose of this tutorial is not to guide you in forcibly integrating Element UI into a Vue 3 project (which is generally not recommended), but rather to help you understand the essence of this technical conflict and naturally transition to its official successor—Element Plus. True "usage" should be embracing best practices within a compatible ecosystem. If you insist on seeing code-level difference comparisons or migration path analyses, the following content will reveal the key decision points and implementation details for you.
The key to understanding this issue lies in the architectural differences between the two technology stacks. The design intent of Element UI was to solve the lack of unified standards for component libraries in the Vue 2 era. It extensively used this references and traditional DOM manipulation-based writing styles, which are fundamentally incompatible with Vue 3's introduction of the Composition API, refactored reactivity system, and virtual Diff algorithm.

In Vue 3, the usage scenarios for the Options API have been significantly compressed, and many original lifecycle hook behaviors have changed. For example, certain directives and internal component logics in Element UI rely on Vue 2-specific data and methods structures as well as specific event bus mechanisms. When these codes are directly placed into a Vue 3 project, the following typical symptoms appear:

  • Compilation Errors: Build failures occur due to missing necessary type definitions or the use of deprecated syntax sugar.
  • Runtime Warnings: Vue Devtools frequently prompts warnings regarding reactivity proxy incompatibility.
  • Functional Deficiencies: Core functionalities such as form validation and modal interactions may fail to trigger as expected, even posing risks of memory leaks.

Element Plus: The True Vue 3 Solution

Facing the challenges mentioned above, the industry standard answer is not "patching" old libraries but migrating to the next-generation component library maintained by the Element UI official team—Element Plus. Element Plus has completely rewritten its code logic to natively support all features of Vue 3, including the Composition API, TypeScript, and a brand new styling system (SCSS).

The advantages of choosing Element Plus are:

  1. Zero Migration Cost: The names and APIs of the majority of original components remain unchanged, allowing developers to switch seamlessly.
  2. Complete Typing: Provides complete TypeScript definition files, greatly enhancing development efficiency and code safety.
  3. Performance Optimization: Built upon Vue 3's lightweight reactivity system, rendering speed is significantly improved.

Implementation Steps for Migration and Integration

If you decide to adopt Element Plus (which is the only feasible "usage" path), here is the standardized implementation process. First, you need to clean up all direct dependency packages of Element UI in your project. Next, install the corresponding Vue 3 version component library via official documentation or npm:

npm install element-plus @element-plus/icons-vue
# Or use yarn/pnpm
yarn add element-plus @element-plus/icons-vue

In the main.js file, import global styles and register icons; this is an important step to ensure UI consistency. Since Element Plus does not include CSS files by default, you must explicitly import them at the start of the application:

import 'element-plus/dist/index.css' // Must include this line to load theme colors

// Register component library in Vue.createApp
const { createApp } = vue;
const App = createApp(AppComponent);

// Import icon set (optional but recommended)
import * as ElementPlusIconsVue from '@element-plus/icons-vue';
for (const [key, component] of Object.entries(ElementPlusIconsVue)) {
    App.component(key, component);
}

App.use(elementPlus) // Register plugin system

After completing the above configuration, your project will automatically gain full support for Vue 3 Composition API. You can use components like <el-button> and <el-table> just as you did in Vue 2, but at this point, they are internally perfectly adapted to the new reactivity principles and lifecycle management methods. This architectural upgrade not only solves technical debt issues but also lays a solid foundation for future feature expansion.