Livewire

Laravel Livewire (v1 - v4)

Livewire builds reactive UIs with a PHP class + Blade view and no dedicated JS. Its behavior has flipped in important ways between majors - the same wire:model is real-time on v1/v2, deferred on v3, and non-bubbling on v4. So: detect the version, then apply that version's rules.

Step 1 - Detect the installed version FIRST

composer show livewire/livewire | grep -i '^versions'   # resolved version
grep '"livewire/livewire"' composer.json                # the constraint (^1/^2/^3/^4)
php artisan about | grep -i livewire                    # if available

Map to major 1.x / 2.x / 3.x / 4.x. Fresh install -> default to latest stable and confirm. Can't tell -> ask, don't guess.

Step 2 - Load the matching reference

| Version | Era (one-liner) | Reference | |---|---|---| | v1 (Feb 2020) | First stable; Alpine separate; wire:model live by default | references/livewire-v1.md | | v2 (Sep 2020) | $wire + @entangle, wire:model.defer, $rules, scoped events | references/livewire-v2.md | | v3 (Aug 2023) | App\Livewire, Alpine bundled, wire:model deferred by default, dispatch(), PHP attributes, wire:navigate | references/livewire-v3.md | | v4 (Jan 2026) | Single-file & island components, parallel updates, .async, wire:sort/intersect/ref, Route::livewire() | references/livewire-v4.md |

Step 3 - For upgrades, load the matching guide

| Path | Guide | The headline break | |---|---|---| | v1 -> v2 | references/upgrades/v1-to-v2.md | $updatesQueryString->$queryString, routing, {{ $slot }} | | v2 -> v3 | references/upgrades/v2-to-v3.md | wire:model now deferred (add .live); emit->dispatch; namespace move; Alpine bundled | | v3 -> v4 | references/upgrades/v3-to-v4.md | wire:model stops bubbling (add .deep); .blur/.change no longer request (add .live); self-closing tags; Route::livewire() |

The two behavior flips to burn into memory

1. v2 -> v3: wire:model went from live to DEFERRED. On v3+, an input doesn't update the server as you type - add .live where you need real-time (search, live validation). This is the #1 v3 surprise.
2. v3 -> v4: wire:model stops listening to bubbled child events, and .blur/.change become client-only sync (no request). Custom-input wrappers break silently - add .deep; add .live to .blur/.change to keep hitting the server.

Version-independent best practices

• Single root element per component - true on every version.
• Public properties are exposed to the browser and client-writable. Never put secrets in them; lock IDs/prices (#[Locked] on v3+).
• wire:key on every item in a loop so DOM diffing tracks rows correctly (v4 defaults smart keys on, but be explicit).
• Prefer computed properties for derived/expensive data over recomputing in render().
• Validate on the server - client state is never trustworthy; wire:model values are user-controlled.
• mount() runs once; boot() runs every request (v2+). Put per-request re-resolution in boot()/computed, not mount().
• Don't hardcode volatile API from memory - verify signatures for the detected version against https://livewire.laravel.com/docs/.x (older v1/v2 pages live on the legacy laravel-livewire.com docs).

Output expectations

State the detected version ("Detected Livewire v3"), give code in that version's exact syntax labeled with the version, and on upgrades produce the ordered steps from the relevant guide (automated livewire:upgrade where it exists, then the manual breaking changes).

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: majdghithan
• Source: majdghithan/agent-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.