🚀 Ship Preact micro-components anywhere. Zero config. Under 1KB.

Features • Quick Start • Examples • API • Why?

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✨ Features

🪶 Impossibly Lightweight Under 1KB min+gzip. Your widget code will be bigger than the framework. 🔒 Shadow DOM Isolation Optional style encapsulation. Your CSS stays in, theirs stays out. 🦥 Lazy Loading Defer rendering until visible with IntersectionObserver. Ship fast, load smart.

🧩 Web Components Register as native Custom Elements. Works everywhere, no framework required. ⚡ Signals Ready Optional @preact/signals integration for reactive cross-widget state. 💧 SSR Hydration First-class server-rendering support. Fast to paint, fast to interact.

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📦 Installation

npm install preact-embed preact

yarn add preact-embed preact

pnpm add preact-embed preact

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Create your widget

// widgets/PricingCard.tsx
import { h } from 'preact';
import { useState } from 'preact/hooks';

interface Props {
  plan?: string;
  price?: number;
  features?: string[];
}

export function PricingCard({ plan = 'Pro', price = 29, features = [] }: Props) {
  const [selected, setSelected] = useState(false);
  
  return (
    <div className="pricing-card">
      <h2>{plan}</h2>
      <p className="price">${price}/mo</p>
      <ul>
        {features.map(f => <li key={f}>{f}</li>)}
      </ul>
      <button onClick={() => setSelected(!selected)}>
        {selected ? '✓ Selected' : 'Choose Plan'}
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

2. Create the embed

// index.tsx
import embed from 'preact-embed';
import { PricingCard } from './widgets/PricingCard';

const { render } = embed(PricingCard);

render({
  selector: '[data-widget="pricing"]',
  defaultProps: {
    plan: 'Starter',
    price: 9,
  },
});

3. Drop it anywhere

<!-- On any website, CMS, or app -->
<div 
  data-widget="pricing"
  data-prop-plan="Enterprise"
  data-prop-price="99"
>
  <script type="application/json">
    {
      "features": ["Unlimited users", "Priority support", "Custom integrations"]
    }
  </script>
</div>

<script src="https://cdn.example.com/pricing-widget.js" async></script>

That's it. Your Preact component now runs anywhere. 🎉

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🎯 Examples

📍 Basic Selector Mount

import embed from 'preact-embed';
import { NewsletterForm } from './NewsletterForm';

const { render } = embed(NewsletterForm);

render({
  selector: '#newsletter-signup',
});

<div id="newsletter-signup"></div>

🔐 Shadow DOM Isolation

Perfect for third-party embeds where you can't control the host page's CSS.

render({
  selector: '[data-widget="checkout"]',
  shadowRoot: true,  // Styles won't leak in or out
});

// Or with options
render({
  selector: '[data-widget="checkout"]',
  shadowRoot: { mode: 'closed' },  // Extra privacy
});

🦥 Lazy Loading

Only load widgets when they scroll into view.

render({
  selector: '.below-the-fold-widget',
  lazy: true,  // Uses IntersectionObserver
});

// With custom threshold
render({
  selector: '.below-the-fold-widget',
  lazy: {
    threshold: 0.5,      // 50% visible before loading
    rootMargin: '100px', // Start loading 100px before visible
  },
});

🧩 Custom Elements (Web Components)

Register your widget as a native HTML element.

import embed from 'preact-embed';
import { VideoPlayer } from './VideoPlayer';

const { render } = embed(VideoPlayer);

render({
  tagName: 'x-video-player',  // Registers <x-video-player>
  shadowRoot: true,
});

<!-- Now use it like native HTML! -->
<x-video-player 
  src="https://example.com/video.mp4"
  autoplay="false"
  poster="thumbnail.jpg"
></x-video-player>

💧 SSR Hydration

Hydrate server-rendered markup instead of replacing it.

render({
  selector: '[data-widget="comments"]',
  hydrate: true,  // Attaches to existing DOM
});

📡 Cross-Widget Communication

Widgets can talk to each other through the event bus.

// Widget A: User Selector
import { eventBus } from 'preact-embed';

function UserSelector() {
  const selectUser = (user) => {
    eventBus.emit('user:selected', user);
  };
  // ...
}

// Widget B: User Profile (different widget, same page)
import { useHabitatEvent } from 'preact-embed';

function UserProfile() {
  const [user] = useHabitatEvent('user:selected');
  
  return user ? <Profile user={user} /> : <p>Select a user</p>;
}

⚡ Signals Integration

Share reactive state across widgets without prop drilling.

// Install: npm install @preact/signals
import { getSignal, createStore } from 'preact-embed/signals';

// Global reactive counter (accessible from any widget)
const count = getSignal('cart-count', 0);

function AddToCartButton({ productId }) {
  const addToCart = () => {
    count.value++;
    // All widgets using this signal will update!
  };
  
  return <button onClick={addToCart}>Add to Cart ({count})</button>;
}

function CartIcon() {
  return <span className="cart-badge">{count}</span>;
}

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📖 API Reference

embed(Component)

Creates an embed instance for a Preact component.

import embed from 'preact-embed';

const { render, renderOne, unmountAll, instances } = embed(MyWidget);

Return	Type	Description
render	(options) => WidgetInstance[]	Mount to all matching elements
renderOne	(element, props?) => WidgetInstance	Mount to a single element
unmountAll	() => void	Destroy all widget instances
instances	WidgetInstance[]	Array of active instances

Render Options

interface EmbedOptions<P> {
  // Target elements
  selector?: string;           // CSS selector to find mount points
  inline?: boolean;            // Mount in parent of <script> tag
  clientSpecified?: boolean;   // Read selector from data-mount-in attr
  
  // Props
  defaultProps?: Partial<P>;   // Default props for all instances
  
  // Rendering
  clean?: boolean;             // Clear innerHTML before mounting
  hydrate?: boolean;           // Hydrate SSR markup instead of render
  
  // Advanced
  shadowRoot?: boolean | ShadowRootInit;   // Enable Shadow DOM
  lazy?: boolean | IntersectionObserverInit;  // Lazy load on scroll
  tagName?: string;            // Register as Custom Element
  
  // Lifecycle
  onBeforeMount?: (el: Element, props: P) => void | P;
  onMounted?: (el: Element, props: P) => void;
  onUnmount?: (el: Element) => void;
}

Widget Instance

interface WidgetInstance<P> {
  element: Element;           // The mounted DOM element
  props: P;                   // Current props
  update: (props: Partial<P>) => void;  // Update props & rerender
  unmount: () => void;        // Destroy this instance
}

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🎨 Passing Props

Via Data Attributes

<div 
  data-widget="pricing"
  data-prop-plan="Pro"
  data-prop-price="29"
  data-prop-is-popular="true"
  data-prop-discount-percent="20"
></div>

Attribute	Prop	Value
data-prop-plan	plan	"Pro"
data-prop-price	price	29 (number)
data-prop-is-popular	isPopular	true (boolean)
data-prop-discount-percent	discountPercent	20 (number)

Auto-parsing: Numbers, booleans (true/false), null, and JSON are automatically parsed.

Via JSON Script

<div data-widget="pricing">
  <script type="application/json">
    {
      "plan": "Enterprise",
      "price": 99,
      "features": ["SSO", "Audit logs", "99.99% SLA"],
      "contact": {
        "email": "sales@example.com",
        "phone": "1-800-EXAMPLE"
      }
    }
  </script>
</div>

Tip: JSON props are great for arrays, objects, and complex data structures.

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🏗️ Build Configuration

Vite

// vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import preact from '@preact/preset-vite';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [preact()],
  build: {
    lib: {
      entry: 'src/index.tsx',
      name: 'MyWidget',
      formats: ['umd', 'es'],
      fileName: (format) => `widget.${format}.js`,
    },
    rollupOptions: {
      output: {
        globals: {
          preact: 'preact',
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

Webpack

// webpack.config.js
module.exports = {
  entry: './src/index.tsx',
  output: {
    filename: 'widget.js',
    library: {
      name: 'MyWidget',
      type: 'umd',
    },
    globalObject: 'this',
  },
  // ... rest of config
};

tsup

// tsup.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'tsup';

export default defineConfig({
  entry: ['src/index.tsx'],
  format: ['cjs', 'esm', 'iife'],
  globalName: 'MyWidget',
  minify: true,
  dts: true,
});

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📊 Bundle Size

Module	Size (min+gzip)
preact-embed	~1.0 KB
preact-embed/signals	~0.5 KB
preact-embed/lite	~0.5 KB

Compare that to your alternatives:

Library	Size
preact-embed	~1.0 KB
preact-island	~1.3 KB
preact-habitat	~0.9 KB
React + ReactDOM	~45 KB

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🤔 Why preact-embed?

The Problem

You need to embed a Preact component into:

• A client's WordPress site
• A Shopify storefront
• An existing jQuery app
• Any CMS or third-party website

But you can't control the build system, the CSS, or what else is on the page.

The Solution

preact-embed gives you a bulletproof way to:

1. Mount anywhere — By selector, inline, or as a Web Component
2. Stay isolated — Shadow DOM keeps your styles safe
3. Load smart — Lazy loading for below-the-fold widgets
4. Communicate — Event bus and Signals for multi-widget pages
5. Stay tiny — Under 1KB, so Preact itself is your biggest dependency

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🔄 Migration from preact-habitat

Already using preact-habitat? The API is nearly identical:

- import habitat from 'preact-habitat';
+ import embed from 'preact-embed';

- const { render } = habitat(MyWidget);
+ const { render } = embed(MyWidget);

  render({
    selector: '.my-widget',
+   // New features available:
+   shadowRoot: true,
+   lazy: true,
  });

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🌐 Browser Support

Browser	Version
Chrome	60+
Firefox	55+
Safari	12+
Edge	79+

Note: For IE11 or older browsers, you'll need polyfills for IntersectionObserver (lazy loading) and customElements (Web Components).

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide first.

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/openconjecture/preact-embed.git

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run tests
pnpm test

# Build
pnpm build

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📄 License

MIT © Garrett Eastham

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_{Built with ❤️ for the Preact community}

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