Element Plus — Vue 3 UI Library by the Element Team

What it is

Element Plus is the Vue 3 successor to Element UI, built by the original Element team. It provides over 60 desktop-first components with a clean aesthetic, full TypeScript support, and tree-shakable imports for optimized bundle sizes.

The library targets frontend developers building admin dashboards, internal tools, and business applications with Vue 3. Its large Chinese developer community and comprehensive documentation make it one of the most adopted Vue component libraries worldwide.

How it saves time or tokens

Element Plus eliminates the need to build common UI patterns from scratch. Pre-built components for tables, forms, dialogs, date pickers, and notifications let you ship features in hours instead of days. The consistent API design means learning one component teaches you the patterns for all others, reducing the ramp-up time for new team members.

How to use

1. Install Element Plus in your Vue 3 project using npm or yarn.
2. Import components on demand or register globally, then use them in your templates.
3. Customize the theme using CSS variables or the SCSS variable override system.

Example

# Install Element Plus
npm install element-plus

<template>
  <el-button type='primary' @click='handleClick'>Submit</el-button>
  <el-table :data='tableData' stripe>
    <el-table-column prop='name' label='Name' />
    <el-table-column prop='status' label='Status' />
  </el-table>
</template>

<script setup lang='ts'>
import { ref } from 'vue'
const tableData = ref([
  { name: 'Project Alpha', status: 'Active' },
  { name: 'Project Beta', status: 'Pending' }
])
const handleClick = () => console.log('submitted')
</script>

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Common pitfalls

• Importing the entire library instead of using tree-shaking, which inflates your bundle size significantly.
• Mixing Element UI (Vue 2) documentation with Element Plus (Vue 3) API references, leading to broken code.
• Neglecting to configure the locale provider for internationalization, resulting in Chinese-only date pickers and validation messages.