Getting Started

Let’s look at how to get started with Reef.

Install

Reef works without any build step.

The CDN is the fastest and simplest way to get started, but you can use importable modules or a direct download if you’d prefer.

<!-- Get the latest major version -->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/reefjs@13/dist/reef.min.js"></script>

With the global script, you can call the API methods on the reef object, or destructure them into their own variables.

// You do this...
reef.store();

// or this...
let {store} = reef;

Reef uses semantic versioning. You can grab a major, minor, or patch version from the CDN with the @1.2.3 syntax. You can find all available versions under releases.

More ways to install Reef

ES Modules

Reef also supports modern browsers and module bundlers (like Rollup, Webpack, Snowpack, and so on) using the ES modules import syntax. Use the .es version.

import {store, component} from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/reefjs@13/dist/reef.es.min.js';

NPM

You can also use NPM (or your favorite package manager). First, install with NPM.

npm install reefjs --save

Then import the package.

import {store, component} from 'reefjs';

CommonJS

If you use NodeJS, you can import Reef using the require() method with the .cjs version.

let {store, component} = require('https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/reefjs@13/dist/reef.cjs.min.js');

Direct Download

You can download the files directly from GitHub.

Compiled and production-ready code can be found in the dist directory. The src directory contains development code.

<script src="path/to/reef.min.js"></script>

Quick Start

Reef is a tiny utility library with three core functions: signal(), render(), and component().

Create reactive data with the signal() method. Pass in an array or object, and Reef will emit a reef:signal event whenever a property is updated.

let {signal} = reef;

// Create a signal
let data = signal({
	greeting: 'Hello',
	name: 'World'
});

// Emits a reef:signal event
data.greeting = 'Hi';

Safely render UI from an HTML string with the render() method. Pass in an element or element selector and your HTML string. Reef will sanitize your HTML, then diff the DOM and update only the things that are different.

let {render} = reef;

let name = 'world';
render('#app', `<h1>Hello, ${name}!</h1>`);

Automatically update your UI when data changes with the component() method. Pass in an element or element selector and a template function. Reef will listen for reef:signal events and and automatically run the render() function.

let {signal, component} = reef;

// Create a signal
let data = signal({
	greeting: 'Hello',
	name: 'World'
});

// Create a template function
function template () {
	let {greeting, name} = data;
	return `<p>${greeting}, ${name}!</p>`;
}

// Create a component
// Renders into the UI, and updates whenever the data changes
component('#app', template);

// The UI will automatically update
data.greeting = 'Hi';
data.name = 'Universe';

Try this demo on CodePen →