After years of copy-pasting similar components across projects, I finally built a comprehensive TypeScript component architecture that has transformed how I approach development. The process taught me invaluable lessons about scalability, type safety, and maintainable code.
I started by auditing five recent applications, identifying common patterns and components that appeared across different codebases. This revealed inconsistencies I hadn't noticed—seven slightly different button implementations, inconsistent prop naming conventions, and type definitions that varied without clear purpose.
Rather than creating a rigid system upfront, I built it iteratively through a real production application. For a large e-commerce platform, I documented each component as I developed it, creating a living system that evolved with actual requirements and user feedback.
The core of my architecture includes:
- Strict TypeScript interfaces with comprehensive prop definitions
- Composable component patterns using Vue 3's Composition API
- Consistent naming conventions for props, events, and slots
- Automated testing strategies that scale with component complexity
- Performance optimization patterns including lazy loading and memoization
The biggest challenge wasn't technical but conceptual—learning to think in terms of composition over inheritance and building for future maintainability rather than just immediate needs. The payoff has been tremendous: development velocity increased by 60%, bug reports decreased significantly, and onboarding new developers became much smoother.
The key insights I've gained:
- Start with TypeScript from day one - retrofitting types is exponentially harder
- Define clear boundaries between business logic and presentation components
- Test component APIs, not implementations - this makes refactoring much safer
- Document with examples - good TypeScript types are self-documenting, but usage examples are invaluable
If you're building a component system, my advice is to start with your most frequently used components, establish clear type patterns early, and always think about how the component will be consumed by other developers (including future you).
The time invested in proper architecture pays dividends in every subsequent project.