Files
agent-skills/skills/vue-best-practices/reference/prop-boolean-casting-order.md
Jason Woltje f5792c40be feat: Complete fleet — 94 skills across 10+ domains
Pulled ALL skills from 15 source repositories:
- anthropics/skills: 16 (docs, design, MCP, testing)
- obra/superpowers: 14 (TDD, debugging, agents, planning)
- coreyhaines31/marketingskills: 25 (marketing, CRO, SEO, growth)
- better-auth/skills: 5 (auth patterns)
- vercel-labs/agent-skills: 5 (React, design, Vercel)
- antfu/skills: 16 (Vue, Vite, Vitest, pnpm, Turborepo)
- Plus 13 individual skills from various repos

Mosaic Stack is not limited to coding — the Orchestrator and
subagents serve coding, business, design, marketing, writing,
logistics, analysis, and more.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-02-16 16:27:42 -06:00

105 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown

---
title: Boolean Prop Type Order Affects Casting Behavior
impact: MEDIUM
impactDescription: Wrong type order causes boolean props to be parsed as empty strings instead of true
type: gotcha
tags: [vue3, props, boolean, type-casting, validation]
---
# Boolean Prop Type Order Affects Casting Behavior
**Impact: MEDIUM** - When a prop accepts multiple types including both `Boolean` and `String`, the order in the type array determines how attribute-only syntax (e.g., `<Component disabled />`) is parsed. Incorrect ordering can result in `""` (empty string) instead of `true`.
Vue applies special boolean casting rules, but String appearing before Boolean disables this casting.
## Task Checklist
- [ ] Place `Boolean` before `String` in type arrays when you want boolean casting
- [ ] Test attribute-only syntax (`<Component disabled />`) to verify expected behavior
- [ ] Consider using only `Boolean` type if the prop is truly boolean
- [ ] Document the expected usage if both String and Boolean are intentional
**Incorrect:**
```vue
<script setup>
// WRONG: String before Boolean disables boolean casting
defineProps({
disabled: [String, Boolean] // disabled="" is parsed as empty string ""
})
</script>
<!-- In parent template -->
<MyComponent disabled /> <!-- props.disabled === "" (empty string, not true!) -->
```
```vue
<script setup>
defineProps({
// PROBLEMATIC: Order matters and may cause confusion
loading: [String, Boolean], // <Component loading /> gives ""
active: [Boolean, String] // <Component active /> gives true
})
</script>
```
**Correct:**
```vue
<script setup>
// CORRECT: Boolean before String enables boolean casting
defineProps({
disabled: [Boolean, String] // <Component disabled /> parsed as true
})
</script>
<!-- All of these work as expected -->
<MyComponent disabled /> <!-- props.disabled === true -->
<MyComponent :disabled="true" /> <!-- props.disabled === true -->
<MyComponent :disabled="false" /> <!-- props.disabled === false -->
<MyComponent disabled="custom" /> <!-- props.disabled === "custom" -->
```
```vue
<script setup>
// BEST: Use only Boolean if you don't need String values
defineProps({
disabled: Boolean // Clear intent, no ambiguity
})
</script>
```
## Boolean Casting Rules
| Prop Declaration | Template Usage | Resulting Value |
|-----------------|----------------|-----------------|
| `Boolean` | `<C disabled />` | `true` |
| `Boolean` | `<C />` (absent) | `false` |
| `[Boolean, String]` | `<C disabled />` | `true` |
| `[String, Boolean]` | `<C disabled />` | `""` (empty string) |
| `[Boolean, Number]` | `<C disabled />` | `true` |
| `[Number, Boolean]` | `<C disabled />` | `true` |
Note: The String type is special - it's the only type that overrides Boolean casting when placed first.
## When to Use Multiple Types
```vue
<script setup>
// Use case: Prop can be a boolean toggle OR a string configuration
defineProps({
// Animation can be true/false OR a timing string like "fast", "slow"
animate: {
type: [Boolean, String], // Boolean first for casting
default: false
}
})
</script>
<!-- Usage examples -->
<Dialog animate /> <!-- true - use default animation -->
<Dialog :animate="false" /> <!-- false - no animation -->
<Dialog animate="slow" /> <!-- "slow" - custom timing -->
```
## Reference
- [Vue.js Props - Boolean Casting](https://vuejs.org/guide/components/props.html#boolean-casting)