git404hub

what is prefresh fr?

yyx990803/prefresh — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2021-01-29

4Audience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · moderate

tl;dr

Hot-reloading for Preact apps, edit code and see changes instantly without losing app state.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Hot reload components
      Preserve app state
      Track file changes
    Tech stack
      Preact
      Webpack
      Vite
      Next.js
    Use cases
      Faster dev feedback
      Tweak forms live
      Style iteration
    Audience
      Preact developers

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Tweak component styling and see it update instantly without losing form input state.

VIBE 2

Wire hot reloading into a Preact project using Vite, Webpack, or Next.js.

VIBE 3

Speed up iteration on UI logic during active development.

VIBE 4

Debug component updates without full page reloads.

what's the stack?

PreactWebpackViteNext.js

how it stacks up fr

yyx990803/prefresh0labs-in/vision-link3xhelix/rbdoom
Stars444
LanguageTypeScript
Last pushed2021-01-29
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatehard
Complexity2/53/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · moderate time til it works · 30min

Experimental package, requires following component/hook naming conventions to work reliably.

in plain english

Prefresh is a tool that speeds up development of Preact applications by automatically reloading only the code you just changed, without losing your app's current state. Instead of refreshing the entire page and starting over, your changes appear instantly while your app keeps running. Think of it like editing a document in real-time: normally when you save a file, you'd have to close and reopen the whole document. Prefresh is like having the document update in place, with your cursor and scroll position still right where you left them. For Preact developers, this means if you're testing a form with filled-in values, you can tweak the styling or logic and see the result without re-typing everything. The project works by monitoring your code files as you edit them and sending just the changed component back to your running app, rather than reloading the whole page. It plugs into popular build tools like Webpack, Vite, Next.js, and others, so it works alongside the tools you're already using. The core package handles the reloading logic, and separate packages make it compatible with different build systems. To use Prefresh effectively, you follow a few naming conventions that help it identify what's a component and what's not. Components need clear names starting with a capital letter, custom hooks should start with "use," and shared hooks should be kept in separate files from your components. These practices aren't unique to Prefresh, they're standard patterns in the Preact ecosystem, but they're essential for the hot-reloading to work smoothly. Without them, Prefresh can't reliably track what changed and what needs updating. This is marked as an experimental package, so while it works, it's still being refined and may change. It's most useful for developers actively building Preact apps who want a faster feedback loop during development.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Set up Prefresh with Vite so my Preact app hot-reloads components without losing state.
prompt 2
Explain the naming conventions Prefresh needs for components and custom hooks to work correctly.
prompt 3
Add Prefresh to my existing Webpack config for a Preact project.
prompt 4
Why isn't my component hot-reloading with Prefresh, and how do I fix the naming so it's detected?

Frequently asked questions

what is prefresh fr?

Hot-reloading for Preact apps, edit code and see changes instantly without losing app state.

Is prefresh actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2021-01-29).

How hard is prefresh to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is prefresh for?

Mainly developer.

peek the repo → explain another one

This repo across BitVibe Labs

double-check against the repo, no cap.