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Build-Time Data Loading

VitePress provides powerful data loaders that execute at build time, allowing you to load arbitrary data and import it from pages or components. The loaded data is serialized as JSON in the final JavaScript bundle.

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Basic Data Loaders

Data loader files must end with .data.js or .data.ts and export a default object with a load() method. 
export default {
  load() {
    return {
      hello: 'world'
    }
  }
}

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Importing Data

Import data from loader files using the data named export: 
<script setup>
import { data } from './example.data.js'
</script>

<template>
  <pre>{{ JSON.stringify(data, null, 2) }}</pre>
</template>
The loader module is evaluated only in Node.js, so you can import Node APIs and npm dependencies freely.

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Loading Local Files

Use the watch option to monitor local files for changes and trigger hot updates:
posts.data.js
import fs from 'node:fs'
import { parse } from 'csv-parse/sync'

export default {
  watch: ['./data/*.csv'],
  load(watchedFiles) {
    // watchedFiles: array of absolute paths
    return watchedFiles.map((file) => {
      return parse(fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf-8'), {
        columns: true,
        skip_empty_lines: true
      })
    })
  }
}

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Watch Patterns

The watch option accepts glob patterns:
  • watch: ['./data/*.csv'] - Watch all CSV files
  • watch: ['posts/**/*.md'] - Watch markdown files recursively
  • watch: ['data.json', 'config.yaml'] - Watch specific files

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createContentLoader API

For content-focused sites, VitePress provides createContentLoader to simplify loading markdown files:
1

Create a data loader

posts.data.js
import { createContentLoader } from 'vitepress'

export default createContentLoader('posts/*.md')
2

Import and use the data

<script setup>
import { data as posts } from './posts.data.js'
</script>

<template>
  <ul>
    <li v-for="post of posts" :key="post.url">
      <a :href="post.url">{{ post.frontmatter.title }}</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</template>

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ContentData Interface

The loaded data has the following structure: 
interface ContentData {
  // Mapped URL for the page (e.g., /posts/hello.html)
  url: string
  // Frontmatter data of the page
  frontmatter: Record<string, any>
  // Optional fields (enabled via options)
  src?: string      // Raw markdown source
  html?: string     // Rendered full page HTML
  excerpt?: string  // Rendered excerpt HTML
}

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Transform Options

posts.data.js
import { createContentLoader } from 'vitepress'

export default createContentLoader('posts/*.md', {
  includeSrc: true,   // Include raw markdown
  render: true,       // Include rendered HTML
  excerpt: true,      // Include excerpt
  transform(rawData) {
    // Sort by date
    return rawData
      .sort((a, b) => {
        return +new Date(b.frontmatter.date) - +new Date(a.frontmatter.date)
      })
      .map((page) => ({
        url: page.url,
        title: page.frontmatter.title,
        date: page.frontmatter.date,
        excerpt: page.excerpt
      }))
  }
})
Be cautious about data size when using includeSrc or render - the data is inlined as JSON in the client bundle.

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Using in Build Hooks

Data loaders can be used in build hooks to generate files:
.vitepress/config.js
import { createContentLoader } from 'vitepress'
import { writeFileSync } from 'fs'
import { Feed } from 'feed'

export default {
  async buildEnd(siteConfig) {
    const posts = await createContentLoader('posts/*.md', {
      excerpt: true,
      render: true
    }).load()

    const feed = new Feed({
      title: 'My Blog',
      description: 'My blog posts',
      link: siteConfig.site.base
    })

    posts.forEach(post => {
      feed.addItem({
        title: post.frontmatter.title,
        link: `${siteConfig.site.base}${post.url}`,
        description: post.excerpt,
        content: post.html
      })
    })

    writeFileSync('.vitepress/dist/feed.rss', feed.rss2())
  }
}

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Accessing Configuration

Access VitePress configuration inside loaders: 
import type { SiteConfig } from 'vitepress'

const config: SiteConfig = (globalThis as any).VITEPRESS_CONFIG

export default {
  load() {
    console.log(config.srcDir)
    console.log(config.site.base)
    return { /* ... */ }
  }
}

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Advanced Example: API Index

Generate an API index from markdown files:
api.data.ts
import { createContentLoader, defineLoader } from 'vitepress'
import type { ContentData } from 'vitepress'

interface APIEntry {
  name: string
  url: string
  category: string
  description: string
}

declare const data: APIEntry[]
export { data }

export default defineLoader({
  async load() {
    const loader = createContentLoader('api/**/*.md', {
      transform(raw: ContentData[]): APIEntry[] {
        return raw.map(({ url, frontmatter }) => ({
          name: frontmatter.title,
          url,
          category: frontmatter.category || 'General',
          description: frontmatter.description || ''
        }))
        .sort((a, b) => a.name.localeCompare(b.name))
      }
    })

    return await loader.load()
  }
})

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Performance Considerations

createContentLoader implements caching based on file modified timestamps to improve dev performance. Cache is automatically invalidated when files change.
File loading uses concurrent processing controlled by buildConcurrency config option (default: CPU cores).
  • Only include necessary data in transform()
  • Avoid using render: true unless needed
  • Filter out large fields from frontmatter
  • Consider generating static files instead of inlining large datasets

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