Astrox

Astro-like components that compile to Preact — with function event handlers, signals, and full Astro tooling support.

Write .astrox files with the same frontmatter + template syntax as Astro, but get real Preact components with:

• Preact Signals for reactive state
• Function event handlers (onclick={handler})
• Client-side interactivity via Astro's island architecture

Installation

npm install @backstro/astrox

This automatically:

• Patches Astro's JSX types to accept function event handlers
• Adds *.astrox → astro file association to .vscode/settings.json

Setup

1. Add the integration to astro.config.mjs

import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
import astrox from 'astrox';

export default defineConfig({
  integrations: [astrox()],
});

That's it. VS Code will automatically use the Astro language mode for .astrox files, giving you full syntax highlighting, TypeScript autocomplete, and HTML completions.

Usage

To use signals you will need to install @preact/signals

npm install @preact/signals

Create a .astrox file:

---
import { signal } from '@preact/signals';

const count = signal(0);

function increment() {
  count.value++;
}
---

<div class="counter">
  <button onclick={increment}>+</button>
  <span>{count}</span>
</div>

Use it in an Astro page with a client directive:

---
import Counter from '../components/Counter.astrox';
---

<Counter client:load />

How it works

1. The Vite plugin intercepts .astrox files and compiles them using @astrojs/compiler
2. Frontmatter becomes module-level JavaScript
3. The result is a standard Preact function component that works with Astro's island hydration
4. A postinstall script patches Astro's JSX types and configures VS Code file associations

Type patching

On npm install @backstro/astrox, astrox automatically:

1. Patches node_modules/astro/astro-jsx.d.ts — widens event handler types from string to string | Function, so onclick={myHandler} works without TypeScript errors
2. Updates .vscode/settings.json — adds "*.astrox": "astro" file association for full editor support
3. Patches the Astro VS Code extension's TS plugin — registers .astrox as a known file extension so imports between .astrox components resolve correctly in the editor

All patches are idempotent and safe to re-run.

License

MIT