"If you're using a JavaScript framework, you're probably using Vite."
Created by Evan You (the mind behind Vue.js), Vite began as a frustrated response to slow build times with Webpack. What started as a personal side project for Vue users quickly grew into a framework-agnostic ecosystem embraced by React, Svelte, Astro, Remix, and more. Along the way, it sparked rivalries, rewrites, and community-driven breakthroughs that changed the frontend landscape forever.
Featuring many prominent developers in the JavaCript ecosystem, this documentary dives into the innovation, competition, and collaboration that turned Vite from an underdog prototype into the new standard for modern web tooling.
0:00 Intro
1:00 Early Javascript tooling
1:53 Webpack explained
3:40 Evan You discusses frustrations with Webpack
5:06 Evan You prototypes an alternative
6:35 First version of Vite is published
6:57 The Javascript community's first impressions of Vite
7:40 Vite vs Snowpack
8:20 Origin story of SVite
9:25 Evan begins work on Vite 2.0
13:50 Vite 2.0 first reactions and early adopters
15:42 Stackblitz gets behind Vite
16:39 Sveltekit backs Snowpack
18:47 Sveltekit makes controversial switch from Snowpack to Vite
20:21 Astro adopts Vite
20:50 Evan You assembles the Vite team
22:02 Vitest
24:25 The Vite team grows
26:08 Vite adoption explodes
26:52 Theo Browne vs Create React App
27:46 The first ViteConf
29:40 Vite ecosystem CI
32:26 Remix adopts Vite
34:25 Major Vite adoptions in 2023
34:59 David Cramer on Vite growth
35:31 Vite on Bolt . new
36:16 Evan You founds Void Zero
36:58 The future of Vite and the Javascript ecosystem
38:51 Credits
Director: Josiah McGarvie
Producer: Guillermo López
Produced by: Tech Documentaries (www.techdocumentaries.com)
Thanks to our sponsors for making this documentary possible:
VoidZero (https://voidzero.dev)
Sentry (www.sentry.io)
Shopify (www.shopify.com)
Bolt.new (www.bolt.new)
Supabase (www.supabase.com)
And to all the amazing people who are featured:
Evan You: x.com/youyuxi
Matias Capeletto: bsky.app/profile/patak.dev
Anthony Fu: x.com/antfu7
Rich Harris: bsky.app/profile/rich-harris.dev
Ryan Carniato: x.com/RyanCarniato
Fred K. Schott: x.com/FredKSchott
Pedro Cattori: x.com/pcattori
Mark Dalgleish: x.com/markdalgleish
Mishko Havery: /x.com/mhevery
Eric Simons: x.com/EricSimons
David Cramer: x.com/zeeg
Theo Brown: x.com/theo
Bjorn Lu: bsky.app/profile/bluwy.me
Dominik Göpel
Vladimir Sheremet
Some podcasts featuring Evan You chatting about Vite and the documentary:
FreeCodeCamp: • Evan You – From Art School Kid to Open Sou...
Stack Overflow: https://stackoverflow.blog/2025/10/10...
Changelog: • Evan You on the future of Vite, VoidZero, ...
Syntax: • Creator of Vite: Evan You
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Bluesky: cultrepo.bsky.social
Instagram: www.instagram.com/cult.repo
