Developers have two options for using Ionic components: Standalone or Modules. This guide covers both options as well as the benefits and downsides of each approach.
While the Standalone approach is newer and makes use of more modern Angular APIs, the Modules approach will continue to be supported in Ionic. Most of the Angular examples on this documentation website use the Modules approach.
info
Ionic UI components as Angular standalone components is supported starting in Ionic v7.5.
Overview
Developers can use Ionic components as standalone components to take advantage of treeshaking and newer Angular features. This option involves importing specific Ionic components in the Angular components you want to use them in. Developers can use Ionic standalone components even if their Angular application is NgModule-based.
See the Standalone Migration Guide for instructions on how to update your Ionic app to make use of Ionic standalone components.
Benefits
- Enables treeshaking so the final build output only includes the code necessary to run your app which reduces overall build size.
- Avoids the use of NgModules to streamline the development experience and make your code easier to understand.
- Allows developers to also use newer Angular features such as ESBuild.
Drawbacks
- Ionic components need to be imported into every Angular component they are used in which can be time consuming to set up.
Usage with Standalone-based Applications
warning
All Ionic imports should be imported from the @ionic/angular/standalone
submodule. This includes imports such as components, directives, providers, and types. Importing from @ionic/angular
may pull in lazy loaded Ionic code which can interfere with treeshaking.
Bootstrapping and Configuration
Ionic Angular needs to be configured when the Angular application calls bootstrapApplication
using the provideIonicAngular
function. Developers can pass any IonicConfig values as an object in this function. Note that provideIonicAngular
needs to be called even if no custom config is passed.
main.ts
import { enableProdMode, importProvidersFrom } from '@angular/core';
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { RouteReuseStrategy, provideRouter } from '@angular/router';
import { provideIonicAngular, IonicRouteStrategy } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { routes } from './app/app.routes';
import { AppComponent } from './app/app.component';
import { environment } from './environments/environment';
if (environment.production) {
enableProdMode();
}
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent, {
providers: [
{ provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy },
provideIonicAngular({ mode: 'ios' }),
provideRouter(routes),
],
});
Components
In the example below, we are importing IonContent
and IonButton
from @ionic/angular/standalone
and passing them to imports
for use in the component template. We would get a compiler error if these components were not imported and provided to the imports
array.
home.page.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { IonButton, IonContent } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@Component({
selector: 'app-home',
templateUrl: 'home.page.html',
styleUrls: ['home.page.scss'],
standalone: true,
imports: [IonButton, IonContent],
})
export class HomePage {
constructor() {}
}
Icons
The icon SVG data needs to be defined in the Angular component so it can be loaded correctly. Developers can use the addIcons
function from ionicons
to map the SVG data to a string name. Developers can then reference the icon by its string name using the name
property on IonIcon
.
We recommend calling addIcons
in the Angular component constructor
so the data is only added if the Angular component is being used.
For developers using Ionicons 7.2 or newer, passing only the SVG data will cause the string name to be automatically generated.
home.page.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { IonIcon } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { addIcons } from 'ionicons';
import { logoIonic } from 'ionicons/icons';
@Component({
selector: 'app-home',
templateUrl: 'home.page.html',
styleUrls: ['home.page.scss'],
standalone: true,
imports: [IonIcon],
})
export class HomePage {
constructor() {
/**
* On Ionicons 7.2+ this icon
* gets mapped to a "logo-ionic" key.
* Alternatively, developers can do:
* addIcons({ 'logo-ionic': logoIonic });
*/
addIcons({ logoIonic });
}
}
Icons can also be registered in entry points such as app.component.ts
to avoid the need to call addIcons
multiple times. Developers should be aware that the initial application chunk may increase because the registered icons will need to be loaded at application start. However, if your application uses a small number of icons the impact of this may be minimal.
app.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { addIcons } from 'ionicons';
import { logoIonic } from 'ionicons/icons';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: 'app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
standalone: true,
})
export class AppComponent {
constructor() {
/**
* Any icons you want to use in your application
* can be registered in app.component.ts and then
* referenced by name anywhere in your application.
*/
addIcons({ logoIonic });
}
}
Icons registered in an application entry point can then be referenced by name anywhere in the application.
home.page.html
<!--
logoIonic was registered in app.component.ts instead of home.page.ts,
but it can still be used in home.page.html.
-->
<ion-icon name="logo-ionic"></ion-icon>
Routing
Developers who wish to use routerLink
, routerAction
, or routerDirection
on Ionic components should import the IonRouterLink
directive. Developers who wish to use these routing features on anchor (<a>
) elements should import IonRouterLinkWithHref
instead.
home.page.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { IonButton, IonRouterLink } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@Component({
selector: 'app-home',
templateUrl: 'home.page.html',
styleUrls: ['home.page.scss'],
standalone: true,
imports: [
IonButton,
RouterLink, // required to get base routerLink behavior for @angular/router
IonRouterLink, // use IonRouterLinkWithHref if you are using an <a> element instead
],
})
export class HomePage {}
home.page.html
<ion-button routerLink="/foo" routerDirection="root">Go to Foo Page</ion-button>
Testing
Ionic Angular's standalone components use ES Modules. As a result, developers using Jest should ensure that ES Modules are transpiled to a format that Jest can use. Developers using Jest should add the following to their Jest config:
- npm
- pnpm
"transformIgnorePatterns": ["<rootDir>/node_modules/(?!(@ionic/angular|@ionic/core|ionicons|@stencil/core|@angular/*)/)"]
Usage with NgModule-based Applications
warning
All Ionic imports should be imported from the @ionic/angular/standalone
submodule. This includes imports such as components, directives, providers, and types. Importing from @ionic/angular
may pull in lazy loaded Ionic code which can interfere with treeshaking.
Bootstrapping and Configuration
Ionic Angular needs to be configured in the providers
array of app.module.ts
using the provideIonicAngular
function. Developers can pass any IonicConfig values as an object in this function. Note that provideIonicAngular
needs to be called even if no custom config is passed.
app.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { RouteReuseStrategy } from '@angular/router';
import { IonicRouteStrategy, provideIonicAngular } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { AppRoutingModule } from './app-routing.module';
@NgModule({
declarations: [AppComponent],
imports: [BrowserModule, AppRoutingModule],
providers: [provideIonicAngular(), { provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy }],
bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}
Components
In the example below, we are importing IonContent
and IonButton
from @ionic/angular/standalone
and passing them to imports
array in the Angular component's NgModule for use in the component template. We would get a compiler error if these components were not imported and provided to the imports
array.
home.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { IonButton, IonContent } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { HomePage } from './home.page';
import { HomePageRoutingModule } from './home-routing.module';
@NgModule({
imports: [IonButton, IonContent, HomePageRoutingModule],
declarations: [HomePage],
})
export class HomePageModule {}
Icons
The icon SVG data needs to be defined in the Angular component so it can be loaded correctly. Developers can use the addIcons
function from ionicons
to map the SVG data to a string name. Developers can then reference the icon by its string name using the name
property on IonIcon
. The IonIcon
component should be added in app.module.ts
just like the other Ionic components.
We recommend calling addIcons
in the Angular component constructor
so the data is only added if the Angular component is being used.
For developers using Ionicons 7.2 or newer, passing only the SVG data will cause the string name to be automatically generated.
home.page.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { addIcons } from 'ionicons';
import { logoIonic } from 'ionicons/icons';
@Component({
selector: 'app-home',
templateUrl: 'home.page.html',
styleUrls: ['home.page.scss'],
})
export class HomePage {
constructor() {
/**
* On Ionicons 7.2+ this icon
* gets mapped to a "logo-ionic" key.
* Alternatively, developers can do:
* addIcons({ 'logo-ionic': logoIonic });
*/
addIcons({ logoIonic });
}
}
Icons can also be registered in entry points such as app.component.ts
to avoid the need to call addIcons
multiple times. Developers should be aware that the initial application chunk may increase because the registered icons will need to be loaded at application start. However, if your application uses a small number of icons the impact of this may be minimal.
app.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { addIcons } from 'ionicons';
import { logoIonic } from 'ionicons/icons';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: 'app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
})
export class AppComponent {
constructor() {
/**
* Any icons you want to use in your application
* can be registered in app.component.ts and then
* referenced by name anywhere in your application.
*/
addIcons({ logoIonic });
}
}
Icons registered in an application entry point can then be referenced by name anywhere in the application.
home.page.html
<!--
logoIonic was registered in app.component.ts instead of home.page.ts,
but it can still be used in home.page.html.
-->
<ion-icon name="logo-ionic"></ion-icon>
Routing
Developers who wish to use routerLink
, routerAction
, or routerDirection
on Ionic components should import the IonRouterLink
directive. Developers who wish to use these routing features on anchor (<a>
) elements should import IonRouterLinkWithHref
instead.
home.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { IonButton, IonRouterLink } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { HomePage } from './home.page';
import { HomePageRoutingModule } from './home-routing.module';
@NgModule({
imports: [
IonButton,
RouterLink, // required to get base routerLink behavior for @angular/router
IonRouterLink, // use IonRouterLinkWithHref if you are using an <a> element instead
HomePageRoutingModule,
],
declarations: [HomePage],
})
export class HomePageModule {}
home.page.html
<ion-button routerLink="/foo" routerDirection="root">Go to Foo Page</ion-button>
Testing
Ionic Angular's standalone components use ES Modules. As a result, developers using Jest should ensure that ES Modules are transpiled to a format that Jest can use. Developers using Jest should add the following to their Jest config:
- npm
- pnpm
"transformIgnorePatterns": ["<rootDir>/node_modules/(?!(@ionic/angular|@ionic/core|ionicons|@stencil/core|@angular/*)/)"]
Modules
Overview
Developers can also use the Modules approach by importing IonicModule
and calling IonicModule.forRoot()
in the imports
array in app.module.ts
. This registers a version of Ionic where Ionic components will be lazily loaded at runtime.
Benefits
- Since components are lazily loaded as needed, developers do not need to spend time manually importing and registering each Ionic component.
Drawbacks
- Lazily loading Ionic components means that the compiler does not know which components are needed at build time. This means your final application bundle may be much larger than it needs to be.
- Developers are unable to use newer Angular features such as ESBuild.
Usage
In the example below, we are using IonicModule
to create a lazily loaded version of Ionic. We can then reference any Ionic component without needing to explicitly import it.
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { IonicModule } from '@ionic/angular';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
@NgModule({
declarations: [AppComponent],
imports: [BrowserModule, IonicModule.forRoot()],
bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}
tip
Try our automated utility for migrating to standalone!
See https://github.com/ionic-team/ionic-angular-standalone-codemods for instructions on how to get started. All issues related to the migration utility should be filed on the linked repo.
The Standalone option is newer than the Modules option, so developers may wish to switch during the development of their application. This guide details the steps needed to migrate.
Migrating to Ionic standalone components must be done all at the same time and cannot be done gradually. The Modules and Standalone approaches use two different build systems of Ionic that cannot be used at the same time.
Developers are encouraged to try the automated migration utility, though they can also follow the steps below if they would like to manually migrate their applications.
Standalone-based Applications
Follow these steps if your Angular application is already using the standalone architecture, and you want to use Ionic UI components as standalone components too.
Run
npm install @ionic/angular@latest
to ensure you are running the latest version of Ionic. Ionic UI Standalone Components is supported in Ionic v7.5 or newer.Run
npm install ionicons@latest
to ensure you are running the latest version of Ionicons. Ionicons v7.2 brings usability improvements that reduce the code boilerplate needed to use icons with standalone components.Remove the
IonicModule
call inmain.ts
in favor ofprovideIonicAngular
imported from@ionic/angular/standalone
. Any config passed toIonicModule.forRoot
can be passed as an object to this new function.
main.ts
import { enableProdMode, importProvidersFrom } from '@angular/core';
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { RouteReuseStrategy, provideRouter } from '@angular/router';
- import { IonicModule, IonicRouteStrategy } from '@ionic/angular';
+ import { provideIonicAngular, IonicRouteStrategy } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { routes } from './app/app.routes';
import { AppComponent } from './app/app.component';
import { environment } from './environments/environment';
if (environment.production) {
enableProdMode();
}
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent, {
providers: [
{ provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy },
/**
* The custom config serves as an example
* of how to pass a config to provideIonicAngular.
* You do not need to set "mode: 'ios'" to
* use Ionic standalone components.
*/
- importProvidersFrom(IonicModule.forRoot({ mode: 'ios' })),
+ provideIonicAngular({ mode: 'ios' }),
provideRouter(routes),
],
});
Remove any references to
IonicModule
found elsewhere in your application.Update any existing imports from
@ionic/angular
to import from@ionic/angular/standalone
instead.
- import { Platform } from '@ionic/angular';
+ import { Platform } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
- Add imports for each Ionic component in the Angular component where they are used. Be sure to pass the imports to the
imports
array on your Angular component.
app.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
+ import { IonApp, IonRouterOutlet } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: 'app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
standalone: true,
+ imports: [IonApp, IonRouterOutlet],
})
export class AppComponent {
constructor() {}
}
- If you are using Ionicons, define the icon SVG data used in each Angular component using
addIcons
. This allows you to continue referencing icons by string name in your component template. Note that you will need to do this for any additional icons added.
test.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
+ import { IonIcon } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
+ import { addIcons } from 'ionicons';
+ import { alarm, logoIonic } from 'ionicons/icons';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: 'app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
standalone: true,
+ imports: [IonIcon],
})
export class TestComponent {
constructor() {
+ addIcons({ alarm, logoIonic });
}
}
- Remove the following code from your
angular.json
file if present. Note that it may appear multiple times.
angular.json
- {
- "glob": "**/*.svg",
- "input": "node_modules/ionicons/dist/ionicons/svg",
- "output": "./svg"
- }
- If you are using
routerLink
,routerDirection
, orrouterAction
be sure to import theIonRouterLink
directive for Ionic components orIonRouterLinkWithHref
directive for<a>
elements.
test.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
- import { IonButton } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
+ import { IonButton, IonRouterLink } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: 'app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
standalone: true,
imports: [
IonButton,
+ IonRouterLink
],
})
export class TestComponent {}
- If you are using VSCode it is recommended to ignore the
@ionic/angular/common
and@ionic/angular
module specifiers for import recommendations.
.vscode/settings.json
{
"typescript.preferences.autoImportFileExcludePatterns": ["@ionic/angular/common", "@ionic/angular"]
}
NgModule-based Applications
Follow these steps if your Angular application is still using the NgModule architecture, but you want to adopt Ionic UI components as standalone components now.
Run
npm install @ionic/angular@latest
to ensure you are running the latest version of Ionic. Ionic UI Standalone Components is supported in Ionic v7.5 or newer.Run
npm install ionicons@latest
to ensure you are running the latest version of Ionicons. Ionicons v7.2 brings usability improvements that reduce the code boilerplate needed to use icons with standalone components.Remove the
IonicModule
call inapp.module.ts
in favor ofprovideIonicAngular
imported from@ionic/angular/standalone
. Any config passed toIonicModule.forRoot
can be passed as an object to this new function.
app.module.ts
import { enableProdMode, importProvidersFrom } from '@angular/core';
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { RouteReuseStrategy, provideRouter } from '@angular/router';
- import { IonicModule, IonicRouteStrategy } from '@ionic/angular';
+ import { provideIonicAngular, IonicRouteStrategy } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { routes } from './app/app.routes';
import { AppComponent } from './app/app.component';
import { environment } from './environments/environment';
if (environment.production) {
enableProdMode();
}
@NgModule({
declarations: [AppComponent],
- imports: [BrowserModule, IonicModule.forRoot({ mode: 'ios' }), AppRoutingModule],
+ imports: [BrowserModule, AppRoutingModule],
providers: [
{ provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy },
/**
* The custom config serves as an example
* of how to pass a config to provideIonicAngular.
* You do not need to set "mode: 'ios'" to
* use Ionic standalone components.
*/
+ provideIonicAngular({ mode: 'ios' }),
],
bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}
Remove any references to
IonicModule
found elsewhere in your application.Update any existing imports from
@ionic/angular
to import from@ionic/angular/standalone
instead.
- import { Platform } from '@ionic/angular';
+ import { Platform } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
- Add imports for each Ionic component in the NgModule for the Angular component where they are used. Be sure to pass the components to the
imports
array on the module.
app.module.ts
import { enableProdMode, importProvidersFrom } from '@angular/core';
import { bootstrapApplication } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { RouteReuseStrategy, provideRouter } from '@angular/router';
- import { provideIonicAngular, IonicRouteStrategy } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
+ import { provideIonicAngular, IonicRouteStrategy, IonApp, IonRouterOutlet } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
import { routes } from './app/app.routes';
import { AppComponent } from './app/app.component';
import { environment } from './environments/environment';
if (environment.production) {
enableProdMode();
}
@NgModule({
declarations: [AppComponent],
- imports: [BrowserModule, AppRoutingModule],
+ imports: [BrowserModule, AppRoutingModule, IonApp, IonRouterOutlet],
providers: [
{ provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy },
provideIonicAngular({ mode: 'ios' })
],
bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}
For example, all modules that are using Ionic components need to have the Ionic components imported in their component module.
home.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { HomePage } from './home.page';
import { HomePageRoutingModule } from './home-routing.module';
+ import { IonContent, IonHeader, IonTitle, IonToolbar } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@NgModule({
imports: [
CommonModule,
FormsModule,
HomePageRoutingModule,
+ IonContent,
+ IonHeader,
+ IonTitle,
+ IonToolbar
],
declarations: [HomePage]
})
export class HomePageModule {}
- If you are using Ionicons, define the icon SVG data used in each Angular component using
addIcons
. This allows you to continue referencing icons by string name in your component template. Note that you will need to do this for any additional icons added. TheIonIcon
component should still be provided in the NgModule.
test.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
+ import { addIcons } from 'ionicons';
+ import { alarm, logoIonic } from 'ionicons/icons';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: 'app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
})
export class TestComponent {
constructor() {
+ addIcons({ alarm, logoIonic });
}
}
test.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { TestComponent } from './test.component';
+ import { IonIcon } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@NgModule({
imports: [
+ IonIcon,
],
declarations: [TestComponent]
})
export class TestComponentModule {}
- Remove the following code from your
angular.json
file if present. Note that it may appear multiple times.
angular.json
- {
- "glob": "**/*.svg",
- "input": "node_modules/ionicons/dist/ionicons/svg",
- "output": "./svg"
- }
- If you are using
routerLink
,routerDirection
, orrouterAction
be sure to import theIonRouterLink
directive for Ionic components orIonRouterLinkWithHref
directive for<a>
elements.
test.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { TestComponent } from './test.component';
- import { IonButton } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
+ import { IonButton, IonRouterLink } from '@ionic/angular/standalone';
@NgModule({
imports: [
IonButton,
+ IonRouterLink,
],
declarations: [TestComponent]
})
- If you are using VSCode it is recommended to ignore the
@ionic/angular/common
and@ionic/angular
module specifiers for import recommendations.
.vscode/settings.json
{
"typescript.preferences.autoImportFileExcludePatterns": ["@ionic/angular/common", "@ionic/angular"]
}