Allow Nitro modules to register Vite DevTools integrations

[onmax]

Describe the feature

When using nitro/vite, it would be useful if Nitro modules could contribute integrations to the outer Vite plugin context.

A concrete case is Vite DevTools. A Nitro module can register server routes during Nitro setup, but it cannot currently register a Vite DevTools panel because that requires a root Vite plugin with:

{
  devtools: {
    setup(ctx) {
      ctx.docks.register(...)
    }
  }
}

Today this works only if users add a separate root Vite plugin:

plugins: [
  DevTools(),
  someVitePluginWithDevtools(),
  nitro(),
]

But it would be helpful for a Nitro module used through nitro/vite to expose that dev-only Vite integration automatically, so users can keep:

plugins: [
  DevTools(),
  nitro(),
]

Possible shape:

• allow Nitro modules to contribute outer Vite plugins
• or expose a specific hook for Vite DevTools integrations
• or provide another recommended interop path for this case

Is there already a supported way to do this? If not, would Nitro be open to a small PR for this kind of interop?

Related context:

• Interoperability between Nitro modules and Vite plugins #3680
• Nitro Vite Tracker #3461

Additional information

• Would you be willing to help implement this feature?

[pi0]

I think with #3680 it comes for free. A plugin/module can both register vite devtools extensios and nitro module setup and other hooks. Probably best to keep things decoupled. (vite is never a hard dependency for Nitro ecosystem we should make everything optional)

[onmax]

Thanks, that makes sense.

I checked #3680 / #3712 before opening this, but I think this issue is about the opposite direction.

#3680 lets a Vite plugin expose a nitro module, so a Vite-first integration can participate in Nitro setup.

What I’m asking about is whether a Nitro module, when loaded through nitro/vite, can contribute Vite plugins back to the outer Vite config.

So the direction I mean is:

Vite plugin -> Nitro module // covered by #3680
Nitro module -> Vite plugin // this issue

The concrete problem I’m trying to solve is:

I have a Nitro module. I also want to provide DevTools for that module in Vite DevTools, without requiring users to manually install/register a separate Vite plugin.

If the intended recommendation is to model these integrations as Vite-first plugins with attached Nitro modules, that answers the question too. But I wanted to clarify the direction in case there is a different route for Nitro-first integrations.

[pi0]

We might explore if it is possible to have vite: { plugins: [] } config in nitro core and nitro/vite register them as late vite plugins (after nitro inits inside vite plugin) but it has an immediate downside that we have less control over registration ordering (maybe not important for devtools extensions)