Angular standalone components

Angular Standalone Components Make Your Code Cleaner, More Productive

Imagine setting up an Angular component is like assembling an IKEA piece of furniture—without the instruction manual. Even a simple button can turn into a configuration nightmare with declarations, imports, and exports in NgModules.

Enter standalone components—Angular’s way of eliminating boilerplate code and making development cleaner and more maintainable.

In this guide, you will learn:

✅ What standalone components are (and why they are a game-changer).
✅ How to craft your own Angular standalone components.
✅ Replacing NgModules with real-world examples.
✅ Tips to avoid common mistakes.

Let's clean up your Angular workflow! 🚀

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Why Standalone Components Were Introduced

With Angular 14, standalone components eliminate the need for NgModules when building self-contained UI widgets.

What Are Standalone Components?

Standalone components are self-contained Angular components that declare their own dependencies (directives, pipes, services) directly in the @Component decorator. They are modular chunks of UI that you can easily drop into any project.

Standalone vs. Traditional Components: A Quick Comparison

Feature	Traditional Component	Standalone Component
NgModule Required?	Yes	No
Dependency Management	Handled in NgModule	Declared in component decorator
Ease of Reuse	Requires module export	Import directly anywhere
Ideal Usage	Large apps with shared modules	Micro frontends, lazy loading

How to Write a Standalone Component

Step 1: Generate the Component using --standalone

Run the following Angular CLI command:

ng generate component button --standalone

Step 2: Declare Dependencies

Modify button.component.ts to import and declare dependencies:

import { Component, Input } from '@angular/core';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-button',
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule], // Import necessary modules here
  template: `<button>{{variant}}</button>`
})
export class ButtonComponent {
  @Input() variant: 'primary' | 'secondary' = 'primary';
}

Step 3: Use It Anywhere!

No modifications to app.module.ts are needed—just import it into another component:

import { ButtonComponent } from './button.component';

@Component({
  standalone: true,
  imports: [ButtonComponent],
  template: `<app-button variant="primary">Click Me</app-button>`
})
export class ExampleComponent {}

5 Practical Use Cases for Standalone Components

1. Shared UI Library: Create reusable buttons, modals, and cards without requiring a shared module.
2. Lazy-Loading Routes: Load standalone components on demand to improve startup time.
3. External Integrations: Integrate components smoothly across different teams.
4. Third-Party Embeds: Easily embed charts, maps, or widgets.
5. Legacy App Migration: Gradually modernize legacy Angular codebases.

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

🚫 Circular Dependencies: When Component A uses Component B, and vice versa.
✅ Fix: Use Angular’s forwardRef() or redesign your structure.

🚫 Overusing imports in Decorators: Unnecessarily cluttering the decorator with unused modules.
✅ Fix: Only import what the component directly needs.

🚫 Forgetting to Register Services: Some services may be missing at runtime.
✅ Fix: Add providers: [YourService] to the decorator when needed.

Pro Tips for Standalone Success

💡 Start Small: Convert simple components (e.g., buttons, inputs) first.
💡 Leverage Angular CLI: Use the --standalone flag for components, directives, and pipes.
💡 Use provideRouter for Standalone Applications:

bootstrapApplication(AppComponent, {
  providers: [provideRouter([{ path: 'home', component: HomeComponent }])]
});

💡 Combine with Signals: Use Angular’s new reactive state management with standalone components.

Standalone components aren't just a feature—they're the future of Angular development. By ditching NgModules, developers gain cleaner, faster, and more maintainable code.