This guide walks you through setting up Plate from scratch, giving you full control over styling and component rendering. This approach is ideal if you're not using a UI library like shadcn/ui or Tailwind CSS.
This guide uses Vite for demonstrating the initial project setup. Plate is framework-agnostic and integrates seamlessly with other React environments like Next.js or Remix. You can adapt the general setup principles to your chosen framework.
To begin with Vite, create a new project and select the React + TypeScript template:
Install platejs for the core editor runtime and React components.
Plate provides ESM packages. If you're using TypeScript, ensure your tsconfig.json is configured correctly. The recommended setup for Plate requires TypeScript 5.0+ with the "moduleResolution": "bundler" setting:
// tsconfig.json
{
"compilerOptions": {
// ... other options
"module": "esnext", // or commonjs if your setup requires it and handles ESM interop
"moduleResolution": "bundler",
// ... other options
},
}// tsconfig.json
{
"compilerOptions": {
// ... other options
"module": "esnext", // or commonjs if your setup requires it and handles ESM interop
"moduleResolution": "bundler",
// ... other options
},
}If you cannot use "moduleResolution": "bundler" or are on an older TypeScript version, please see our full TypeScript guide for alternative configurations using path aliases.
Start by creating a basic editor component. This example sets up a simple editor.
import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import { Plate, PlateContent, usePlateEditor } from 'platejs/react';
export default function App() {
const editor = usePlateEditor();
return (
<Plate editor={editor}>
<PlateContent
style={{ padding: '16px 64px', minHeight: '100px' }}
placeholder="Type your amazing content here..."
/>
</Plate>
);
}import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import { Plate, PlateContent, usePlateEditor } from 'platejs/react';
export default function App() {
const editor = usePlateEditor();
return (
<Plate editor={editor}>
<PlateContent
style={{ padding: '16px 64px', minHeight: '100px' }}
placeholder="Type your amazing content here..."
/>
</Plate>
);
}usePlateEditor creates a memoized editor instance, ensuring stability across re-renders. For a non-memoized version, use createPlateEditor from platejs/react.
At this point, you'll have a very basic editor capable of displaying and editing plain text.
Let's add support for basic text formatting like bold, italic, and underline.
Install the basic nodes package before adding the mark plugins:
import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import {
BoldPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
Plate,
PlateContent,
usePlateEditor,
} from 'platejs/react';
const initialValue: Value = [
{
type: 'paragraph',
children: [
{ text: 'Hello! Try out the ' },
{ text: 'bold', bold: true },
{ text: ', ' },
{ text: 'italic', italic: true },
{ text: ', and ' },
{ text: 'underline', underline: true },
{ text: ' formatting.' },
],
},
];
export default function App() {
const editor = usePlateEditor({
plugins: [BoldPlugin, ItalicPlugin, UnderlinePlugin],
initialValue,
});
return (
<Plate editor={editor}>
{/* You would typically add a toolbar here to toggle marks */}
<PlateContent style={{ padding: '16px 64px', minHeight: '100px' }} />
</Plate>
);
}import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import {
BoldPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
Plate,
PlateContent,
usePlateEditor,
} from 'platejs/react';
const initialValue: Value = [
{
type: 'paragraph',
children: [
{ text: 'Hello! Try out the ' },
{ text: 'bold', bold: true
Mark plugins like BoldPlugin, ItalicPlugin, and UnderlinePlugin come with default components that render as <strong>, <em>, and <u> elements respectively. You don't need to register custom components unless you want to customize their appearance.
You'll need to implement your own toolbar to apply these marks. For example, to toggle bold: editor.update.bold.toggle().
Now, let's add support for block-level elements like headings, and blockquotes.
import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import {
BlockquotePlugin,
BoldPlugin,
HeadingPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
Plate,
PlateContent,
PlateElement,
usePlateEditor,
type PlateElementProps,
} from 'platejs/react';
const initialValue: Value = [
{
children: [{ text: 'Title' }],
type: 'heading', level: 3,
},
{
children: [
{
children: [{ text: 'This is a quote.' }],
type: 'paragraph',
},
],
type: 'blockquote',
},
{
children: [
{ text: 'With some ' },
{ bold: true, text: 'bold' },
{ text: ' text for emphasis!' },
],
type: 'paragraph',
},
];
// Define element components
function HeadingElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof HeadingPlugin>) {
return <PlateElement as="h1" {...props} />;
}
function HeadingElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof HeadingPlugin>) {
return <PlateElement as="h2" {...props} />;
}
function HeadingElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof HeadingPlugin>) {
return <PlateElement as="h3" {...props} />;
}
function BlockquoteElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof BlockquotePlugin>) {
return (
<PlateElement
as="blockquote"
style={{
borderLeft: '2px solid #eee',
marginLeft: 0,
marginRight: 0,
paddingLeft: '24px',
color: '#666',
fontStyle: 'italic',
}}
{...props}
/>
);
}
export default function App() {
const editor = usePlateEditor({
plugins: [
BoldPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
HeadingPlugin.configure({ component: HeadingElement }),
HeadingPlugin.configure({ component: HeadingElement }),
HeadingPlugin.configure({ component: HeadingElement }),
BlockquotePlugin.configure({ component: BlockquoteElement }),
],
initialValue,
});
return (
<Plate editor={editor}>
{/* You would typically add a toolbar here to toggle elements and marks */}
<PlateContent style={{ padding: '16px 64px', minHeight: '100px' }} />
</Plate>
);
}import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import {
BlockquotePlugin,
BoldPlugin,
HeadingPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
Plate,
PlateContent,
PlateElement,
usePlateEditor,
type PlateElementProps,
} from 'platejs/react';
const initialValue: Value = [
{
children: [{ text:
Notice how we use Plugin.configure({ component: Component }) to register components with block element plugins like headings and blockquotes. This is the recommended approach for associating React components with Plate plugins when you need custom styling or behavior.
To make the editor's content persistent, let's integrate state management to save and load the editor's value.
import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import {
BlockquotePlugin,
BoldPlugin,
HeadingPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
Plate,
PlateContent,
PlateElement,
usePlateEditor,
type PlateElementProps,
} from 'platejs/react';
const initialValue: Value = [
{
children: [{ text: 'Title' }],
type: 'heading', level: 3,
},
{
children: [
{
children: [{ text: 'This is a quote.' }],
type: 'paragraph',
},
],
type: 'blockquote',
},
{
children: [
{ text: 'With some ' },
{ bold: true, text: 'bold' },
{ text: ' text for emphasis!' },
],
type: 'paragraph',
},
];
// Define element components
function HeadingElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof HeadingPlugin>) {
return <PlateElement as="h1" {...props} />;
}
function HeadingElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof HeadingPlugin>) {
return <PlateElement as="h2" {...props} />;
}
function HeadingElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof HeadingPlugin>) {
return <PlateElement as="h3" {...props} />;
}
function BlockquoteElement(props: PlateElementProps<typeof BlockquotePlugin>) {
return (
<PlateElement
as="blockquote"
style={{
borderLeft: '2px solid #eee',
marginLeft: 0,
marginRight: 0,
paddingLeft: '24px',
color: '#666',
fontStyle: 'italic',
}}
{...props}
/>
);
}
export default function App() {
const editor = usePlateEditor({
plugins: [
BoldPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
HeadingPlugin.configure({ component: HeadingElement }),
HeadingPlugin.configure({ component: HeadingElement }),
HeadingPlugin.configure({ component: HeadingElement }),
BlockquotePlugin.configure({ component: BlockquoteElement }),
],
initialValue: () => {
const savedValue = localStorage.getItem('plate-manual-demo');
return savedValue ? JSON.parse(savedValue) : initialValue;
},
});
return (
<Plate
editor={editor}
onValueChange={({ value }) => {
localStorage.setItem('plate-manual-demo', JSON.stringify(value));
}}
>
{/* Toolbar would go here */}
<div style={{ padding: '8px 0' }}>
<button
onClick={() => {
editor.update((tx) => {
tx.value.replace({ children: initialValue });
});
}}
style={{
padding: '4px 8px',
margin: '0 4px',
border: '1px solid #ccc',
borderRadius: '4px',
cursor: 'pointer',
}}
>
Reset
</button>
</div>
<PlateContent
style={{
padding: '16px 64px',
minHeight: '100px',
border: '1px solid #eee',
borderRadius: '4px',
}}
placeholder="Type your amazing content here..."
/>
</Plate>
);
}import React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';
import {
BlockquotePlugin,
BoldPlugin,
HeadingPlugin,
ItalicPlugin,
UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
Plate,
PlateContent,
PlateElement,
usePlateEditor,
type PlateElementProps,
} from 'platejs/react';
const initialValue: Value = [
{
children: [{ text: 'Title' }],
The example above demonstrates a basic pattern for managing editor value:
initialValue option in usePlateEditoronValueChange prop on <Plate>editor.update(...) with tx.value.replace(...) to
restore the initial valueYou've now set up a basic Plate editor manually! From here, you can:
@platejs/table) and add them to your plugins array.editor.update.bold.toggle(), editor.plugin(HeadingPlugin).update.toggle({ level: 1 })). You can also use the editor state with the Editor API.