Add an Ionify pilot command while keeping your existing build

This lab adds an experimental path without replacing your current one. Use a branch or separate checkout, not an unreviewed change to production CI.

Check the prerequisites

Read the current setup guide and support boundaries. The public 0.1.37 package declares Node 22.x or 24.x. Keep optional dependencies enabled because they carry the native engine. Check the installed package if you use a newer release.

Install into the pilot checkout:

pnpm add -D @ionify/ionify

Record the resolved version from your lockfile. Avoid describing an experiment only as “latest.”

Point at your actual entry

For an app whose entry is src/main.tsx, create ionify.config.ts:

import { defineConfig } from '@ionify/ionify';

export default defineConfig({
  entry: '/src/main.tsx',
});

This config does not create an app or replace required HTML/framework configuration. Adapt it to the project rather than copying a path that does not exist.

Add these scripts alongside your existing scripts:

{
  "dev:ionify": "ionify dev",
  "build:ionify": "ionify build"
}

The snippet is the content to add inside package.json's existing scripts object, not a replacement package file.

Verify the app before the timer

Run pnpm run dev:ionify. Check a route, a static asset, styling and a dynamic import used by the app. Then run pnpm run build:ionify and check the production output through your normal preview server.

Record the first build, an unchanged build and a build after a visible component edit separately. Do not run two engines concurrently into the same output directory. Preserve each output for comparison or use isolated checkouts.

Keep the existing deployment command until correctness, integration support and the repeated workflow have been evaluated. If the pilot does not help, you have learned that cheaply. If it fails, the isolated checkout is already the beginning of a useful reproduction.