x-init

The x-init directive allows you to hook into the initialization phase of any element in Alpine.

<div x-init="console.log('I\'m being initialized!')"></div>

In the above example, "I'm being initialized!" will be output in the console before it makes further DOM updates.

Consider another example where x-init is used to fetch some JSON and store it in x-data before the component is processed.

<div
    x-data="{ posts: [] }"
    x-init="posts = await (await fetch('/posts')).json()"
>...</div>

$nextTick

Sometimes, you want to wait until after Alpine has completely finished rendering to execute some code.

This would be something like useEffect(..., []) in react, or mount in Vue.

By using Alpine's internal $nextTick magic, you can make this happen.

<div x-init="$nextTick(() => { ... })"></div>

Standalone x-init

You can add x-init to any elements inside or outside an x-data HTML block. For example:

<div x-data>
    <span x-init="console.log('I can initialize')"></span>
</div>

<span x-init="console.log('I can initialize too')"></span>

Auto-evaluate init() method

If the x-data object of a component contains an init() method, it will be called automatically. For example:

<div x-data="{
    init() {
        console.log('I am called automatically')
    }
}">
    ...
</div>

This is also the case for components that were registered using the Alpine.data() syntax.

Alpine.data('dropdown', () => ({
    init() {
        console.log('I will get evaluated when initializing each "dropdown" component.')
    },
}))