Vite is a build tool that can be used as a replacement for Webpack, Rollup, and Parcel. It differs from those in that it uses ES modules to avoid having to create a new, all-encompassing bundle of JavaScript code after every code change. This makes it significantly faster.

For production builds, Vite uses Rollup to create a bundle file.

The name comes from the French word which means "fast" and is pronounced "vēt".

Another build to tool that is similar to Vite is Snowpack.

SvelteKit adds many features on top of Svelte including the use of Vite, file-based page routing, code splitting, hot module reloading, and server-side rendering. If you if you create a SvelteKit project, by entering npm init svelte@next {project-name}, it will already be configured to use to Vite. But if you want to create a plain Svelte project that uses Vite, follow these steps:

• Enter npm init @vitejs/app
• Enter a project name which will be the name of the created directory.
• Select "svelte" for the framework. Other options include lit-element, preact, react, vanilla, and vue.
• Select a variant: JavaScript or TypeScript
• cd to the project directory.
• Enter npm install to install all of the dependencies.

To run in development mode:

• Enter npm run dev to start the development server that provides watch and hot module reloading.

To build and run in production mode:

• Enter npm run build
• Enter npm run serve