The readiness checklist, the list of fast-moving facts to re-verify the week before, and the study plan.
Readiness checklist 21-day plan Verify the week before
You are ready when you can do each of these without notes. Vue and Nuxt first, because that is the core of the role; the layer and module items at the end are the specialist tail.
Explain Vue's reactivity system end to end (proxies, effects, dependency tracking, scheduler flush) and say where shallowRef, markRaw and toRaw belong. Walk through the Vue docs table of contents from memory and name the 3.4/3.5 additions (defineModel, useTemplateRef, useId, reactive props destructure) and what Vue 3.6 Vapor changes. Design a component API with variants, slots, defineModel and typed emits, and explain why a dozen booleans is the wrong shape. Write a composable that accepts MaybeRefOrGetter, returns refs, cleans up in onScopeDispose and is SSR-safe, and say how you would test it. Explain useFetch vs useAsyncData vs $fetch, the role of the key, dedupe, getCachedData, and the two classic double-fetch bugs. Fill in a rendering-per-route table (prerender, swr, isr, SSR private, ssr false, islands, lazy hydration) with the criteria for each row and the routeRules that implement it. List the Nuxt directory structure and the purpose of every top-level directory in Nuxt 4 (app/, server/, shared/, layers/, modules/, public/, content/), plus what the app/ migration changed. Name every Nuxt composable and utility you would use in a typical page (useRoute, useHead/useSeoMeta, useState, useCookie, useRequestFetch, navigateTo, createError, definePageMeta) with one gotcha each. Explain Nuxt error handling: createError with status/statusText, fatal vs non-fatal, error.vue, NuxtErrorBoundary, clearError, and how a 404 becomes a real 404. Describe the state placement table for an e-commerce site (URL, useState, Pinia, query cache, cookies, localStorage) and justify each row. Explain the event loop with microtasks vs macrotasks and predict the output of a mixed promise/setTimeout/await snippet. Name the ES2024–ES2026 features you actually use (Object.groupBy, Set methods, Promise.withResolvers, Array.fromAsync, iterator helpers, using declarations, Temporal status) and their baseline support. Explain discriminated unions, satisfies, generics with constraints and inference, and how Nuxt's project references split the type worlds. Show how to validate at the boundary with zod or valibot in a server route and share the schema with the form, and why runtime validation is needed at all. Explain the cascade with layers, container queries, logical properties and modern layout (grid, subgrid, :has), and how Tailwind 4 fits in. Build an accessible combobox or dialog from memory (roles, aria-* attributes, keyboard model, focus management) and name the WCAG 2.2 criteria it satisfies. Describe the critical rendering path, Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) with their thresholds, and the three most effective fixes for each. Explain HTTP caching headers, ETags, CORS and cookies (SameSite, HttpOnly, Secure) well enough to debug a failing cross-origin request. Explain XSS vectors in Vue, a strict CSP with nonces, CSRF and session cookie hardening, SSRF in server routes, and the pnpm supply-chain defaults. Describe the testing trophy for a Nuxt app: Vitest unit tests, component tests with mountSuspended and registerEndpoint, API tests, Playwright, and the CI gates. Write a validated server route with h3 utilities, createError, a service layer and a cached function, and say what changes when it runs on Cloudflare vs Node. Explain authentication with nuxt-auth-utils (sealed cookie sessions, requireUserSession, OAuth handlers) and where authorisation must live. Explain the Nitro caching layers (route rules, defineCachedEventHandler, cachedFunction, storage drivers), their invalidation, and why the memory driver is wrong in production. Run a 45-minute frontend system design from requirements to trade-offs using the method, on a prompt you have not rehearsed. Present two worked designs (e-commerce catalogue, realtime dashboard) in ten minutes each and change one constraint on demand. Write an ADR from memory and explain strangler migration vs rewrite with a Nuxt example. Describe your ideal toolchain and CI/CD pipeline for a Nuxt app (Vite 8/Rolldown, ESLint 10 + Oxlint, vue-tsc, pnpm 12, Vitest 5, Playwright, build once and promote, preview deploys, rollback). Implement debounce, deepEqual, an LRU cache, a promise pool and retry with backoff under a timer, correct on the edge cases, and narrate while doing it. Build an accessible autocomplete and a sortable table in Vue in 40 minutes each, then a validated Nuxt API route with a page consuming it. Spot the planted bugs in a Vue/Nuxt snippet (index keys, prop mutation, v-html, onMounted fetch, module-scope state) in under a minute. Summarise the September 2026 landscape (Nuxt 4.5 and 4.6, Nuxt 5 on Nitro 3, Vue 3.6 Vapor, Vite 8, TypeScript 7 and vue-tsc, Vitest 5, Pinia 4, Node 24/26) and what it changes for your daily work. Tell six STAR stories that cover delivery, debugging, disagreement, mentoring, migration and failure, and ask ten questions that show how you think about the role. Explain what a layer can and cannot ship compared with a module, and give the "if it needs an if, it is a module" rule with an example of each. State the layer priority order (project > layers/ Z-to-A > extends first-wins) and describe the experiment that proves it. Write a layer nuxt.config from memory that registers CSS, a module and a route rule with paths resolved from import.meta.url. Explain how runtimeConfig, app.config and module options merge across a layer and an app, and which one to use for a secret, a theme token and a per-environment URL. Show three ways an app customises a layer component (configure, wrap via Describe how a module discovers files across layers (getLayerDirectories / _layers, project first) and why the order matters. Publish a layer to a registry or consume it from a git tag, and list the package.json fields that make it work. Describe how you would test a layer with fixture apps, including the override test and a fixture outside the layer folder, and what runs in the CI matrix. Name eight layer pitfalls with their symptom and fix (aliases, missing nuxt.config, .env, Tailwind sources, name collisions, duplicate plugins, ordering, remote dependencies). Design the public surface of a design-system layer and explain how breaking changes to it are rolled out. Draw the three worlds (build, server runtime, client runtime) and say which of your files lives in each. Explain the four ways to get a module option to runtime and pick the right one for three different options. Describe nuxt build from config load to .output in under two minutes. Name ten kit helpers and what each does internally. Write a template plus a type template from memory. List the build hooks you would use for six common goals. Explain moduleDependencies versus installModule. Describe the module test pyramid and what runs in your CI matrix. Give the top seven hydration causes with their fixes, and the production debugging flag. Explain why SSR leaks more easily, name three Nuxt-specific leak patterns, and describe a heap-snapshot comparison. Explain payload size, waterfalls, caching layers and lazy hydration as performance levers, each with how you would measure it. Summarise Nuxt 4.5 and the known Nuxt 5 changes, and what they mean for layer and module authors. Tell five stories and ask five questions. Point at a published layer or module you built this month and walk through its notes and decisions.