---
title: 'definePageMeta'
description: 'Define metadata for your page components.'
links:
  - label: Source
    icon: i-simple-icons-github
    to: https://github.com/nuxt/nuxt/blob/main/packages/nuxt/src/pages/runtime/composables.ts
    size: xs
---

`definePageMeta` is a compiler macro that you can use to set metadata for your **page** components located in the [`pages/`](/docs/guide/directory-structure/pages) directory (unless [set otherwise](/docs/api/nuxt-config#pages)). This way you can set custom metadata for each static or dynamic route of your Nuxt application.

```vue [pages/some-page.vue]
<script setup lang="ts">
definePageMeta({
  layout: 'default'
})
</script>
```

:read-more{to="/docs/guide/directory-structure/pages/#page-metadata"}

## Type

```ts
definePageMeta(meta: PageMeta) => void

interface PageMeta {
  validate?: (route: RouteLocationNormalized) => boolean | Promise<boolean> | Partial<NuxtError> | Promise<Partial<NuxtError>>
  redirect?: RouteRecordRedirectOption
  name?: string
  path?: string
  alias?: string | string[]
  pageTransition?: boolean | TransitionProps
  layoutTransition?: boolean | TransitionProps
  key?: false | string | ((route: RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded) => string)
  keepalive?: boolean | KeepAliveProps
  layout?: false | LayoutKey | Ref<LayoutKey> | ComputedRef<LayoutKey>
  middleware?: MiddlewareKey | NavigationGuard | Array<MiddlewareKey | NavigationGuard>
  scrollToTop?: boolean | ((to: RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded, from: RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded) => boolean)
  [key: string]: unknown
}
```

## Parameters

### `meta`

- **Type**: `PageMeta`

  An object accepting the following page metadata:

  **`name`**

  - **Type**: `string`

    You may define a name for this page's route. By default, name is generated based on path inside the [`pages/` directory](/docs/guide/directory-structure/pages).

  **`path`**

  - **Type**: `string`

    You may define a [custom regular expression](#using-a-custom-regular-expression) if you have a more complex pattern than can be expressed with the file name.

  **`alias`**

  - **Type**: `string | string[]`

    Aliases for the record. Allows defining extra paths that will behave like a copy of the record. Allows having paths shorthands like `/users/:id` and `/u/:id`. All `alias` and `path` values must share the same params.

  **`keepalive`**

  - **Type**: `boolean` | [`KeepAliveProps`](https://vuejs.org/api/built-in-components.html#keepalive)

    Set to `true` when you want to preserve page state across route changes or use the [`KeepAliveProps`](https://vuejs.org/api/built-in-components.html#keepalive) for a fine-grained control.

  **`key`**

  - **Type**: `false` | `string` | `((route: RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded) => string)`

    Set `key` value when you need more control over when the `<NuxtPage>` component is re-rendered.

  **`layout`**

  - **Type**: `false` | `LayoutKey` | `Ref<LayoutKey>` | `ComputedRef<LayoutKey>`

    Set a static or dynamic name of the layout for each route. This can be set to `false` in case the default layout needs to be disabled.

  **`layoutTransition`**

  - **Type**: `boolean` | [`TransitionProps`](https://vuejs.org/api/built-in-components.html#transition)

    Set name of the transition to apply for current layout. You can also set this value to `false` to disable the layout transition.

  **`middleware`**

  - **Type**: `MiddlewareKey` | [`NavigationGuard`](https://router.vuejs.org/api/interfaces/NavigationGuard.html#navigationguard) | `Array<MiddlewareKey | NavigationGuard>`

    Define anonymous or named middleware directly within `definePageMeta`. Learn more about [route middleware](/docs/guide/directory-structure/middleware).

  **`pageTransition`**

  - **Type**: `boolean` | [`TransitionProps`](https://vuejs.org/api/built-in-components.html#transition)

    Set name of the transition to apply for current page. You can also set this value to `false` to disable the page transition.

  **`redirect`**

  - **Type**: [`RouteRecordRedirectOption`](https://router.vuejs.org/guide/essentials/redirect-and-alias.html#redirect-and-alias)

    Where to redirect if the route is directly matched. The redirection happens before any navigation guard and triggers a new navigation with the new target location.

  **`validate`**

  - **Type**: `(route: RouteLocationNormalized) => boolean | Promise<boolean> | Partial<NuxtError> | Promise<Partial<NuxtError>>`

    Validate whether a given route can validly be rendered with this page. Return true if it is valid, or false if not. If another match can't be found, this will mean a 404. You can also directly return an object with `statusCode`/`statusMessage` to respond immediately with an error (other matches will not be checked).

  **`scrollToTop`**

  - **Type**: `boolean | (to: RouteLocationNormalized, from: RouteLocationNormalized) => boolean`

    Tell Nuxt to scroll to the top before rendering the page or not. If you want to overwrite the default scroll behavior of Nuxt, you can do so in `~/app/router.options.ts` (see [docs](/docs/guide/directory-structure/pages/#router-options)) for more info.

  **`[key: string]`**

  - **Type**: `any`

    Apart from the above properties, you can also set **custom** metadata. You may wish to do so in a type-safe way by [augmenting the type of the `meta` object](/docs/guide/directory-structure/pages/#typing-custom-metadata).

## Examples

### Basic Usage

The example below demonstrates:

- how `key` can be a function that returns a value;
- how `keepalive` property makes sure that the `<modal>` component is not cached when switching between multiple components;
- adding `pageType` as a custom property:

```vue [pages/some-page.vue]
<script setup lang="ts">
definePageMeta({
  key: (route) => route.fullPath,

  keepalive: {
    exclude: ['modal']
  },

  pageType: 'Checkout'
})
</script>
```

### Defining Middleware

The example below shows how the middleware can be defined using a `function` directly within the `definePageMeta` or set as a `string` that matches the middleware file name located in the `middleware/` directory:

```vue [pages/some-page.vue]
<script setup lang="ts">
definePageMeta({
  // define middleware as a function
  middleware: [
    function (to, from) {
      const auth = useState('auth')

      if (!auth.value.authenticated) {
          return navigateTo('/login')
      }

      if (to.path !== '/checkout') {
        return navigateTo('/checkout')
      }
    }
  ],

  // ... or a string
  middleware: 'auth'

  // ... or multiple strings
  middleware: ['auth', 'another-named-middleware']
})
</script>
```

### Using a Custom Regular Expression

A custom regular expression is a good way to resolve conflicts between overlapping routes, for instance:

The two routes "/test-category" and "/1234-post" match both `[postId]-[postSlug].vue` and `[categorySlug].vue` page routes.

To make sure that we are only matching digits (`\d+`) for `postId` in the `[postId]-[postSlug]` route, we can add the following to the `[postId]-[postSlug].vue` page template:

```vue [pages/[postId]-[postSlug].vue]
<script setup lang="ts">
definePageMeta({
  path: '/:postId(\\d+)-:postSlug' 
})
</script>
```

For more examples see [Vue Router's Matching Syntax](https://router.vuejs.org/guide/essentials/route-matching-syntax.html).

### Defining Layout

You can define the layout that matches the layout's file name located (by default) in the [`layouts/` directory](/docs/guide/directory-structure/layouts). You can also disable the layout by setting the `layout` to `false`:

```vue [pages/some-page.vue]
<script setup lang="ts">
definePageMeta({
  // set custom layout
  layout: 'admin'

  // ... or disable a default layout
  layout: false
})
</script>
```