faq.md

title
Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions. If you have a question, you can ask it by opening an issue on the Storybook Repository.

• How can I opt-out of Angular Ivy?
• How can I opt-out of Angular ngcc?
• How can I run coverage tests with Create React App and leave out stories?
• I see ReferenceError: React is not defined when using Storybook with Next.js
• How do I fix module resolutions while using pnpm Plug-n-Play
• How do I setup Storybook to share Webpack configuration with Next.js?
• How do I setup React Fast Refresh with Storybook?
• How do I setup the new React Context Root API with Storybook?
• Why is there no addons channel?
• Why aren't Controls visible in the Canvas panel but visible in Docs?
• Why aren't the addons working in a composed Storybook?
• Which community addons are compatible with the latest version of Storybook?
• Is it possible to browse the documentation for past versions of Storybook?
• What icons are available for my toolbar or my addon?
• I see a "No Preview" error with a Storybook production build
• Can I use Storybook with Vue 3?
• Is snapshot testing with Storyshots supported for Vue 3?
• Why aren't my code blocks highlighted with Storybook MDX
• Why aren't my MDX 2 stories working in Storybook?
• Why are my mocked GraphQL queries failing with Storybook's MSW addon?
• Can I use other GraphQL providers with Storybook's MSW addon?
• Can I mock GraphQL mutations with Storybook's MSW addon?
• How can my code detect if it is running in Storybook?
• Why are my stories not showing up correctly when using certain characters?
• Why are the TypeScript examples and documentation using as for type safety?
• Why is Storybook's source loader returning undefined with curried functions?
• Why are my args no longer displaying the default values?
• Why isn't Storybook's test runner working?
• How does Storybook handle environment variables?

How can I opt-out of Angular Ivy?

In case you are having trouble with Angular Ivy you can deactivate it in your main.js:

export default {
  stories: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  addons: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  framework: {
    name: '@storybook/angular',
    options: {
      enableIvy: false,
    },
  },
};

How can I opt-out of Angular ngcc?

In case you postinstall ngcc, you can disable it:

export default {
  stories: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  addons: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  framework: {
    name: '@storybook/angular',
    options: {
      enableNgcc: false,
    },
  },
};

Please report any issues related to Ivy in our GitHub Issue Tracker as the support for View Engine will be dropped in a future release of Angular.

How can I run coverage tests with Create React App and leave out stories?

Create React App does not allow providing options to Jest in your package.json, however you can run jest with commandline arguments:

npm test -- --coverage --collectCoverageFrom='["src/**/*.{js,jsx}","!src/**/stories/*"]'

💡 If you're using yarn as a package manager, you'll need to adjust the command accordingly.

I see ReferenceError: React is not defined when using Storybook with Next.js

Next automatically defines React for all of your files via a babel plugin. In Storybook, you can solve this either by:

1. Adding import React from 'react' to your component files.
2. Adding a .babelrc that includes babel-plugin-react-require

How do I setup Storybook to share Webpack configuration with Next.js?

You can generally reuse Webpack rules by placing them in a file that is require()-ed from both your next.config.js and your .storybook/main.js files. For example:

export default {
  webpackFinal: async (baseConfig) => {
    const nextConfig = require('/path/to/next.config.js');

    // merge whatever from nextConfig into the webpack config storybook will use
    return { ...baseConfig, ...nextConfig };
  },
};

How do I fix module resolution while using pnpm Plug-n-Play?

In case you are using pnpm, you might run into issues with module resolution similar to this when running Storybook:

WARN   Failed to load preset: "@storybook/react-webpack5/preset"`
Required package: @storybook/react-webpack5 (via "@storybook/react-webpack5/preset")

To fix this, you can wrap the package name inside your Storybook configuration file (i.e., .storybook/main.js|ts) as follows:

<CodeSnippets paths={[ 'common/storybook-main-pnpm-with-module-resolution.js.mdx', 'common/storybook-main-pnpm-with-module-resolution.ts.mdx', ]} />

How do I setup React Fast Refresh with Storybook?

Fast refresh is an opt-in feature that can be used in Storybook React. There are two ways that you can enable it, go ahead and pick one:

• You can set a FAST_REFRESH environment variable in your .env file:

FAST_REFRESH=true

• Or you can set the following properties in your .storybook/main.js files:

export default {
  framework: {
    name: '@storybook/react-webpack5',
    options: {
      fastRefresh: true,
    },
  },
};

💡 Fast Refresh only works in development mode with React 16.10 or higher.

How do I setup the new React Context Root API with Storybook?

If your installed React Version equals or is higher than 18.0.0, the new React Root API is automatically used and the newest React concurrent features can be used.

You can opt-out from the new React Root API by setting the following property in your .storybook/main.js file:

export default {
  framework: {
    name: '@storybook/react-webpack5',
    options: {
      legacyRootApi: true,
    },
  },
};

Why is there no addons channel?

A common error is that an addon tries to access the "channel", but the channel is not set. It can happen in a few different cases:

1. You're trying to access addon channel (e.g., by calling setOptions) in a non-browser environment like Jest. You may need to add a channel mock:

   import { addons, mockChannel } from '@storybook/addons';
   
   addons.setChannel(mockChannel());

2. In React Native, it's a special case documented in #1192

Why aren't Controls visible in the Canvas panel but visible in Docs?

If you're adding Storybook's dependencies manually, make sure you include the @storybook/addon-controls dependency in your project and reference it in your .storybook/main.js as follows:

// .storybook/main.js

export default {
  addons: ['@storybook/addon-controls'],
};

Why aren't the addons working in a composed Storybook?

Composition is a new feature that we released with version 6.0, and there are still some limitations to it.

For now, the addons you're using in a composed Storybook will not work.

We're working on overcoming this limitation, and soon you'll be able to use them as if you are working with a non-composed Storybook.

Which community addons are compatible with the latest version of Storybook?

Starting with Storybook version 6.0, we've introduced some great features aimed at streamlining your development workflow.

With this, we would like to point out that if you plan on using addons created by our fantastic community, you need to consider that some of those addons might be working with an outdated version of Storybook.

We're actively working to provide a better way to address this situation, but in the meantime, we would ask for a bit of caution on your end so that you don't run into unexpected problems. Let us know by creating an issue in the Storybook repo so that we can gather information and create a curated list with those addons to help not only you but the rest of the community.

Is it possible to browse the documentation for past versions of Storybook?

With the release of version 6.0, we updated our documentation as well. That doesn't mean that the old documentation was removed. We kept it to help you with your Storybook migration process. Use the content from the table below in conjunction with our migration guide .

We're only covering versions 5.3 and 5.0 as they were important milestones for Storybook. If you want to go back in time a little more, you'll have to check the specific release in the monorepo.

Section	Page	Current Location	Version 5.3 location	Version 5.0 location
N/A	Why Storybook	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
Get started	Install	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	What's a story	See current documentation	See versioned documentation for your framework	See versioned documentation for your framework
	Browse Stories	See current documentation	See versioned documentation for your framework	See versioned documentation for your framework
	Setup	See current documentation	See versioned documentation for your framework	See versioned documentation for your framework
Write stories	Introduction	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Parameters	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Decorators	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Naming components and hierarchy	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Build pages and screens	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Stories for multiple components	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
Write docs	Autodocs	See current documentation	See versioned addon documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
	MDX	See current documentation	See versioned addon documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Doc Blocks	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Preview and build docs	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
Testing	Visual tests	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Accessibility tests	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Interaction tests	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Snapshot tests	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Import stories in tests	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
Sharing	Publish Storybook	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Embed	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Composition	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Package Composition	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
Essential addons	Controls	See current documentation	Controls are specific to version 6.0 see Knobs versioned documentation	Controls are specific to version 6.0 see Knobs versioned documentation
	Actions	See current documentation	See addon versioned documentation	See addon versioned documentation
	Viewport	See current documentation	See addon versioned documentation	See addon versioned documentation
	Backgrounds	See current documentation	See addon versioned documentation	See addon versioned documentation
	Toolbars and globals	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
Configure	Overview	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Integration/Frameworks	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Integration/Framework support for frameworks	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Integration/Babel	See current documentation	See versioned documentation here	See versioned documentation here
	Integration/Typescript	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Integration/Styling and CSS	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Integration/Images and assets	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Story rendering	See current documentation	See versioned documentation here and here	See versioned documentation here
	Story Layout	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	User Interface/Features and behavior	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	User Interface/Theming	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	User Interface/Sidebar & URLS	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Environment variables	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
Builders	Introduction	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Vite	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Webpack	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Builder API	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
Addons	Introduction	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Install addons	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Writing Addons	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Writing Presets	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Addons Knowledge Base	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
	Types of addons	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Addons API	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation
API	@storybook/blocks/ArgTypes	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Canvas	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/ColorPalette	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Controls	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Description	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/IconGallery	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Markdown	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Meta	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Primary	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Source	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Stories	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Story	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Subtitle	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Title	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Typeset	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/Unstyled	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	@storybook/blocks/useOf	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Stories/Component Story Format	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Stories/StoriesOF format (see note below)	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented
	Frameworks	See current documentation	Non existing feature or undocumented	Non existing feature or undocumented
	CLI options	See current documentation	See versioned documentation	See versioned documentation

With the release of version 5.3, we've updated how you can write your stories more compactly and easily. It doesn't mean that the storiesOf format has been removed. For the time being, we're still supporting it, and we have documentation for it. But be advised that this is bound to change in the future.

What icons are available for my toolbar or my addon?

With the @storybook/components package, you get a set of icons that you can use to customize your UI. Use the table below as a reference while writing your addon or defining your Storybook global types. Go through this story to see how the icons look.

<iframe src="https://main--5a375b97f4b14f0020b0cda3.chromatic.com/iframe.html?args=&id=basics-icon--labels&viewMode=story&shortcuts=false&singleStory=true" width="100%" height="600"></iframe>

I see a "No Preview" error with a Storybook production build

If you're using the serve package to verify your production build of Storybook, you'll get that error. It relates to how serve handles rewrites. For instance, /iframe.html is rewritten into /iframe, and you'll get that error.

We recommend that you use http-server instead and use the following command to preview Storybook:

npx http-server storybook-static

Suppose you don't want to run the command above frequently. Add http-server as a development dependency and create a new script to preview your production build of Storybook.

Can I use Storybook with Vue 3?

Yes, with the release of version 6.2, Storybook now includes support for Vue 3. See the install page for instructions.

Is snapshot testing with Storyshots supported for Vue 3?

Yes, with the release of version 6.2, the Storyshots addon will automatically detect Vue 3 projects.

If you run into a situation where this is not the case, you can adjust the config object and manually specify the framework (e.g., vue3).

See our documentation on how to customize the Storyshots configuration.

Why aren't my code blocks highlighted with Storybook MDX

Out of the box, Storybook provides syntax highlighting for a set of languages (e.g., Javascript, Markdown, CSS, HTML, Typescript, GraphQL) you can use with your code blocks. Currently, there's a know limitation when you try and register a custom language to get syntax highlighting. We're working on a fix for this And will update this section once it's available.

Why aren't my MDX 2 stories working in Storybook?

MDX 2 introduced some changes to how the code is rendered. For example, if you enabled it in your Storybook and you have the following code block:

<style>{`
  .class1 {
    ...
  }

  .class2 {
    ...
  }
`}</style>

You'll need to update it to make it compatible with MDX 2.

<style>
  {`
    .class1 {
      ...
    }

    .class2 {
      ...
    }
  `}
</style>

See the following issue for more information.

Why are my mocked GraphQL queries failing with Storybook's MSW addon?

If you're working with Vue 3, you'll need to install @vue/apollo-composable. With Svelte, you'll need to install @rollup/plugin-replace and update your rollup.config file to the following:

// rollup.config

// Boilerplate imports

import replace from '@rollup/plugin-replace';
const production = !process.env.ROLLUP_WATCH;

// Remainder rollup.config implementation

export default {
  input: 'src/main.js',
  output: {
    sourcemap: true,
    format: 'iife',
    name: 'app',
    file: 'public/build/bundle.js',
  },
  plugins: [
    // Other plugins

    // Configures the replace plugin to allow GraphQL Queries to work properly
    replace({
      'process.env.NODE_ENV': JSON.stringify('development'),
    }),
};

With Angular, the most common issue is the placement of the mockServiceWorker.js file. Use this example as a point of reference.

Can I use other GraphQL providers with Storybook's MSW addon?

Yes, check the addon's examples to learn how to integrate different providers.

Can I mock GraphQL mutations with Storybook's MSW addon?

No, currently, the MSW addon only has support for GraphQL queries. If you're interested in including this feature, open an issue in the MSW addon repository and follow up with the maintainer.

How can my code detect if it is running in Storybook?

You can do this by checking for the IS_STORYBOOK global variable, which will equal true when running in Storybook. The environment variable process.env.STORYBOOK is also set to true.

Why are my stories not showing up correctly when using certain characters?

Storybook allows you to use most characters while naming your stories. Still, specific characters (e.g., #) can lead to issues when Storybook generates the internal identifier for the story, leading to collisions and incorrectly outputting the correct story. We recommend using such characters sparsely.

Why are the TypeScript examples and documentation using as for type safety?

We're aware that the default Typescript story construct might seem outdated and could potentially introduce a less than ideal way of handling type safety and strictness and could be rewritten as such:

// Button.stories.ts|tsx

import React from 'react';
import type { ComponentStory, ComponentMeta } from '@storybook/react';

const StoryMeta: ComponentMeta<typeof Button> = {
  /* 👇 The title prop is optional.
   * See https://storybook.js.org/docs/react/configure/overview#configure-story-loading
   * to learn how to generate automatic titles
   */
  title: 'Button',
  component: Button,
};

export default meta;

Although valid, it introduces additional boilerplate code to the story definition. Instead, we're working towards implementing a safer mechanism based on what's currently being discussed in the following issue. Once the feature is released, we'll migrate our existing examples and documentation accordingly.

Why is Storybook's source loader returning undefined with curried functions?

This is a known issue with Storybook. If you're interested in getting it fixed, open an issue with a working reproduction so that it can be triaged and fixed in future releases.

Why are my args no longer displaying the default values?

Before version 6.3, unset args were set to the argTypes.defaultValue if specified or inferred from the component's properties (e.g., React's prop types, Angular inputs, Vue props). Starting with version 6.3, Storybook no longer infers default values but instead defines the arg's value as undefined when unset, allowing the framework to supply its default value.

If you are using argTypes.defaultValue to fix the above, you no longer need to, and you can safely remove it from your stories.

Additionally, suppose you were using argTypes.defaultValue or relying on inference to set a default value for an arg. In that case, you should define the arg's value at the component level instead:

// MyComponent.stories.js

export default {
  component: MyComponent,
  args: {
    //👇 Defining the arg's value at the component level.
    text: 'Something',
  },
};

For Storybook's Docs, you can manually configure the displayed value by configuring the table.defaultValue setting:

// MyComponent.stories.js

export default {
  component: MyComponent,
  argTypes: {
    //👇 Defining the arg's display value in docs.
    text: {
      table: { defaultValue: { summary: 'SomeType<T>' } },
    },
  },
};

Why isn't Storybook's test runner working?

There's an issue with Storybook's test runner and the latest version of Jest (i.e., version 28), which prevents it from running effectively. As a workaround, you can downgrade Jest to the previous stable version (i.e., version 27), and you'll be able to run it. See the following issue for more information.

How does Storybook handle environment variables?

Storybook has built-in support for environment variables. By default, environment variables are only available in Node.js code and are not available in the browser as some variables should be kept secret (e.g., API keys) and not exposed to anyone visiting the published Storybook.

To expose a variable, you must preface its name with STORYBOOK_. So STORYBOOK_API_URL will be available in browser code but API_KEY will not. Additionally you can also customize which variables are exposed by setting the env field in the .storybook/main.js file.

Variables are set when JavaScript is compiled so when the development server is started or you build your Storybook. Environment variable files should not be committed to Git as they often contain secrets which are not safe to add to Git. Instead, add .env.* to your .gitignore file and set up the environment variables manually on your hosting provider (e.g., GitHub).