When a user interacts with your Livewire components, providing visual feedback during network requests is essential for a good user experience. Livewire automatically adds a data-loading attribute to any element that triggers a network request, making it easy to style loading states.

[!tip] Prefer data-loading over wire:loading Livewire also provides the wire:loading directive for toggling elements during requests. While wire:loading is simpler for basic show/hide scenarios, it has more limitations (requiring wire:target for specificity, doesn't work well with events across components, etc.). For most use cases, you should prefer using data-loading selectors as demonstrated in this guide.

Basic usage

Livewire automatically adds a data-loading attribute to any element that triggers a network request. This allows you to style loading states directly with CSS or Tailwind without using wire:loading directives.

Here's a simple example using a button with wire:click:

<button wire:click="save" class="data-loading:opacity-50">
    Save Changes
</button>

When the button is clicked and the request is in-flight, it will automatically become semi-transparent thanks to the data-loading attribute being present on the element.

How it works

The data-loading attribute is automatically added to elements that trigger network requests, including:

• Actions: wire:click="save"
• Form submissions: wire:submit="create"
• Property updates: wire:model.live="search"
• Events: wire:click="$dispatch('refresh')"

Importantly, the attribute is added even when dispatching events that are handled by other components:

<button wire:click="$dispatch('refresh-stats')">
    Refresh
</button>

Even though the event is picked up by a different component, the button that dispatched the event will still receive the data-loading attribute during the network request.

Styling with Tailwind

Tailwind v4 and above provides powerful selectors for working with the data-loading attribute.

Basic styling

Use Tailwind's data-loading: variant to apply styles when an element is loading:

<button wire:click="save" class="data-loading:opacity-50">
    Save
</button>

Showing elements during loading

To show an element only while loading is active, use the not-data-loading:hidden variant:

<button wire:click="save">
    Save
</button>

<span class="not-data-loading:hidden">
    Saving...
</span>

This approach is preferred over hidden data-loading:block because it works regardless of the element's display type (flex, inline, grid, etc.).

Styling children

You can style child elements when a parent has the data-loading attribute using the in-data-loading: variant:

<button wire:click="save">
    <span class="in-data-loading:hidden">Save</span>
    <span class="not-in-data-loading:hidden">Saving...</span>
</button>

[!warning] The in-data-loading variant applies to all ancestors The in-data-loading: variant will trigger if any ancestor element (no matter how far up the tree) has the data-loading attribute. This can lead to unexpected behavior if you have nested loading states.

Styling parents

Style parent elements when they contain a child with data-loading using the has-data-loading: variant:

<div class="has-data-loading:opacity-50">
    <button wire:click="save">Save</button>
</div>

When the button is clicked, the entire parent div will become semi-transparent.

Styling siblings

You can style sibling elements using Tailwind's peer utility with the peer-data-loading: variant:

<div>
    <button wire:click="save" class="peer">
        Save
    </button>

    <span class="peer-data-loading:opacity-50">
        Saving...
    </span>
</div>

Complex selectors

For more advanced styling needs, you can use arbitrary variants to target specific elements:

<!-- Style all direct children when loading -->
<div class="[&[data-loading]>*]:opacity-50" wire:click="save">
    <span>Child 1</span>
    <span>Child 2</span>
</div>

<!-- Style specific descendant elements -->
<button class="[&[data-loading]_.icon]:animate-spin" wire:click="save">
    <svg class="icon"><!-- spinner --></svg>
    Save
</button>

Learn more about Tailwind's state variants and arbitrary selectors in the Tailwind CSS documentation.

Advantages over wire:loading

The data-loading attribute approach offers several advantages over the traditional wire:loading directive:

1. No targeting needed: Unlike wire:loading which often requires wire:target to specify which action to respond to, the data-loading attribute is automatically scoped to the element that triggered the request.

1. More elegant styling: Tailwind's variant system provides a cleaner, more declarative way to style loading states directly in your markup.

1. Works with events: The attribute is added even when dispatching events that are handled by other components, something that was previously difficult to achieve with wire:loading.

1. Better composition: Styling with Tailwind variants composes better with other utility classes and states.

Tailwind 4 requirement

[!info] Tailwind v4+ required for advanced variants The in-data-loading:, has-data-loading:, peer-data-loading:, and not-data-loading: variants require Tailwind CSS v4 or above. If you're using an earlier version of Tailwind, you can still target the data-loading attribute using the data-loading: syntax or standard CSS.

Using with plain CSS

If you're not using Tailwind, you can target the data-loading attribute with standard CSS:

[data-loading] {
    opacity: 0.5;
}

button[data-loading] {
    background-color: #ccc;
}

You can also use CSS to style child elements:

[data-loading] .loading-text {
    display: inline;
}

[data-loading] .default-text {
    display: none;
}

See also

• wire:loading — Show and hide elements during requests
• Actions — Display feedback during action processing
• Forms — Indicate form submission progress
• Lazy Loading — Show loading states for lazy components