diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 914f0e2..28a5f18 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
-## 0.18.0 - 2026-03-06
+## 0.18.0-rc0 - 2026-03-19
+
+## 0.18.0-rc0 - 2026-03-06
 
 > **Note:** Many of the features in this release were backported from
 > [live_vue](https://github.com/Valian/live_vue) by
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
index 3725da4..9735ce2 100644
--- a/flake.lock
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@
     },
     "nixpkgs": {
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1744932701,
-        "narHash": "sha256-fusHbZCyv126cyArUwwKrLdCkgVAIaa/fQJYFlCEqiU=",
+        "lastModified": 1773821835,
+        "narHash": "sha256-TJ3lSQtW0E2JrznGVm8hOQGVpXjJyXY2guAxku2O9A4=",
         "owner": "NixOS",
         "repo": "nixpkgs",
-        "rev": "b024ced1aac25639f8ca8fdfc2f8c4fbd66c48ef",
+        "rev": "b40629efe5d6ec48dd1efba650c797ddbd39ace0",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 197c9c4..06fbf13 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -20,28 +20,27 @@
       with pkgs;
       {
         devShells.default = mkShell {
-          buildInputs =
-            [
-              erlang_27
-              beam.packages.erlang_26.elixir_1_18
-              nodejs_22
-              gh
-            ]
-            ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isLinux [
-              # For ExUnit Notifier on Linux.
-              libnotify
+          buildInputs = [
+            erlang_27
+            beam.packages.erlang_27.elixir_1_18
+            nodejs_22
+            gh
+          ]
+          ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isLinux [
+            # For ExUnit Notifier on Linux.
+            libnotify
 
-              # For file_system on Linux.
-              inotify-tools
-            ]
-            ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin ([
-              # For ExUnit Notifier on macOS.
-              terminal-notifier
+            # For file_system on Linux.
+            inotify-tools
+          ]
+          ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin ([
+            # For ExUnit Notifier on macOS.
+            terminal-notifier
 
-              # For file_system on macOS.
-              darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.CoreFoundation
-              darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.CoreServices
-            ]);
+            # For file_system on macOS.
+            darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.CoreFoundation
+            darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.CoreServices
+          ]);
 
           shellHook = ''
             # allows mix to work on the local directory
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 4973fe0..df5c882 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 defmodule LiveSvelte.MixProject do
   use Mix.Project
 
-  @version "0.18.0"
+  @version "0.18.0-rc0"
   @repo_url "https://github.com/woutdp/live_svelte"
 
   def project do
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ defmodule LiveSvelte.MixProject do
       {:phoenix, ">= 1.7.0"},
       {:phoenix_html, ">= 3.3.1"},
       {:phoenix_live_view, "~> 1.0"},
-      {:excoveralls, "~> 0.18", only: :test}
+      {:excoveralls, "~> 0.18", only: :test},
+      {:phx_new, "~> 1.7", only: :test, runtime: false}
     ]
   end
 
diff --git a/mix.lock b/mix.lock
index ef930ec..366a708 100644
--- a/mix.lock
+++ b/mix.lock
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
   "phoenix_template": {:hex, :phoenix_template, "1.0.4", "e2092c132f3b5e5b2d49c96695342eb36d0ed514c5b252a77048d5969330d639", [:mix], [{:phoenix_html, "~> 2.14.2 or ~> 3.0 or ~> 4.0", [hex: :phoenix_html, repo: "hexpm", optional: true]}], "hexpm", "2c0c81f0e5c6753faf5cca2f229c9709919aba34fab866d3bc05060c9c444206"},
   "phoenix_view": {:hex, :phoenix_view, "2.0.2", "6bd4d2fd595ef80d33b439ede6a19326b78f0f1d8d62b9a318e3d9c1af351098", [:mix], [{:phoenix_html, "~> 2.14.2 or ~> 3.0", [hex: :phoenix_html, repo: "hexpm", optional: true]}, {:phoenix_template, "~> 1.0", [hex: :phoenix_template, repo: "hexpm", optional: false]}], "hexpm", "a929e7230ea5c7ee0e149ffcf44ce7cf7f4b6d2bfe1752dd7c084cdff152d36f"},
   "phoenix_vite": {:hex, :phoenix_vite, "0.4.1", "16fc8b4acc7d4e26fab2bcfb10d125392fcfb5a4ba05dd3aea7f2bec048c5e71", [:mix], [{:bun, ">= 1.5.1 and < 2.0.0-0", [hex: :bun, repo: "hexpm", optional: true]}, {:igniter, "~> 0.6", [hex: :igniter, repo: "hexpm", optional: true]}, {:phoenix_live_view, "~> 1.0", [hex: :phoenix_live_view, repo: "hexpm", optional: false]}], "hexpm", "f2bdb1802bc82f2fa93b24606cd25ebdd389bcf2afc55af804f0af3377410f0d"},
+  "phx_new": {:hex, :phx_new, "1.8.5", "2392ceb39435f90b054c11ecd5c186b64865c344f94488aec79a706865a06175", [:mix], [], "hexpm", "6aefa3cd0fd3795fd4ff60c9f72c395cf1158c7ba978a36cbbb5686a9ea5b947"},
   "plug": {:hex, :plug, "1.19.1", "09bac17ae7a001a68ae393658aa23c7e38782be5c5c00c80be82901262c394c0", [:mix], [{:mime, "~> 1.0 or ~> 2.0", [hex: :mime, repo: "hexpm", optional: false]}, {:plug_crypto, "~> 1.1.1 or ~> 1.2 or ~> 2.0", [hex: :plug_crypto, repo: "hexpm", optional: false]}, {:telemetry, "~> 0.4.3 or ~> 1.0", [hex: :telemetry, repo: "hexpm", optional: false]}], "hexpm", "560a0017a8f6d5d30146916862aaf9300b7280063651dd7e532b8be168511e62"},
   "plug_crypto": {:hex, :plug_crypto, "2.1.1", "19bda8184399cb24afa10be734f84a16ea0a2bc65054e23a62bb10f06bc89491", [:mix], [], "hexpm", "6470bce6ffe41c8bd497612ffde1a7e4af67f36a15eea5f921af71cf3e11247c"},
   "poolboy": {:hex, :poolboy, "1.5.2", "392b007a1693a64540cead79830443abf5762f5d30cf50bc95cb2c1aaafa006b", [:rebar3], [], "hexpm", "dad79704ce5440f3d5a3681c8590b9dc25d1a561e8f5a9c995281012860901e3"},
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f17bc0b..12bb362 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
     "name": "live_svelte",
-    "version": "0.17.4",
+    "version": "0.18.0-rc0",
     "lockfileVersion": 3,
     "requires": true,
     "packages": {
         "": {
             "name": "live_svelte",
-            "version": "0.17.4",
+            "version": "0.18.0-rc0",
             "license": "MIT",
             "devDependencies": {
                 "prettier": "^3.8.1",
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@
             "integrity": "sha512-UVJyE9MttOsBQIDKw1skb9nAwQuR5wuGD3+82K6JgJlm/Y+KI92oNsMNGZCYdDsVtRHSak0pcV5Dno5+4jh9sw==",
             "dev": true,
             "license": "MIT",
-            "peer": true,
             "bin": {
                 "acorn": "bin/acorn"
             },
@@ -189,7 +188,6 @@
             "integrity": "sha512-UOnG6LftzbdaHZcKoPFtOcCKztrQ57WkHDeRD9t/PTQtmT0NHSeWWepj6pS0z/N7+08BHFDQVUrfmfMRcZwbMg==",
             "dev": true,
             "license": "MIT",
-            "peer": true,
             "bin": {
                 "prettier": "bin/prettier.cjs"
             },
@@ -217,7 +215,6 @@
             "integrity": "sha512-uxck1KI7JWtlfP3H6HOWi/94soAl23jsGJkBzN2BAWcQng0+lTrRNhxActFqORgnO9BHVd1hKJhG+ljRuIUWfQ==",
             "dev": true,
             "license": "MIT",
-            "peer": true,
             "dependencies": {
                 "@jridgewell/remapping": "^2.3.4",
                 "@jridgewell/sourcemap-codec": "^1.5.0",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c283983..3c611ca 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "live_svelte",
-    "version": "0.18.0",
+    "version": "0.18.0-rc0",
     "description": "",
     "license": "MIT",
     "types": "./assets/js/live_svelte/types.d.ts",