diff --git a/.changeset/fresh-pots-draw.md b/.changeset/fresh-pots-draw.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dde314c42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fresh-pots-draw.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+'astro': minor
+---
+
+View transitions can now be triggered from JavaScript!
+
+Import the client-side router from "astro:transitions/client" and enjoy your new remote control for navigation:
+
+```js
+import { navigate } from 'astro:transitions/client';
+
+// Navigate to the selected option automatically.
+document.querySelector('select').onchange = (ev) => {
+  let href = ev.target.value;
+  navigate(href);
+};
+```
diff --git a/packages/astro/client.d.ts b/packages/astro/client.d.ts
index 5f396b522..c75ae7971 100644
--- a/packages/astro/client.d.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/client.d.ts
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ declare module 'astro:transitions' {
 	export const ViewTransitions: ViewTransitionsModule['default'];
 }
 
+declare module 'astro:transitions/client' {
+	type TransitionRouterModule = typeof import('./dist/transitions/router.js');
+	export const supportsViewTransitions: TransitionRouterModule['supportsViewTransitions'];
+	export const transitionEnabledOnThisPage: TransitionRouterModule['transitionEnabledOnThisPage'];
+	export const navigate: TransitionRouterModule['navigate'];
+}
+
 declare module 'astro:middleware' {
 	export * from 'astro/middleware/namespace';
 }
diff --git a/packages/astro/components/ViewTransitions.astro b/packages/astro/components/ViewTransitions.astro
index 230b2f302..65a7af8a4 100644
--- a/packages/astro/components/ViewTransitions.astro
+++ b/packages/astro/components/ViewTransitions.astro
@@ -11,91 +11,12 @@ const { fallback = 'animate' } = Astro.props as Props;
 <meta name="astro-view-transitions-enabled" content="true" />
 <meta name="astro-view-transitions-fallback" content={fallback} />
 <script>
-	type Fallback = 'none' | 'animate' | 'swap';
-	type Direction = 'forward' | 'back';
-	type State = {
-		index: number;
-		scrollX: number;
-		scrollY: number;
-		intraPage?: boolean;
-	};
-	type Events = 'astro:page-load' | 'astro:after-swap';
-
-	// only update history entries that are managed by us
-	// leave other entries alone and do not accidently add state.
-	const persistState = (state: State) => history.state && history.replaceState(state, '');
-	// @ts-expect-error: startViewTransition might exist
-	const supportsViewTransitions = !!document.startViewTransition;
-	const transitionEnabledOnThisPage = () =>
-		!!document.querySelector('[name="astro-view-transitions-enabled"]');
-	const triggerEvent = (name: Events) => document.dispatchEvent(new Event(name));
-	const onPageLoad = () => triggerEvent('astro:page-load');
-	const PERSIST_ATTR = 'data-astro-transition-persist';
-	const parser = new DOMParser();
-	// explained at its usage
-	let noopEl: HTMLDivElement;
-	if (import.meta.env.DEV) {
-		noopEl = document.createElement('div');
-	}
-
-	// The History API does not tell you if navigation is forward or back, so
-	// you can figure it using an index. On pushState the index is incremented so you
-	// can use that to determine popstate if going forward or back.
-	let currentHistoryIndex = 0;
-	if (history.state) {
-		// we reloaded a page with history state
-		// (e.g. history navigation from non-transition page or browser reload)
-		currentHistoryIndex = history.state.index;
-		scrollTo({ left: history.state.scrollX, top: history.state.scrollY });
-	} else if (transitionEnabledOnThisPage()) {
-		history.replaceState({ index: currentHistoryIndex, scrollX, scrollY, intraPage: false }, '');
-	}
-	const throttle = (cb: (...args: any[]) => any, delay: number) => {
-		let wait = false;
-		// During the waiting time additional events are lost.
-		// So repeat the callback at the end if we have swallowed events.
-		let onceMore = false;
-		return (...args: any[]) => {
-			if (wait) {
-				onceMore = true;
-				return;
-			}
-			cb(...args);
-			wait = true;
-			setTimeout(() => {
-				if (onceMore) {
-					onceMore = false;
-					cb(...args);
-				}
-				wait = false;
-			}, delay);
-		};
-	};
-
-	// returns the contents of the page or null if the router can't deal with it.
-	async function fetchHTML(
-		href: string
-	): Promise<null | { html: string; redirected?: string; mediaType: DOMParserSupportedType }> {
-		try {
-			const res = await fetch(href);
-			// drop potential charset (+ other name/value pairs) as parser needs the mediaType
-			const mediaType = res.headers.get('content-type')?.replace(/;.*$/, '');
-			// the DOMParser can handle two types of HTML
-			if (mediaType !== 'text/html' && mediaType !== 'application/xhtml+xml') {
-				// everything else (e.g. audio/mp3) will be handled by the browser but not by us
-				return null;
-			}
-			const html = await res.text();
-			return {
-				html,
-				redirected: res.redirected ? res.url : undefined,
-				mediaType,
-			};
-		} catch (err) {
-			// can't fetch, let someone else deal with it.
-			return null;
-		}
-	}
+	import {
+		supportsViewTransitions,
+		transitionEnabledOnThisPage,
+		navigate,
+	} from 'astro:transitions/client';
+	export type Fallback = 'none' | 'animate' | 'swap';
 
 	function getFallback(): Fallback {
 		const el = document.querySelector('[name="astro-view-transitions-fallback"]');
@@ -105,264 +26,7 @@ const { fallback = 'animate' } = Astro.props as Props;
 		return 'animate';
 	}
 
-	function markScriptsExec() {
-		for (const script of document.scripts) {
-			script.dataset.astroExec = '';
-		}
-	}
-
-	function runScripts() {
-		let wait = Promise.resolve();
-		for (const script of Array.from(document.scripts)) {
-			if (script.dataset.astroExec === '') continue;
-			const newScript = document.createElement('script');
-			newScript.innerHTML = script.innerHTML;
-			for (const attr of script.attributes) {
-				if (attr.name === 'src') {
-					const p = new Promise((r) => {
-						newScript.onload = r;
-					});
-					wait = wait.then(() => p as any);
-				}
-				newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value);
-			}
-			newScript.dataset.astroExec = '';
-			script.replaceWith(newScript);
-		}
-		return wait;
-	}
-
-	function isInfinite(animation: Animation) {
-		const effect = animation.effect;
-		if (!effect || !(effect instanceof KeyframeEffect) || !effect.target) return false;
-		const style = window.getComputedStyle(effect.target, effect.pseudoElement);
-		return style.animationIterationCount === 'infinite';
-	}
-
-	const updateHistoryAndScrollPosition = (toLocation) => {
-		if (toLocation.href !== location.href) {
-			history.pushState(
-				{ index: ++currentHistoryIndex, scrollX: 0, scrollY: 0 },
-				'',
-				toLocation.href
-			);
-			// now we are on the new page for non-history navigations!
-			// (with history navigation page change happens before popstate is fired)
-		}
-		// freshly loaded pages start from the top
-		scrollTo({ left: 0, top: 0, behavior: 'instant' });
-
-		if (toLocation.hash) {
-			// because we are already on the target page ...
-			// ... what comes next is a intra-page navigation
-			// that won't reload the page but instead scroll to the fragment
-			location.href = toLocation.href;
-		}
-	};
-
-	// replace head and body of the windows document with contents from newDocument
-	// if !popstate, update the history entry and scroll position according to toLocation
-	// if popState is given, this holds the scroll position for history navigation
-	// if fallback === "animate" then simulate view transitions
-	async function updateDOM(
-		newDocument: Document,
-		toLocation: URL,
-		popState?: State,
-		fallback?: Fallback
-	) {
-		// Check for a head element that should persist and returns it,
-		// either because it has the data attribute or is a link el.
-		const persistedHeadElement = (el: HTMLElement): Element | null => {
-			const id = el.getAttribute(PERSIST_ATTR);
-			const newEl = id && newDocument.head.querySelector(`[${PERSIST_ATTR}="${id}"]`);
-			if (newEl) {
-				return newEl;
-			}
-			if (el.matches('link[rel=stylesheet]')) {
-				const href = el.getAttribute('href');
-				return newDocument.head.querySelector(`link[rel=stylesheet][href="${href}"]`);
-			}
-			// What follows is a fix for an issue (#8472) with missing client:only styles after transition.
-			// That problem exists only in dev mode where styles are injected into the page by Vite.
-			// Returning a noop element ensures that the styles are not removed from the old document.
-			// Guarding the code below with the dev mode check
-			// allows tree shaking to remove this code in production.
-			if (import.meta.env.DEV) {
-				if (el.tagName === 'STYLE' && el.dataset.viteDevId) {
-					const devId = el.dataset.viteDevId;
-					// If this same style tag exists, remove it from the new page
-					return (
-						newDocument.querySelector(`style[data-astro-dev-id="${devId}"]`) ||
-						// Otherwise, keep it anyways. This is client:only styles.
-						noopEl
-					);
-				}
-			}
-			return null;
-		};
-
-		const swap = () => {
-			// swap attributes of the html element
-			// - delete all attributes from the current document
-			// - insert all attributes from doc
-			// - reinsert all original attributes that are named 'data-astro-*'
-			const html = document.documentElement;
-			const astro = [...html.attributes].filter(
-				({ name }) => (html.removeAttribute(name), name.startsWith('data-astro-'))
-			);
-			[...newDocument.documentElement.attributes, ...astro].forEach(({ name, value }) =>
-				html.setAttribute(name, value)
-			);
-
-			// Replace scripts in both the head and body.
-			for (const s1 of document.scripts) {
-				for (const s2 of newDocument.scripts) {
-					if (
-						// Inline
-						(!s1.src && s1.textContent === s2.textContent) ||
-						// External
-						(s1.src && s1.type === s2.type && s1.src === s2.src)
-					) {
-						// the old script is in the new document: we mark it as executed to prevent re-execution
-						s2.dataset.astroExec = '';
-						break;
-					}
-				}
-			}
-
-			// Swap head
-			for (const el of Array.from(document.head.children)) {
-				const newEl = persistedHeadElement(el as HTMLElement);
-				// If the element exists in the document already, remove it
-				// from the new document and leave the current node alone
-				if (newEl) {
-					newEl.remove();
-				} else {
-					// Otherwise remove the element in the head. It doesn't exist in the new page.
-					el.remove();
-				}
-			}
-
-			// Everything left in the new head is new, append it all.
-			document.head.append(...newDocument.head.children);
-
-			// Persist elements in the existing body
-			const oldBody = document.body;
-
-			// this will reset scroll Position
-			document.body.replaceWith(newDocument.body);
-			for (const el of oldBody.querySelectorAll(`[${PERSIST_ATTR}]`)) {
-				const id = el.getAttribute(PERSIST_ATTR);
-				const newEl = document.querySelector(`[${PERSIST_ATTR}="${id}"]`);
-				if (newEl) {
-					// The element exists in the new page, replace it with the element
-					// from the old page so that state is preserved.
-					newEl.replaceWith(el);
-				}
-			}
-
-			if (popState) {
-				scrollTo(popState.scrollX, popState.scrollY); // usings 'auto' scrollBehavior
-			} else {
-				updateHistoryAndScrollPosition(toLocation);
-			}
-
-			triggerEvent('astro:after-swap');
-		};
-
-		// Wait on links to finish, to prevent FOUC
-		const links: Promise<any>[] = [];
-		for (const el of newDocument.querySelectorAll('head link[rel=stylesheet]')) {
-			// Do not preload links that are already on the page.
-			if (
-				!document.querySelector(
-					`[${PERSIST_ATTR}="${el.getAttribute(PERSIST_ATTR)}"], link[rel=stylesheet]`
-				)
-			) {
-				const c = document.createElement('link');
-				c.setAttribute('rel', 'preload');
-				c.setAttribute('as', 'style');
-				c.setAttribute('href', el.getAttribute('href')!);
-				links.push(
-					new Promise<any>((resolve) => {
-						['load', 'error'].forEach((evName) => c.addEventListener(evName, resolve));
-						document.head.append(c);
-					})
-				);
-			}
-		}
-		links.length && (await Promise.all(links));
-
-		if (fallback === 'animate') {
-			// Trigger the animations
-			const currentAnimations = document.getAnimations();
-			document.documentElement.dataset.astroTransitionFallback = 'old';
-			const newAnimations = document
-				.getAnimations()
-				.filter((a) => !currentAnimations.includes(a) && !isInfinite(a));
-			const finished = Promise.all(newAnimations.map((a) => a.finished));
-			const fallbackSwap = () => {
-				swap();
-				document.documentElement.dataset.astroTransitionFallback = 'new';
-			};
-			await finished;
-			fallbackSwap();
-		} else {
-			swap();
-		}
-	}
-
-	async function transition(direction: Direction, toLocation: URL, popState?: State) {
-		let finished: Promise<void>;
-		const href = toLocation.href;
-		const response = await fetchHTML(href);
-		// If there is a problem fetching the new page, just do an MPA navigation to it.
-		if (response === null) {
-			location.href = href;
-			return;
-		}
-		// if there was a redirection, show the final URL in the browser's address bar
-		if (response.redirected) {
-			toLocation = new URL(response.redirected);
-		}
-
-		const newDocument = parser.parseFromString(response.html, response.mediaType);
-		// The next line might look like a hack,
-		// but it is actually necessary as noscript elements
-		// and their contents are returned as markup by the parser,
-		// see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser/parseFromString
-		newDocument.querySelectorAll('noscript').forEach((el) => el.remove());
-
-		if (!newDocument.querySelector('[name="astro-view-transitions-enabled"]')) {
-			location.href = href;
-			return;
-		}
-
-		if (!popState) {
-			// save the current scroll position before we change the DOM and transition to the new page
-			history.replaceState({ ...history.state, scrollX, scrollY }, '');
-		}
-		document.documentElement.dataset.astroTransition = direction;
-		if (supportsViewTransitions) {
-			// @ts-expect-error: startViewTransition exist
-			finished = document.startViewTransition(() =>
-				updateDOM(newDocument, toLocation, popState)
-			).finished;
-		} else {
-			finished = updateDOM(newDocument, toLocation, popState, getFallback());
-		}
-		try {
-			await finished;
-		} finally {
-			// skip this for the moment as it tends to stop fallback animations
-			// document.documentElement.removeAttribute('data-astro-transition');
-			await runScripts();
-			markScriptsExec();
-			onPageLoad();
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Prefetching
+  // Prefetching
 	function maybePrefetch(pathname: string) {
 		if (document.querySelector(`link[rel=prefetch][href="${pathname}"]`)) return;
 		// @ts-expect-error: connection might exist
@@ -406,86 +70,12 @@ const { fallback = 'animate' } = Astro.props as Props;
 				return;
 			}
 			ev.preventDefault();
-			navigate(link.href);
+			navigate(link.href, {
+				history: link.dataset.astroHistory === 'replace' ? 'replace' : 'auto',
+			});
 		});
 
-		function navigate(href) {
-			// not ours
-			if (!transitionEnabledOnThisPage()) {
-				location.href = href;
-				return;
-			}
-			const toLocation = new URL(href, location.href);
-			// We do not have page transitions on navigations to the same page (intra-page navigation)
-			// but we want to handle prevent reload on navigation to the same page
-			// Same page means same origin, path and query params (but maybe different hash)
-			if (
-				location.origin === toLocation.origin &&
-				location.pathname === toLocation.pathname &&
-				location.search === toLocation.search
-			) {
-				// mark current position as non transition intra-page scrolling
-				if (location.href !== toLocation.href) {
-					history.replaceState({ ...history.state, intraPage: true }, '');
-					history.pushState(
-						{ index: ++currentHistoryIndex, scrollX: 0, scrollY: 0 },
-						'',
-						toLocation.href
-					);
-				}
-				if (toLocation.hash) {
-					location.href = toLocation.href;
-				} else {
-					scrollTo({ left: 0, top: 0, behavior: 'instant' });
-				}
-			} else {
-				transition('forward', toLocation);
-			}
-		}
-
-		addEventListener('popstate', (ev) => {
-			if (!transitionEnabledOnThisPage() && ev.state) {
-				// The current page doesn't have View Transitions enabled
-				// but the page we navigate to does (because it set the state).
-				// Do a full page refresh to reload the client-side router from the new page.
-				// Scroll restauration will then happen during the reload when the router's code is re-executed
-				if (history.scrollRestoration) {
-					history.scrollRestoration = 'manual';
-				}
-				location.reload();
-				return;
-			}
-
-			// History entries without state are created by the browser (e.g. for hash links)
-			// Our view transition entries always have state.
-			// Just ignore stateless entries.
-			// The browser will handle navigation fine without our help
-			if (ev.state === null) {
-				if (history.scrollRestoration) {
-					history.scrollRestoration = 'auto';
-				}
-				return;
-			}
-
-			// With the default "auto", the browser will jump to the old scroll position
-			// before the ViewTransition is complete.
-			if (history.scrollRestoration) {
-				history.scrollRestoration = 'manual';
-			}
-
-			const state: State = history.state;
-			if (state.intraPage) {
-				// this is non transition intra-page scrolling
-				scrollTo(state.scrollX, state.scrollY);
-			} else {
-				const nextIndex = state.index;
-				const direction: Direction = nextIndex > currentHistoryIndex ? 'forward' : 'back';
-				currentHistoryIndex = nextIndex;
-				transition(direction, new URL(location.href), state);
-			}
-		});
-
-		['mouseenter', 'touchstart', 'focus'].forEach((evName) => {
+    ['mouseenter', 'touchstart', 'focus'].forEach((evName) => {
 			document.addEventListener(
 				evName,
 				(ev) => {
@@ -503,17 +93,5 @@ const { fallback = 'animate' } = Astro.props as Props;
 				{ passive: true, capture: true }
 			);
 		});
-
-		addEventListener('load', onPageLoad);
-		// There's not a good way to record scroll position before a back button.
-		// So the way we do it is by listening to scrollend if supported, and if not continuously record the scroll position.
-		const updateState = () => {
-			persistState({ ...history.state, scrollX, scrollY });
-		};
-
-		if ('onscrollend' in window) addEventListener('scrollend', updateState);
-		else addEventListener('scroll', throttle(updateState, 300));
-
-		markScriptsExec();
 	}
 </script>
diff --git a/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/six.astro b/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/six.astro
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..720378206
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/six.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+---
+import Layout from '../components/Layout.astro';
+---
+<Layout>
+	<p id="six">Page 6</p>
+	<a id="click-one" href="/one">test</a>
+	<div id="test">test content</div>
+	<script>
+		import { navigate } from "astro:transitions/client";
+
+		// this is to simulate client side use, will be triggered from test
+		window.addEventListener('jumpToTwo', ()=>navigate('/two'));
+
+		// this is a holder to pick up the router in additional tests
+		window.clientSideRouterForTestsParkedHere = navigate
+
+		// this is the direct use of the router in this page, redirecting to page one 
+		navigate('/one');
+	</script>
+</Layout>
diff --git a/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/two.astro b/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/two.astro
index af67edbd5..b77679d7f 100644
--- a/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/two.astro
+++ b/packages/astro/e2e/fixtures/view-transitions/src/pages/two.astro
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import Layout from '../components/Layout.astro';
 <Layout link="/two.css">
 	<p id="two">Page 2</p>
 	<article id="twoarticle"></article>
+	<a id="click-longpage" data-astro-history="replace" href="/long-page">go to long page</a>
 </Layout>
 <script>
 	document.addEventListener('astro:page-load', () => {
diff --git a/packages/astro/e2e/view-transitions.test.js b/packages/astro/e2e/view-transitions.test.js
index b06d5a988..05a8f8ad0 100644
--- a/packages/astro/e2e/view-transitions.test.js
+++ b/packages/astro/e2e/view-transitions.test.js
@@ -680,6 +680,39 @@ test.describe('View Transitions', () => {
 		await expect(locator).not.toBeInViewport();
 	});
 
+	test('Use the client side router', async ({ page, astro }) => {
+		await page.goto(astro.resolveUrl('/six'));
+		// page six loads the router and automatically uses the router to navigate to page 1
+		let p = page.locator('#one');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 1');
+
+		// nudge to jump to page 2
+		await page.evaluate(() => {
+			window.dispatchEvent(new Event('jumpToTwo'));
+		});
+		p = page.locator('#two');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 2');
+
+		// jump to page 3
+		await page.evaluate(() => {
+			// get the router from its fixture park position
+			const navigate = window.clientSideRouterForTestsParkedHere;
+			navigate('/three');
+		});
+		p = page.locator('#three');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 3');
+
+		// go back
+		await page.goBack();
+		p = page.locator('#two');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 2');
+
+		// no bad things happen when we revisit redirecting to page 6
+		await page.goto(astro.resolveUrl('/six'));
+		p = page.locator('#one');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 1');
+	});
+
 	test('body inline scripts do not re-execute on navigation', async ({ page, astro }) => {
 		const errors = [];
 		page.addListener('pageerror', (err) => {
@@ -697,4 +730,52 @@ test.describe('View Transitions', () => {
 
 		expect(errors).toHaveLength(0);
 	});
+
+	test('replace history', async ({ page, astro }) => {
+		await page.goto(astro.resolveUrl('/one'));
+		// page six loads the router and automatically uses the router to navigate to page 1
+		let p = page.locator('#one');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 1');
+
+		// go to page 2
+		await page.click('#click-two');
+		p = page.locator('#two');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 2');
+
+		// replace with long page
+		await page.click('#click-longpage');
+		let article = page.locator('#longpage');
+		await expect(article, 'should have script content').toBeVisible('exists');
+
+		// one step back == #1
+		await page.goBack();
+		p = page.locator('#one');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 1');
+	});
+
+	test('CSR replace history', async ({ page, astro }) => {
+		await page.goto(astro.resolveUrl('/six'));
+		// page six loads the router and automatically uses the router to navigate to page 1
+		let p = page.locator('#one');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 1');
+
+		// goto #2
+		await page.evaluate(() => {
+			window.clientSideRouterForTestsParkedHere('/two', { history: 'auto' });
+		});
+		p = page.locator('#two');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 2');
+
+		// replace with long page
+		await page.evaluate(() => {
+			window.clientSideRouterForTestsParkedHere('/long-page', { history: 'replace' });
+		});
+		let article = page.locator('#longpage');
+		await expect(article, 'should have script content').toBeVisible('exists');
+
+		// one step back == #1
+		await page.goBack();
+		p = page.locator('#one');
+		await expect(p, 'should have content').toHaveText('Page 1');
+	});
 });
diff --git a/packages/astro/package.json b/packages/astro/package.json
index 530453f17..8eed917a3 100644
--- a/packages/astro/package.json
+++ b/packages/astro/package.json
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@
       "types": "./dist/core/middleware/namespace.d.ts",
       "default": "./dist/core/middleware/namespace.js"
     },
-    "./transitions": "./dist/transitions/index.js"
+    "./transitions": "./dist/transitions/index.js",
+    "./transitions/router": "./dist/transitions/router.js"
   },
   "imports": {
     "#astro/*": "./dist/*.js"
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/transitions/router.ts b/packages/astro/src/transitions/router.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..990414c6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/astro/src/transitions/router.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,437 @@
+export type Fallback = 'none' | 'animate' | 'swap';
+export type Direction = 'forward' | 'back';
+export type Options = { history?: 'auto' | 'push' | 'replace' };
+
+type State = {
+	index: number;
+	scrollX: number;
+	scrollY: number;
+	intraPage?: boolean;
+};
+type Events = 'astro:page-load' | 'astro:after-swap';
+
+// only update history entries that are managed by us
+// leave other entries alone and do not accidently add state.
+const persistState = (state: State) => history.state && history.replaceState(state, '');
+export const supportsViewTransitions = !!document.startViewTransition;
+export const transitionEnabledOnThisPage = () =>
+	!!document.querySelector('[name="astro-view-transitions-enabled"]');
+const samePage = (otherLocation: URL) =>
+	location.pathname === otherLocation.pathname && location.search === otherLocation.search;
+const triggerEvent = (name: Events) => document.dispatchEvent(new Event(name));
+const onPageLoad = () => triggerEvent('astro:page-load');
+const PERSIST_ATTR = 'data-astro-transition-persist';
+const parser = new DOMParser();
+// explained at its usage
+let noopEl: HTMLDivElement;
+if (import.meta.env.DEV) {
+	noopEl = document.createElement('div');
+}
+
+// The History API does not tell you if navigation is forward or back, so
+// you can figure it using an index. On pushState the index is incremented so you
+// can use that to determine popstate if going forward or back.
+let currentHistoryIndex = 0;
+if (history.state) {
+	// we reloaded a page with history state
+	// (e.g. history navigation from non-transition page or browser reload)
+	currentHistoryIndex = history.state.index;
+	scrollTo({ left: history.state.scrollX, top: history.state.scrollY });
+} else if (transitionEnabledOnThisPage()) {
+	history.replaceState({ index: currentHistoryIndex, scrollX, scrollY, intraPage: false }, '');
+}
+const throttle = (cb: (...args: any[]) => any, delay: number) => {
+	let wait = false;
+	// During the waiting time additional events are lost.
+	// So repeat the callback at the end if we have swallowed events.
+	let onceMore = false;
+	return (...args: any[]) => {
+		if (wait) {
+			onceMore = true;
+			return;
+		}
+		cb(...args);
+		wait = true;
+		setTimeout(() => {
+			if (onceMore) {
+				onceMore = false;
+				cb(...args);
+			}
+			wait = false;
+		}, delay);
+	};
+};
+
+// returns the contents of the page or null if the router can't deal with it.
+async function fetchHTML(
+	href: string
+): Promise<null | { html: string; redirected?: string; mediaType: DOMParserSupportedType }> {
+	try {
+		const res = await fetch(href);
+		// drop potential charset (+ other name/value pairs) as parser needs the mediaType
+		const mediaType = res.headers.get('content-type')?.replace(/;.*$/, '');
+		// the DOMParser can handle two types of HTML
+		if (mediaType !== 'text/html' && mediaType !== 'application/xhtml+xml') {
+			// everything else (e.g. audio/mp3) will be handled by the browser but not by us
+			return null;
+		}
+		const html = await res.text();
+		return {
+			html,
+			redirected: res.redirected ? res.url : undefined,
+			mediaType,
+		};
+	} catch (err) {
+		// can't fetch, let someone else deal with it.
+		return null;
+	}
+}
+
+function getFallback(): Fallback {
+	const el = document.querySelector('[name="astro-view-transitions-fallback"]');
+	if (el) {
+		return el.getAttribute('content') as Fallback;
+	}
+	return 'animate';
+}
+
+function markScriptsExec() {
+	for (const script of document.scripts) {
+		script.dataset.astroExec = '';
+	}
+}
+
+function runScripts() {
+	let wait = Promise.resolve();
+	for (const script of Array.from(document.scripts)) {
+		if (script.dataset.astroExec === '') continue;
+		const newScript = document.createElement('script');
+		newScript.innerHTML = script.innerHTML;
+		for (const attr of script.attributes) {
+			if (attr.name === 'src') {
+				const p = new Promise((r) => {
+					newScript.onload = r;
+				});
+				wait = wait.then(() => p as any);
+			}
+			newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value);
+		}
+		newScript.dataset.astroExec = '';
+		script.replaceWith(newScript);
+	}
+	return wait;
+}
+
+function isInfinite(animation: Animation) {
+	const effect = animation.effect;
+	if (!effect || !(effect instanceof KeyframeEffect) || !effect.target) return false;
+	const style = window.getComputedStyle(effect.target, effect.pseudoElement);
+	return style.animationIterationCount === 'infinite';
+}
+
+const updateHistoryAndScrollPosition = (toLocation: URL, replace: boolean, intraPage: boolean) => {
+	const fresh = !samePage(toLocation);
+	if (toLocation.href !== location.href) {
+		if (replace) {
+			history.replaceState({ ...history.state }, '', toLocation.href);
+		} else {
+			history.replaceState({ ...history.state, intraPage }, '');
+			history.pushState({ index: ++currentHistoryIndex, scrollX, scrollY }, '', toLocation.href);
+		}
+		// now we are on the new page for non-history navigations!
+		// (with history navigation page change happens before popstate is fired)
+		// freshly loaded pages start from the top
+		if (fresh) {
+			scrollTo({ left: 0, top: 0, behavior: 'instant' });
+		}
+	}
+	if (toLocation.hash) {
+		// because we are already on the target page ...
+		// ... what comes next is a intra-page navigation
+		// that won't reload the page but instead scroll to the fragment
+		location.href = toLocation.href;
+	} else {
+		scrollTo({ left: 0, top: 0, behavior: 'instant' });
+	}
+};
+
+// replace head and body of the windows document with contents from newDocument
+// if !popstate, update the history entry and scroll position according to toLocation
+// if popState is given, this holds the scroll position for history navigation
+// if fallback === "animate" then simulate view transitions
+async function updateDOM(
+	newDocument: Document,
+	toLocation: URL,
+	options: Options,
+	popState?: State,
+	fallback?: Fallback
+) {
+	// Check for a head element that should persist and returns it,
+	// either because it has the data attribute or is a link el.
+	const persistedHeadElement = (el: HTMLElement): Element | null => {
+		const id = el.getAttribute(PERSIST_ATTR);
+		const newEl = id && newDocument.head.querySelector(`[${PERSIST_ATTR}="${id}"]`);
+		if (newEl) {
+			return newEl;
+		}
+		if (el.matches('link[rel=stylesheet]')) {
+			const href = el.getAttribute('href');
+			return newDocument.head.querySelector(`link[rel=stylesheet][href="${href}"]`);
+		}
+		// What follows is a fix for an issue (#8472) with missing client:only styles after transition.
+		// That problem exists only in dev mode where styles are injected into the page by Vite.
+		// Returning a noop element ensures that the styles are not removed from the old document.
+		// Guarding the code below with the dev mode check
+		// allows tree shaking to remove this code in production.
+		if (import.meta.env.DEV) {
+			if (el.tagName === 'STYLE' && el.dataset.viteDevId) {
+				const devId = el.dataset.viteDevId;
+				// If this same style tag exists, remove it from the new page
+				return (
+					newDocument.querySelector(`style[data-astro-dev-id="${devId}"]`) ||
+					// Otherwise, keep it anyways. This is client:only styles.
+					noopEl
+				);
+			}
+		}
+		return null;
+	};
+
+	const swap = () => {
+		// swap attributes of the html element
+		// - delete all attributes from the current document
+		// - insert all attributes from doc
+		// - reinsert all original attributes that are named 'data-astro-*'
+		const html = document.documentElement;
+		const astro = [...html.attributes].filter(
+			({ name }) => (html.removeAttribute(name), name.startsWith('data-astro-'))
+		);
+		[...newDocument.documentElement.attributes, ...astro].forEach(({ name, value }) =>
+			html.setAttribute(name, value)
+		);
+
+		// Replace scripts in both the head and body.
+		for (const s1 of document.scripts) {
+			for (const s2 of newDocument.scripts) {
+				if (
+					// Inline
+					(!s1.src && s1.textContent === s2.textContent) ||
+					// External
+					(s1.src && s1.type === s2.type && s1.src === s2.src)
+				) {
+					// the old script is in the new document: we mark it as executed to prevent re-execution
+					s2.dataset.astroExec = '';
+					break;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		// Swap head
+		for (const el of Array.from(document.head.children)) {
+			const newEl = persistedHeadElement(el as HTMLElement);
+			// If the element exists in the document already, remove it
+			// from the new document and leave the current node alone
+			if (newEl) {
+				newEl.remove();
+			} else {
+				// Otherwise remove the element in the head. It doesn't exist in the new page.
+				el.remove();
+			}
+		}
+
+		// Everything left in the new head is new, append it all.
+		document.head.append(...newDocument.head.children);
+
+		// Persist elements in the existing body
+		const oldBody = document.body;
+
+		// this will reset scroll Position
+		document.body.replaceWith(newDocument.body);
+		for (const el of oldBody.querySelectorAll(`[${PERSIST_ATTR}]`)) {
+			const id = el.getAttribute(PERSIST_ATTR);
+			const newEl = document.querySelector(`[${PERSIST_ATTR}="${id}"]`);
+			if (newEl) {
+				// The element exists in the new page, replace it with the element
+				// from the old page so that state is preserved.
+				newEl.replaceWith(el);
+			}
+		}
+
+		if (popState) {
+			scrollTo(popState.scrollX, popState.scrollY); // usings 'auto' scrollBehavior
+		} else {
+			updateHistoryAndScrollPosition(toLocation, options.history === 'replace', false);
+		}
+
+		triggerEvent('astro:after-swap');
+	};
+
+	// Wait on links to finish, to prevent FOUC
+	const links: Promise<any>[] = [];
+	for (const el of newDocument.querySelectorAll('head link[rel=stylesheet]')) {
+		// Do not preload links that are already on the page.
+		if (
+			!document.querySelector(
+				`[${PERSIST_ATTR}="${el.getAttribute(PERSIST_ATTR)}"], link[rel=stylesheet]`
+			)
+		) {
+			const c = document.createElement('link');
+			c.setAttribute('rel', 'preload');
+			c.setAttribute('as', 'style');
+			c.setAttribute('href', el.getAttribute('href')!);
+			links.push(
+				new Promise<any>((resolve) => {
+					['load', 'error'].forEach((evName) => c.addEventListener(evName, resolve));
+					document.head.append(c);
+				})
+			);
+		}
+	}
+	links.length && (await Promise.all(links));
+
+	if (fallback === 'animate') {
+		// Trigger the animations
+		const currentAnimations = document.getAnimations();
+		document.documentElement.dataset.astroTransitionFallback = 'old';
+		const newAnimations = document
+			.getAnimations()
+			.filter((a) => !currentAnimations.includes(a) && !isInfinite(a));
+		const finished = Promise.all(newAnimations.map((a) => a.finished));
+		const fallbackSwap = () => {
+			swap();
+			document.documentElement.dataset.astroTransitionFallback = 'new';
+		};
+		await finished;
+		fallbackSwap();
+	} else {
+		swap();
+	}
+}
+
+async function transition(
+	direction: Direction,
+	toLocation: URL,
+	options: Options,
+	popState?: State
+) {
+	let finished: Promise<void>;
+	const href = toLocation.href;
+	const response = await fetchHTML(href);
+	// If there is a problem fetching the new page, just do an MPA navigation to it.
+	if (response === null) {
+		location.href = href;
+		return;
+	}
+	// if there was a redirection, show the final URL in the browser's address bar
+	if (response.redirected) {
+		toLocation = new URL(response.redirected);
+	}
+
+	const newDocument = parser.parseFromString(response.html, response.mediaType);
+	// The next line might look like a hack,
+	// but it is actually necessary as noscript elements
+	// and their contents are returned as markup by the parser,
+	// see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser/parseFromString
+	newDocument.querySelectorAll('noscript').forEach((el) => el.remove());
+
+	if (!newDocument.querySelector('[name="astro-view-transitions-enabled"]')) {
+		location.href = href;
+		return;
+	}
+
+	if (!popState) {
+		// save the current scroll position before we change the DOM and transition to the new page
+		history.replaceState({ ...history.state, scrollX, scrollY }, '');
+	}
+	document.documentElement.dataset.astroTransition = direction;
+	if (supportsViewTransitions) {
+		finished = document.startViewTransition(() =>
+			updateDOM(newDocument, toLocation, options, popState)
+		).finished;
+	} else {
+		finished = updateDOM(newDocument, toLocation, options, popState, getFallback());
+	}
+	try {
+		await finished;
+	} finally {
+		// skip this for the moment as it tends to stop fallback animations
+		// document.documentElement.removeAttribute('data-astro-transition');
+		await runScripts();
+		markScriptsExec();
+		onPageLoad();
+	}
+}
+
+export function navigate(href: string, options?: Options) {
+	// not ours
+	if (!transitionEnabledOnThisPage()) {
+		location.href = href;
+		return;
+	}
+	const toLocation = new URL(href, location.href);
+	// We do not have page transitions on navigations to the same page (intra-page navigation)
+	// but we want to handle prevent reload on navigation to the same page
+	// Same page means same origin, path and query params (but maybe different hash)
+	if (location.origin === toLocation.origin && samePage(toLocation)) {
+		updateHistoryAndScrollPosition(toLocation, options?.history === 'replace', true);
+	} else {
+		// different origin will be detected by fetch
+		transition('forward', toLocation, options ?? {});
+	}
+}
+
+if (supportsViewTransitions || getFallback() !== 'none') {
+	addEventListener('popstate', (ev) => {
+		if (!transitionEnabledOnThisPage() && ev.state) {
+			// The current page doesn't have View Transitions enabled
+			// but the page we navigate to does (because it set the state).
+			// Do a full page refresh to reload the client-side router from the new page.
+			// Scroll restauration will then happen during the reload when the router's code is re-executed
+			if (history.scrollRestoration) {
+				history.scrollRestoration = 'manual';
+			}
+			location.reload();
+			return;
+		}
+
+		// History entries without state are created by the browser (e.g. for hash links)
+		// Our view transition entries always have state.
+		// Just ignore stateless entries.
+		// The browser will handle navigation fine without our help
+		if (ev.state === null) {
+			if (history.scrollRestoration) {
+				history.scrollRestoration = 'auto';
+			}
+			return;
+		}
+
+		// With the default "auto", the browser will jump to the old scroll position
+		// before the ViewTransition is complete.
+		if (history.scrollRestoration) {
+			history.scrollRestoration = 'manual';
+		}
+
+		const state: State = history.state;
+		if (state.intraPage) {
+			// this is non transition intra-page scrolling
+			scrollTo(state.scrollX, state.scrollY);
+		} else {
+			const nextIndex = state.index;
+			const direction: Direction = nextIndex > currentHistoryIndex ? 'forward' : 'back';
+			currentHistoryIndex = nextIndex;
+			transition(direction, new URL(location.href), {}, state);
+		}
+	});
+
+	addEventListener('load', onPageLoad);
+	// There's not a good way to record scroll position before a back button.
+	// So the way we do it is by listening to scrollend if supported, and if not continuously record the scroll position.
+	const updateState = () => {
+		persistState({ ...history.state, scrollX, scrollY });
+	};
+
+	if ('onscrollend' in window) addEventListener('scrollend', updateState);
+	else addEventListener('scroll', throttle(updateState, 300));
+
+	markScriptsExec();
+}
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/transitions/vite-plugin-transitions.ts b/packages/astro/src/transitions/vite-plugin-transitions.ts
index 188ebbc61..e530fc1e2 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/transitions/vite-plugin-transitions.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/transitions/vite-plugin-transitions.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import * as vite from 'vite';
 
 const virtualModuleId = 'astro:transitions';
 const resolvedVirtualModuleId = '\0' + virtualModuleId;
+const virtualClientModuleId = 'astro:transitions/client';
+const resolvedVirtualClientModuleId = '\0' + virtualClientModuleId;
 
 // The virtual module for the astro:transitions namespace
 export default function astroTransitions(): vite.Plugin {
@@ -11,6 +13,9 @@ export default function astroTransitions(): vite.Plugin {
 			if (id === virtualModuleId) {
 				return resolvedVirtualModuleId;
 			}
+			if (id === virtualClientModuleId) {
+				return resolvedVirtualClientModuleId;
+			}
 		},
 		load(id) {
 			if (id === resolvedVirtualModuleId) {
@@ -19,6 +24,11 @@ export default function astroTransitions(): vite.Plugin {
 				export { default as ViewTransitions } from "astro/components/ViewTransitions.astro";
 			`;
 			}
+			if (id === resolvedVirtualClientModuleId) {
+				return `
+				export * from "astro/transitions/router";
+			`;
+			}
 		},
 	};
 }