Once developed to build Facebook products and highly popular among companies like Yahoo and Instagram, ReactJs has earned a prime position in the developers’ communities. User interfaces and single-page applications can be created using this JavaScript library.
So, if you, too, are one of the ReactJs followers, looking to get started with React, or want to excel in your career as a veteran react developer, this blog is for you. Here is a list of some of the frequently used React development tools recommended by several experienced React developers to level up your development skills.
If you're a React developer, you're probably familiar with the React DevTools, a set of tools that lets you inspect the React component hierarchy, including the component props and state.
The React DevTools is available as a browser extension (for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge), and as a standalone app (for macOS and Windows).
In this blog post, we'll take a look at what the React DevTools can do, and how you can use it to improve your React development workflow.
If you're not familiar with the React DevTools, here's a quick overview:
The React Developer Tools is a browser extension that allows you to inspect the React component hierarchy in the Chrome Developer Tools.
To install the React Developer Tools:
1. Download the extension from the Chrome Web Store
2. Unzip the file
3. Drag the React Developer Tools folder into the Chrome Extensions window
4. Reload Chrome
Once the extension is installed, you should see a React tab in the Chrome Developer Tools.
To use the React Developer Tools:
1. Open the Chrome Developer Tools
2. Select the React tab
3. Inspect the React component hierarchy
The React Developer Tools is a great way to inspect the React component hierarchy in the Chrome Developer Tools.
For your convenience, we have sorted the list of top ReactJs tools based on the following few sub-categories:
Let’s Get Started
React Development Tools are basic tools to get started with React development. Here are the three best tools.
1. React Developer Tools
React Developer Tools is a Google Chrome Plugin you can use to debug your React application within the browser itself easily. The tool shows you the React components rendered on the page and the subcomponents rendered from those components. You can select any component in the tree and edit its current props. It offers a breadcrumbs view using which you can then view the hierarchy of the components and edit them too.
2. Bundle Analyzer
Webpack Bundle Analyzer is an npm tool you can install as a plugin. It will create an interactive treemap of all the contents in your bundles, which you can then view in detail. You can use the visualization to get an idea of which modules take up most of the size in the bundle or even modules that are not supposed to be there. This is indispensable in React development since you can optimize your bundles easily.
3. Create React App
Create React App is an open-source tool developed and maintained by Facebook. You can use it to create React apps with no-build configuration using just a few simple commands. You can follow the guide on their GitHub page to create a new app using npx, npm, or yarn. The project structure and the dependencies are automatically generated. They also have detailed documentation that is actively maintained and updated.
Developers need to manage several tools and packages when developing websites. However, working on everything individually is time-consuming and causes a loss of productivity. That’s where IDE helps. IDE packages all the tools, packages, and libraries needed for development into one interface. This saves time and improves developers' productivity. Here are the top IDEs for React development.
1. Visual Studio Code
The ultimate tool you can have as a React developer is your IDE. Visual studio code is a powerful IDE that can significantly optimize your experience. You can download it free from code.visualstudio.com (Available for Windows, Max, and Linux) and use existing features that make writing code easier.
For example, you can use the autocomplete feature to avoid typing the exact words repeatedly or quickly set up boilerplate code within seconds instead of manually making the folders and files one by one. It is also easy to change variable or function names using the context-specific find and replace tool. Further, the editor also allows you to customize the appearance in terms of the color theme and the way the text is highlighted.
Some recommended extensions for React developers include Prettier – Code formatted, Bracket Pair Colorizer, EditorConfig for VS Code, and ESLint.
2. Webstorm (Paid)
WebStorm is an IDE for JavaScript and other technologies that incorporate IDE. It offers code completion for React APIs and JSX. With React Developers Code, you can complete attributes, methods, HTML tags, component names, React events, and React-specific component properties. Unlike Visual Studio code, WebStorm is a paid IDE. However, it also offers a 30 days trial.
Testing is an integral part of software development as it ensures the high quality of software by detecting errors and bugs. React developers suggest the below testing tools and libraries test React applications.
1. Jest
Jest is a testing utility for Javascript developed by Facebook, and it includes "Create React App" by default. For most Javascript projects, you can use Jest without any config. You can also add react-test-renderer and render snapshots for easy testing and debugging. Further, Jest runs tests parallelly in their own processes, optimizing performance. Jest also has well-maintained documentation.
2. React Testing Library
React Testing Library is a lightweight tool for testing React components. It offers quick maintainable tests without including implementation details of your components. As a result, refactors of your components do not break the tests, and you can finish your projects quickly. Though Jest is recommended for use, the library works without any framework.
3. Cypress
Cypress is a front-end testing tool built for testing web applications. It enables you to write end-to-end integration and unit tests. You can set up, write, run and debug tests. Cypress Component Testing for React is currently in Beta, so there might be some issues. However, it is being actively maintained.
4. Enzyme
Enzyme is a tool for testing JavaScript applications made using React. It mimics jQuery's API for DOM manipulation and traversal, making the learning curve easier. The tool allows you to test the output of your react components in runtime. The documentation lists various libraries and tools it supports.
State management is a critical aspect of every React app. The app's state will tell what users see, how the app looks, what data is stored etc. Here are the top tools recommended by React developers for effortless state management.
1. React Context
Context from React offers a way to send data through the component tree without manually passing down the props for each level. You can use Context to skip passing data top-down from parent component to child component and directly share values. In other words, you can use it to share data that would be considered "global" for a tree of components—for instance, the UI components, current login, or user preferences.
2. Mobx
MobX is a state management solution that does not require boilerplate code and is easily scalable. It uses a publish/subscribe pattern to implement observers, which you can wrap around your React components. You can manage application states independently of the UI framework, allowing easy decoupling. This also makes the architecture very portable and easy to test.
3. Redux
Redux is an open-source JavaScript library that can help you manage and centralize application states. You can use it with React to make user interfaces. It offers APIs, so you don't have to write the logic yourself. It also has inbuilt performance optimizations. However, many developers dislike using Redux since you have to write excessive amounts of code for even small changes in the functionality. This ends up increasing the development time and breaks the tests.
4. Hookstate
Hookstate is extensible and fast state management based on React state hook. React developers can use it to simplify React state management. The learning curve is smooth, features various states, and has a flexible plugin system. Hookstate also enables you to skip most boilerplate code, and you can customize it using the plugins relevant to your project.
5. Zustand
Zustand is a lightweight, fast and scalable state-management solution. It uses simplified flux principles to offer bare-bones state management. The API is based on hooks, avoids boilerplate code, and avoids common pitfalls. For instance, it deals with the React concurrency, zombie child problem, and loss of context between mixed renderers.
HTTP is a method of transporting and ending data between a client and a server. The app needs to make HTTP requests if they want to fetch the data from different sources. Here are popular HTTP request tools for React development:
1. Fetch
Fetch API is an API from Mozilla that offers an interface for fetching resources. It also supports fetching resources across the network. As a result, JavaScript can be used to interact with parts of the HTTP pipeline, such as requests and responses. React developers can then use the fetched data using hooks and use them in their components
2. Axios
Axios is a library that can make HTTP requests. You can use it with a Node.js server or an external API. Unlike Fetch API, it offers reasonable defaults that can make working with JSON data more manageable. This makes it easy to use with React.
3. Apollo
Apollo is a library for using GraphQL in React applications. It allows you to fetch and update data in your React application easily.
If you're looking for a tool that will help you quickly develop user interfaces for your React applications, libraries and tools can provide you with the ability to create a complex UI with little code. They can also help you avoid reinventing the wheel regarding everyday tasks in setting up the UI.
1. Styled Components
Styled Components is a popular CSS-in-JS library that allows you to style your React components using JavaScript. This approach to styling React components is powerful and will enable you to avoid using CSS classes.
2. Material UI
Material-UI is a React component library that provides Material Design-themed components. Material Design is a design language created by Google that is used in many of its products, becoming increasingly popular in web applications.
1. Storybook
Storybook is a tool for developing React components in isolation. This is an excellent tool for developing UI components because it allows you to see how your components look and behave without creating a React application.
2. Styleguidist
Styleguidist is another tool for developing React components in isolation. It is similar to Storybook but offers more features, such as live editing and automatically generated documentation.
Debugging is an essential aspect of React development. It allows developers to find errors and bugs in the code before making the app official. React has two popular debugging tools that developers love.
1. React Devtools
React-devtools is an npm package that can be used to debug non-browser-based React applications. For example, React Native, embedded web view, or Safari.
2. Redux Devtools
Redux Devtools is a browser extension that allows you to inspect the Redux store. This is an excellent tool for debugging React applications that use Redux.
Forms are challenging, regardless of what tools or framework you use. However, with React, developing forms is a new game since React documentation doesn’t discuss many real-world topics that forms need. For example, form validation. However, here are React tools and libraries to make form-making effortless.
1. Formik
Formik is a library for creating forms in React. It simplifies the process of creating forms and allows you to validate and submit your forms easily.
2. Yup
Yup library is a library for validating data. It can be used with Formik to validate your forms, or it can be used standalone to validate any data.
Below are the miscellaneous tools to make React Development effortless.
1. Why Did You Render
Why Did You Render is a library that can detect when a React component is re-rendered unnecessarily. This is an excellent tool for performance debugging.
2. Bit
Bit is a tool for sharing and managing React components. It allows you to share components between projects and manage dependencies easily.
Behind every great software, there are great people and their tools. Research suggests that tools developers use for development can affect their happiness and productivity. Believe it or not, tools can significantly impact developers' ability to get their work done.
In the above list, we have carefully chosen the React development recommended by real developers who believe in these tools to get their work done on time. Whether you are an experienced React developer or someone who is just starting with React development, the tools in the above list will make a significant difference. Here are a few benefits they provide:
They are updated regularly. The global React community periodically updates these tools to keep them relevant.
With this comprehensive list of React development tools, we want to ease the efforts of developers and increase their efficiency, which ultimately can significantly impact project cost reduction.
1. Which IDE is used for ReactJS?
Visual Studio Code and Web Storm are hands down the best IDE for ReactJS.
2. What can you use the React Developer Tools for?
React Developer Tools allows React developers to inspect the React Application. The tool has an inbuilt inspector that reveals the React component tree that builds your page. You can check the props, state, hooks, etc., for each component. React Developer Tool is available for both Chrome and Firefox.
