17 Must-Try React Development Tools for Boosting Your Productivity
Introduction
As a developer, staying up-to-date with the latest tools and technologies is crucial for success. With a plethora of React development tools available, it can be overwhelming to know which ones to use.
To help make the decision easier, we've compiled a list of the top 17 React development tools to streamline your workflow and enhance your productivity. From code generators to styling tools, this comprehensive guide covers it all. Join us as we explore the best React dev tools for elevating your skills and delivering outstanding results.
The Top 17 Must-Try React Development Tools for Enhanced Productivity
React Developer Tools is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that allows for easy debugging and profiling of React applications. With its intuitive interface, you can inspect the component tree, monitor component state, and props, and examine network requests and other performance metrics, making it easier to identify and fix issues.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
React Developer Tools streamlines the debugging and profiling process, making it easier to identify and fix issues in React applications. With its powerful features, you can quickly and effectively troubleshoot problems and optimize performance, saving time and improving the overall quality of your code.
Video resource for installing and using the tool:
Example of how to best use the tool:
To get started with React Developer Tools, you'll first need to install the browser extension. Once installed, you can access the tool by right-clicking on any page and selecting "Inspect Element". From here, you can navigate to the "React" tab to start using the tool. You can inspect the component tree, view component state, and props, and monitor network requests and performance metrics to help identify and resolve any issues.
Code Example:
Here's a code example of how React Developer Tools can be used to inspect component state and props:
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import React, { useState } from 'react';
const ExampleComponent = () => {
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
return (
<div>
<p>Count: {count}</p>
<button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
Increment
</button>
</div>
);
};
export default ExampleComponent;
In this example, you can use React Developer Tools to inspect the component's state and props as the count value changes when the "Increment" button is clicked.
Redux DevTools is a powerful debugging tool for React developers, which allows them to inspect the state of their Redux store and track changes made to it. With Redux DevTools, developers can see how actions are dispatched and how they affect the state of the application, making it easier to debug and optimize the performance of their React applications.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
Redux DevTools streamlines the debugging process by giving developers the ability to visualize the state of their Redux store and track changes made to it. This helps developers identify problems and find solutions more quickly, making them more productive and efficient.
Video Resource for learning how to use the Redux DevTools:
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
To use Redux DevTools, first, install it as a dev dependency in your React project using npm or yarn:
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npm install --save-dev redux-devtools
Then, wrap your root Redux store with the composeWithDevTools() function from the redux-devtools-extension package, like this:
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import { createStore, compose } from 'redux'
import { composeWithDevTools } from 'redux-devtools-extension'
const store = createStore(reducer, composeWithDevTools())
Code Example:
Here is an example of how you can use Redux DevTools to log every action that is dispatched in your React application:
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import { createStore } from 'redux'
import { composeWithDevTools } from 'redux-devtools-extension'
const store = createStore(reducer, composeWithDevTools(
applyMiddleware(logger)
))
function logger({ getState }) {
return next => action => {
console.log('will dispatch', action)
const returnValue = next(action)
console.log('state after dispatch', getState())
return returnValue
}
}
Evergreen is a UI framework for building modern and scalable web applications with React. It provides a collection of polished and well-documented components that can be easily customized to fit the specific needs of your project.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
Evergreen helps React developers be more productive by providing a comprehensive collection of UI components that can be used out of the box. This saves developers time and effort, as they don't need to spend time creating custom components or finding third-party libraries to achieve their desired results. Additionally, the components are polished, well-documented, and easy to customize, which makes the development process smoother and more efficient.
Video resource for learning the tool:
Getting started with Evergreen
Example of how to best use the tool:
One of the best ways to use Evergreen is by taking advantage of its pre-designed components. For example, instead of creating a custom button component, you can use Evergreen's Button component, which provides a clean and modern look that works well for both desktop and mobile applications. Additionally, the Button component is highly customizable, so you can easily change its style and behavior to fit your specific needs.
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import { Button } from 'evergreen-ui';
function MyComponent() {
return (
<Button>Click me</Button>
);
}
Reactide is a dedicated Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for React applications. It is designed to simplify the development process and improve the efficiency of React developers.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
Code Example:
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import React from 'react';
const App = () => (
<div>
<h1>Hello World</h1>
</div>
);
export default App;
In this example, we create a simple React component using Reactide's code editor. The live preview feature allows us to see the changes made to the code in real time, making the development process smoother.
CopyCat is an AI-coding assistant to help React developers build UI superfast. By generating code from Figma designs, CopyCat helps developers save time and effort, allowing them to focus on building truly remarkable apps faster. The code generated by CopyCat is human-like and readable, making editing and customization a breeze.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
CopyCat saves developers time and effort writing redundant boilerplate, layout, and atomic code. The centralized repository makes it easier to manage components, reducing the risk of component duplication and confusion. The integration with popular design tools makes it possible for designers and developers to collaborate more effectively, streamlining the development process. Ultimately, allows developers to focus on building truly remarkable apps faster.
Video Resource for Learning the Tool:
The official CopyCat website provides a video tutorial that provides a step-by-step guide on how to use the tool. The tutorial covers the basics of creating UI components and managing them in the repository.
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
To best use CopyCat:
Create React App is a popular open-source tool for building React applications. It is maintained by Facebook and provides a set of tools and configurations to help developers get started quickly and easily.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
Create React App helps developers get started quickly and easily, reducing the time and effort required to set up a new project. It also automates many repetitive and time-consuming tasks in building a React application, freeing developers to focus on writing code and building features.
Video Resource for Learning the Tool:
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
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npx create-react-app my-app
cd my-app
npm start
This will create a new Create React App project, install all the required dependencies, and start a development server. From there, you can start building your React application, using the tools and configurations provided by Create React App.
React Sight is a real-time visualizer for React applications. It is a browser extension that provides a visual representation of the components and state of a React application, allowing developers to easily understand and debug their code.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
React Sight helps developers quickly understand the structure and behavior of their React applications, reducing the time and effort needed to debug and optimize their code. With a visual representation of the components and state, developers can easily identify and fix issues, leading to faster development and improved application performance.
Example of how to best use the tool:
React Sight is best used in conjunction with the development process. As developers build and test their applications, they can use React Sight to see the real-time changes in the component hierarchy and state. This allows them to identify and fix issues quickly, leading to faster development and improved application performance.
React Cosmos is a tool for building and testing reusable UI components in React applications. It provides a comprehensive solution for managing the development of components, making it easier for developers to build, test, and maintain their code.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
React Cosmos helps developers to work more efficiently by providing a streamlined workflow for building and testing components. It eliminates the need to switch between different tools and environments, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. The live preview and hot reloading features also help to speed up the development process, making it easier to make changes to components and see the results.
Video Resource for Learning the Tool:
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
React Cosmos is best used with a code editor, such as Visual Studio Code or Atom, to build and test components. The tool provides a range of configuration options, allowing developers to customize the environment to meet their specific needs. To get started with React Cosmos, developers can create a new project and import the components they want to test and develop. The tool provides a range of features and tools for managing the development of components, making it an ideal choice for building and testing reusable UI components in React applications.
React Proto is a tool for building high-fidelity prototypes of React applications.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
领英推荐
Example of how to best use the tool:
Jest is a popular JavaScript testing library. It is a complete and easy-to-set-up JavaScript testing solution that works with projects built using React, Angular, Vue, and other popular frameworks.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
Video resource for learning the tool:
Crash course of Jest:
Example of how to best use the tool:
Note: The code example for Jest can vary greatly depending on the specific use case, but a basic example of testing a simple function with Jest might look like this:
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// sum.js
export default function sum(a, b) {
return a + b;
}
// sum.test.js
import sum from './sum';
test('adds 1 + 2 to equal 3', () => {
expect(sum(1, 2)).toBe(3);
});
Bit is a powerful tool for managing and sharing reusable components in React applications. It helps developers to build, test, and publish components in an efficient and organized manner. Here is a detailed explanation of Bit, its features and benefits, and how it enhances productivity:
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
React Query is a popular, lightweight library for managing and caching asynchronous data in React applications. It is designed to simplify the process of fetching, storing, and updating data in a React app, while also providing a simple API for handling errors and optimizing performance.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
React Query makes it easier for developers to manage and cache data in their React applications, reducing the amount of code they need to write and improving the performance of their apps. It also provides a simple and intuitive API for handling errors and optimizing data updates, which can save time and reduce frustration for developers.
Video resource for learning the tool:
The React Query official website (https://react-query.tanstack.com/) provides a comprehensive video tutorial series on how to use the library, as well as written documentation and examples.
Example of how to best use the tool:
One of the best ways to use React Query is to fetch data in your React components, and then store and update that data as needed. For example, you might use React Query to fetch data from a REST API, and then cache that data locally so that it can be quickly retrieved and displayed to the user. You can also use React Query to manage the loading state of your data, and to handle errors and optimistically update data as needed.
Wappalyzer is a tool that helps developers and webmasters identify the technologies used on websites. It is a browser extension that provides insights into the underlying technology stack of a website, including content management systems, e-commerce platforms, web frameworks, server software, and more.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
Wappalyzer can help developers and webmasters save time and effort in identifying the technology used on websites. Instead of manually researching and testing, Wappalyzer provides quick and accurate information on the technology stack, allowing developers to make informed decisions and work more efficiently.
Video Resource for Learning the Tool:
Wappalyzer provides a demo video on their website (https://www.wappalyzer.com/demo) that showcases the tool's features and how to use it.
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
Wappalyzer can be best used by developers and webmasters who are looking to identify the technology used on a website. This information can be used for research purposes, for competitive analysis, or for planning and developing websites. To use Wappalyzer, simply install the browser extension and visit the website you want to analyze. The tool will automatically display the technologies used on the website.
ColorZilla is a browser extension that helps web developers and designers to easily get the color codes from web pages, color picker and eyedropper. It is available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
ColorZilla saves time and effort for web developers and designers by providing a simple and efficient way to get color codes from web pages. The advanced color picker and gradient generator make it easy to create color palettes, while the webpage color analysis provides valuable insights into the color usage of a website.
Video Resource for Learning the Tool:
ColorZilla has a video tutorial available on their website that demonstrates the features and benefits of the tool.
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
One of the best ways to use ColorZilla is to analyze the color usage of websites that you admire. This can give you ideas for your own projects and help you to create color palettes that are consistent with the look and feel of your website.
Why Did You Render (WDR) is a performance optimization tool for React applications, which helps developers identify and fix issues related to re-rendering of components. The tool can be easily integrated into any React project and provides detailed information on why a component is re-rendering, helping developers to optimize their code and improve the overall performance of their applications.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
WDR helps developers to identify and fix performance issues related to re-rendering of components, which can significantly improve the performance of their React applications. By providing detailed information on why a component is re-rendering, WDR helps developers to optimize their code and make their applications faster and more efficient.
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
WDR is best used in combination with other performance optimization tools and techniques, such as code profiling and performance monitoring. To get the most out of WDR, developers should integrate it into their React projects and use it to track the render behavior of specific components.
Code Example:
Here is a simple example of how to use WDR in a React project:
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import React from 'react';
import { whyDidYouRender } from '@welldone-software/why-did-you-render';
if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
whyDidYouRender(React, {
trackAllPureComponents: true
});
}
In this example, WDR is integrated into the React project and set to track all pure components. The tool will provide detailed information on why any component is re-rendering, helping developers to optimize their code and improve the performance of their applications.
React Styleguideist is a tool for creating and maintaining a style guide for your React projects. It provides a way to document and enforce your design system, ensuring that all components are consistent and meet your design standards.
Features and Benefits:
How it Enhances Productivity:
React Styleguideist saves time and effort by automating the process of creating and maintaining a style guide. It eliminates the need to manually document and update your design system, freeing up time for more important tasks. Additionally, the tool helps to ensure that all components are consistent and meet your design standards, reducing the risk of design inconsistencies and improving the overall quality of your project.
Video Resource for Learning the Tool:
A great video on how to use React Styleguidist the wrong way:
Example of How to Best Use the Tool:
React Styleguideist is best used in a project where design consistency and documentation are important. For example, if you are working on a large-scale project with multiple developers, using React Styleguideist can help to ensure that all components are consistent and meet your design standards.
Code Example:
Here is a simple example of how to use React Styleguideist in a React project:
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import React from "react";
import { Styleguide, StyleguideProvider } from "react-styleguideist";
import "./index.css";
const components = [
{
name: "Button",
component: Button,
props: {
children: "Click me!",
onClick: () => alert("Button clicked!"),
},
},
];
function App() {
return (
<StyleguideProvider>
<Styleguide components={components} />
</StyleguideProvider>
);
}
export default App;
React Hook Form is a popular library for managing form state in React applications. The library provides a set of hooks and utilities that simplify the process of handling forms and form validation.
Features and benefits:
How it enhances productivity:
React Hook Form makes it easier to manage forms in React applications, which can save developers time and effort. By providing a simple and flexible API, the library helps developers to focus on building features, rather than managing complex form state and validation logic.
Video resource for learning the tool:
Full tutorial:
Example of how to best use the tool:
React Hook Form is best used in conjunction with React components and hooks, to create and manage forms in a React application. To get started, you can install the library using npm or yarn, and then import the hooks and components into your React code. From there, you can use the useController hook to create a form controller, and the useForm hook to manage form state. You can then use the register and handleSubmit functions to add form inputs and submit the form. You can learn to unlock the secret power of hook form here.
Code example:
Here's a simple example of how to use React Hook Form to create a form in a React component:
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import { useController, useForm } from 'react-hook-form'
const MyForm = () => {
const { handleSubmit, register, errors } = useForm()
const onSubmit = data => {
console.log(data)
}
return (
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
<input name="email" ref={register({ required: true })} />
{errors.email && <p>This field is required</p>}
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
)
}
Table Comparison
Conclusion
Choosing the right tools can greatly impact your productivity and overall development experience. The top 17 React developer tools outlined in this article offer a range of features and benefits to streamline your workflow, increase efficiency, and enhance the quality of your code. Whether you're looking for a form validation tool, a styling guide, or a code generator, there's something for everyone in this list. Consider exploring these tools and incorporating them into your development process to boost your React development skills.
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Original article: https://copycat.dev/blog/react-dev-tools