You no longer need to import React from 'react'

#javascript #react #jsx

If you use React, import React from 'react' is the first thing that you write in your code but if you have created a new react app using creat-react-app recently, you might have noticed that there is no import React statement at the top and your code works just fine. So, How's that working?

Well, previously you had to import React because the JSX is converted into regular Javascript that use react's React.createElement method.

But, React has introduced a new JSX transform with the release of React 17 which automatically transforms JSX without using React.createElement. This allows us to not import React, however, you'll need to import React to use Hooks and other exports that React provides. But if you have a simple component, you no longer need to import React. All the JSX conversion is handled by React without you having to import or add anything.

This new JSX transform is also supported in older versions of React so you can start using them even if you don't use React 17.

Read the official React doc to learn more.

Top comments (15)

Seanmclem • Apr 2 '21

When using Vite - it still seems to make me use it on react 17

dhondup • Apr 2 '21

Hi @seanmclem, It seems like Esbuild, which Vite is based on, doesn't use Babel to compile JSX and I think the new JSX transform requires Babel for all the JSX conversion. I'll get back to you if I can confirm this. Thanks for pointing it out.

dhondup • Apr 2 '21 • Edited

I'm very positive Babel is the reason.

Anton Melser • Aug 2 '22 • Edited

Not just babel. You can use it with vite (with TS, for example). reactjs.org/blog/2020/09/22/introd...

"We’d like to thank Babel, TypeScript, Create React App, Next.js, Gatsby, ESLint, and Flow maintainers for their help implementing and integrating the new JSX transform. "

If you are getting an eslint error on one of the other platforms (like TS), you can just (from github.com/jsx-eslint/eslint-plugi...

If you are using the new JSX transform from React 17, you should disable this rule by extending react/jsx-runtime in your eslint config (add "plugin:react/jsx-runtime" to "extends").