React

React — MIT licensed JavaScript library for building user interfaces by Meta (Facebook)

About React

React is a JavaScript library for building web and native user interfaces. It is developed and maintained by Meta and a large community of contributors, and it is best known for making component-based UI development approachable and scalable. The core idea is simple: build interfaces out of small reusable pieces and combine them into larger screens and applications.

React is widely used for:

  • interactive web applications
  • dashboards and data-heavy interfaces
  • single-page applications
  • server-rendered and streaming apps
  • native mobile applications through React Native
  • design systems and reusable UI component libraries

Created by: Meta (Facebook) First released: 2013 GitHub stars: 220,000+ License: MIT License

React became popular because it changed how many developers think about UI architecture. Instead of treating the page as one large document, React encourages teams to model the interface as a tree of components with clear responsibilities.

Its key strengths include:

  • Component-based architecture that encourages reuse
  • Declarative UI updates that reduce manual DOM management
  • Strong ecosystem with mature tooling, routing, and state options
  • Flexible integration into existing applications
  • Cross-platform reach across web and native targets
  • Large community with extensive documentation, examples, and libraries

React is often chosen when a project needs a robust UI layer that can grow over time without making the codebase hard to reason about.

Common Use Cases

Single Page Applications

React is a natural fit for SPAs because components can react to state changes and render new views efficiently without full page reloads.

Dashboards and Admin Tools

Complex layouts with tables, filters, forms, and charts benefit from React’s component model and its ability to keep state-driven interfaces predictable.

Design Systems

Many teams use React to build reusable component libraries that can be shared across products and teams.

Server-Rendered Apps

React is frequently used with modern frameworks that support server rendering, streaming, and hybrid rendering strategies.

Native Applications

React Native extends React’s component model to mobile and desktop ecosystems, which helps teams reuse concepts and often some logic across platforms.

Technical Notes

React treats the UI as a function of state and props. When that data changes, React updates the rendered output to match.

Important ideas in React include:

  • reusable components built with JavaScript and JSX
  • props for passing data down the component tree
  • state for local component data
  • hooks for behavior such as lifecycle, state, and effects
  • a declarative rendering model that helps keep UI logic readable

Modern React also supports advanced patterns such as concurrent rendering, server components, and streaming server-side rendering in the broader ecosystem.

License Information

React is distributed under the MIT License.

The current React license notice is:

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MIT License

Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies
of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do
so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

If you use React in your project, keep the MIT License text and attribution together with your distribution.

How to Attribute React in Your Project

In README.md

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This project uses [React](https://react.dev/) © Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates, MIT License.

In About / Credits page

React - Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates - MIT License
https://github.com/facebook/react/blob/main/LICENSE

In mobile app (About screen)

React — MIT License
Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates

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