[2021] 16 React tools every front-end developer should know about

off.tokyo
8 min readJun 14, 2021

Nowadays, webya app developers need the best tools to get the job done.

The digital world is growing, and with it comes a high demand for new websites, applications and software.

Developers and programmers must create web content and resources that are easier to use, but also easier to manage if they have the right tools.

With that in mind, let’s explore the top React development tools for 2021.

We’ll start with a brief introduction to React, explain what developer tools are, why they’re important, how to use React developer tools, and finish with a list of the top tools of the year.

So let’s get started.

What is React and why should I care about it?

React is an open-source JavaScript library developed by Facebook to build better user interfaces (UIs).

React is known for its versatility, simplifying the building of apps and websites, creating test cases for the UI, and reusing existing website code on mobile.

They are also called front-end developers and are experts in all the parts of an application or web browser that a user sees and touches.

If you like the look and feel of software and its interface, give front-end developers credit!

What are React Developer Tools?

React is an open-source JavaScript library developed by Facebook to build better user interfaces (UIs).

React is known for its versatility, simplifying the building of apps and websites, creating test cases for the UI, and reusing existing website code on mobile.

They are also called front-end developers and are experts in all the parts of an application or web browser that a user sees and touches.

If you like the look and feel of software and its interface, give front-end developers credit!

Why do I need React developer tools?

The word “need” may be too strong a word.

Theoretically, developers don’t need the React developer tools themselves.

Only developers who want to create better code, faster, can use the React tools.

The following are some of the benefits of using React developer tools

You can inspect and debug your applications more easily and conveniently.

The developer tools can be seamlessly installed in your browser, giving you a powerful resource that you can access whenever you need it.

The ‘Components’ tab allows you to quickly view the root React component rendered on a particular page.

You can easily inspect and edit the components.

Using the provided ‘Parser’ tab, you can see an overview of how the application is being re-rendered. This feature allows you to easily visualise the re-rendering with a colour-coded flame chart and precise timing information.

In summary, the React developer tools allow you to see when you change one component and

They are an invaluable part of the developer’s toolkit as they allow you to see the impact of changes to one component on other components.

These tools identify problems and allow the developer to clean them up before final testing.

React’s benefits become more apparent in the software testing phase.

List of React developer tools

Okay, so we’ve just covered dev tools in general for Chrome and other extensions.

Let’s also explore the top dozen other tools that every developer should know about in 2021.

All of these tools are open source.

Belle

Belle is a set of easy to use and configurable React components.

Programmers can quickly incorporate any of these components into their own applications.

You can use them for Button, Card & Select, ComboBox, Rating, TextInput and Toggle!

BIT

BIT is a CLI tool created to solve the problems that arise from sharing React components.

With BIT, you can organize and distribute your user interface (UI) components with your team members.

It also allows you to use the departed components wherever they are needed.

Create React App

This single command line tool, created by Facebook, helps developers to quickly set up the environment for a new React project.

Create React App provides a front-end build pipeline that prepares the developer’s environment and subsequently optimizes the application for production.

As a result, developers don’t have to spend time on configuration tasks.

Evergreen

Evergreen is a ready-to-use UI framework for React that has been

It has been praised for its extensive documentation.

Evergreen boasts a large assortment of ready-to-use components that can be customized.

Gatsby

This React based framework helps developers to build lightweight and fast applications and websites.

Gatsby works with a variety of data sources, including Markdown files, CMSs such as Contentful and WordPress, REST, and GraphQL APIs.

Gatsby integrates with a variety of data sources and allows you to easily manage your content.

Jest

Jest is a JavaScript testing framework created by Facebook to test React components.

It’s very useful for writing unit tests for your code.

It’s a versatile framework that works with other JS solutions such as Angular, Babel, Node, TypeScript and Vue.

Also, Jest was developed by the same people who developed React, so it’s a great choice for testing.

Cypress

Cypress is useful for E2E testing of React apps, running Chrome drivers in software.

The software runs Chrome’s drivers to test that the website or application is running “start to finish” as expected.

Compared to unit testing, this has the advantage of verifying the application in action, but it is also more time consuming.

However, the disadvantage is that it takes more time to run each test.

React 360

React 360 creates interactive 360 experiences designed to run in a web browser.

It combines the power of React’s proposition with the latest APIs, such as WebGL and WebVR, to help developers create applications that are accessible from many different types of devices.

React 360 simplifies the creation of cross-platform 360 experiences by leveraging both the robust React ecosystem and the latest web technologies.

React Proto

Proto stands for “prototype”. This tool allows the developer to create the architecture of the application backwards.

The developer first creates a visual design and Proto provides the application files needed for subsequent development.

The developer can then define the prop in ReactJS and state.

React Sight

This React tool provides developers with a visual representation of the React app structure.

Users will first need to install the React Developer Tools for Chrome.

As a result, a new ‘React Sight’ panel will be added to the DevTools.

React Sight also provides support for React Router and Redux.

Redux

Redux is a very popular JavaScript container that keeps the state of your application in a store, which can be accessed and used by any component.

Redux also provides the Redux Toolkit, which is useful for programmers who want to write Redux logic easily.

Hooks

Hooks (hooks) allow you to use React features such as state without having to write a class.

It’s one of the most popular React features nowadays because it makes it easier to handle states and side effects.

It doesn’t work within classes, so we don’t recommend rewriting existing components right now.

However, if you want to use it in a newly written component, you can start using hooks.

Rekit

Rekit is a complete toolkit, an all-in-one solution designed for cutting edge React applications.

Rekit creates the app and provides the programmer with project management tools such as Rekit Studio.

The tool comes with a handy command line interface and tools to manage actions, components, pages and reducers.

Storybook

Storybook is a tool designed for user interfaces (UI).

It is used by developers to create, develop and test UI components and provides both a playground and a development environment for UI components.

Storybook allows developers to benefit from a development environment for UI components, giving them the means to quickly test and display them.

Prettier, ESLint

With Prettier and ESLint, you can check the syntax of your code and clean up your code automatically.

When you’re developing in a team, it can be tedious to fix every little flaw in your code or how you write it.

By using Prettier and ESLint, you can reduce this hassle and focus on more important tasks such as code logic and variable names.

TypeScript

TypeScript is a programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft.

TypeScript is a strict syntactic superset of JavaScript, with the addition of optional static typing.

TypeScript is designed for the development of large applications, which are then trans-compiled into JavaScript.

React is built in JavaScript, but you should always choose TypeScript for your projects.

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