{"id":26152,"library":"react-esbuild","title":"react-esbuild","description":"A CLI tool to scaffold React projects using esbuild as the bundler, similar to Create React App (CRA) but significantly faster due to esbuild and SWC transpilation. Current version 3.4.9 supports Node.js 16+. It generates a minimal React template with built-in development server, production builds, environment variable support (REACT_APP_ prefix), and testing via jest. Released sporadically, last update in 2023. Differentiators: extreme speed (milliseconds), lightweight alternative to CRA, optional bun runtime support, and ES5 transpilation via SWC. Not actively maintained.","status":"maintenance","version":"3.4.9","language":"javascript","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/sssssqew/react-esbuild","tags":["javascript","react","esbuild","boilerplate","create-react-app","react-esbuild"],"install":[{"cmd":"npm install react-esbuild","lang":"bash","label":"npm"},{"cmd":"yarn add react-esbuild","lang":"bash","label":"yarn"},{"cmd":"pnpm add react-esbuild","lang":"bash","label":"pnpm"}],"dependencies":[],"imports":[{"note":"This is a CLI tool, not a library. Install globally or use npx/bunx.","wrong":"npm install react-esbuild --save","symbol":"react-esbuild CLI","correct":"npx react-esbuild@latest my-app"},{"note":"Environment variables are injected directly as globals by esbuild, not via process.env.","wrong":"console.log(process.env.REACT_APP_MY_VAR)","symbol":"REACT_APP_* env variables","correct":"console.log(REACT_APP_MY_VAR)"},{"note":"Uses ESM imports by default. CommonJS require may fail depending on project configuration.","wrong":"const { render, screen } = require('@testing-library/react')","symbol":"test setup","correct":"import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react'"}],"quickstart":{"code":"npx react-esbuild@latest my-react-app\ncd my-react-app\nnpm install\nnpm run start-js","lang":"javascript","description":"Scaffold a new React project with esbuild, install dependencies, and start the dev server."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Define vars in .env with REACT_APP_ prefix; use as global variable without process.env.","message":"Environment variables must have REACT_APP_ prefix and are accessed directly (e.g., REACT_APP_MY_VAR), not via process.env.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"*"},{"fix":"On Windows delete C:\\Users\\Administrator\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\react-esbuild; on Linux rm -rf ~/.bun and reinstall bun.","message":"bunx may use a cached old version; delete bun temp cache to force latest.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"*"},{"fix":"Migrate to a more actively maintained tool like Vite (npm create vite@latest) or Next.js.","message":"The package is not actively maintained; last release in 2023. Consider using Vite or Next.js for modern React projects.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":"*"},{"fix":"Use npx react-esbuild@latest [project-name] to ensure latest version without global install.","message":"Global installation via npm i react-esbuild -g may conflict with npx versions.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":">=2.0"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-05-01T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Install bun via powershell -c 'irm bun.sh/install.ps1 | iex' (Windows) or curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash (macOS/Linux).","cause":"Bun not installed or not in PATH.","error":"bun: command not found"},{"fix":"Run npx react-esbuild@latest [my-app] instead of node react-esbuild.","cause":"Running the command without installing the package or using npx correctly.","error":"Error: Cannot find module 'react-esbuild'"},{"fix":"Upgrade Node.js to version 16 or later.","cause":"Node.js version lower than 16.","error":"unsupported Node.js version"}],"ecosystem":"npm","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"install_tag":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null}