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CDN-hosted React

We provide CDN-hosted versions of React on our download page. These pre-built files use the UMD module format. Dropping them in with a simple <script> tag will inject the React and ReactDOM globals into your environment. It should also work out-of-the-box in CommonJS and AMD environments.

Using React from npm

You can also use React with a CommonJS module system like browserify or webpack. Just use react and react-dom npm packages.

/** main.js */
var React = require('react');
var ReactDOM = require('react-dom');

ReactDOM.render(
    <h1>Hello, world!</h1>,
    document.getElementById('example')
);

Configure babel with a .babelrc file:

{
    "presets": ["react"]
}

Note:

If you are using ES2015, you will want to also use the babel-preset-es2015 package.

To install React DOM and build your bundle with browserify:

$ npm install --save react react-dom babelify babel-preset-react
$ browserify -t [ babelify ] main.js -o bundle.js

To install React DOM and build your bundle with webpack:

$ npm install --save react react-dom babel-preset-react babel-loader babel-core
$ webpack main.js bundle.js --module-bind 'js=babel-loader'

Notice that: by default, React will be in development mode, which is slower, and not advised for production. To use React in production mode, set the environment variable NODE_ENV to production (using envify or webpack's DefinePlugin). For example:

new webpack.DefinePlugin({
    "process.env": {
        NODE_ENV: JSON.stringify("production")
    }
});

Using React from Bower

Bower is a package manager optimized for the front-end development. If multiple packages depend on a package - jQuery for example - Bower will download jQuery just once. This is known as a flat dependency graph and it helps reduce page load.

If you'd like to use bower, it's as easy as:

$ bower install --save react

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <title>Hello React!</title>
        <script src="bower_components/react/react.js"></script>
        <script src="bower_components/react/react-dom.js"></script>
        <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/babel-core/5.8.34/browser.min.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="example"></div>
        <script type="text/babel">
        ReactDOM.render(
            <h1>Hello, world!</h1>,
            document.getElementById('example')
        );
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

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