react.dev: The Official React Documentation Website Source Code

What react.dev Is and Who the Repository Is For

react.dev is the official React documentation website, replacing the older reactjs.org site. The repository at reactjs/react.dev holds the full source code: the Next.js application, the Markdown content files in src/content, the custom plugins in plugins/, the build scripts, and the configuration for deployment to Vercel.

Most engineers who use React never need to clone this repository. It exists for documentation contributors: engineers who find errors in the React docs, want to improve explanations, add sandbox examples, or fix formatting. It is also useful for teams that want to run the documentation site locally, for example when working on a React version that has documentation changes in flight before they ship to production.

Technology Stack and Dependencies

The site runs on Next.js and is powered by the next-remote-watch package for the development server, which enables hot-reloading when Markdown content changes. The package.json identifies the key runtime dependencies. The interactive code examples use @codesandbox/sandpack-react at version 2.13.5, which embeds live code sandboxes directly in documentation pages. Search is powered by @docsearch/react at version ^3.8.3.

UI components include @headlessui/react for accessible dropdown components and @radix-ui/react-context-menu. The site uses Tailwind CSS, configured in tailwind.config.js, for styling. TypeScript is used throughout the source, with tsconfig.json at the repository root and a tsc check in the CI pipeline.

The package.json engine field requires Node.js version 16.8.0 or higher and Yarn for dependency management. The project does not support npm as a primary install method; the README explicitly lists Yarn as a prerequisite.

Running react.dev Locally

The setup follows a standard Yarn workflow. From the README:

yarn

This installs all npm dependencies. Then start the development server:

yarn dev

The dev script runs next-remote-watch on the src/content directory, which means changes to Markdown files in content/ trigger a live reload without a full server restart. Open the site at:

open http://localhost:3000

Changes to React components in src/ also hot-reload. The README notes one exception: if you are working on plugins in the plugins/ directory, you may need to delete the .cache directory and restart the server for changes to take effect.

The Contribution Workflow and Quality Checks

Contributing documentation changes starts with forking the repository and creating a branch from main:

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b the-name-of-my-branch

The README describes guidelines for each section of the site; the tone and purpose differ between the Learn section and the API reference, and contributors are encouraged to read the contributing guidelines before writing more than a few sentences.

Before pushing, run the full quality check:

yarn check-all

This runs Prettier formatting, ESLint linting with the fix flag applied, TypeScript type checking, and RSS feed generation. The package.json ci-check script adds heading ID validation and dead link checking as additional steps used in CI. A preview build is triggered automatically after push to GitHub, allowing reviewers to see the rendered site before merging.

Content Structure and the Sandpack Integration

Content lives in src/content/ as Markdown files. The site's Markdown rendering is customized through plugins in the plugins/ directory, which handle things like code block syntax highlighting and the embedded sandbox examples. Sandpack, provided by @codesandbox/sandpack-react, renders interactive React examples directly in documentation pages without requiring an external service: the code runs in the browser.

The build script in package.json includes a prebuild:rsc step that compiles React Server Component workers, followed by the main next build, font downloading, and Open Graph image generation. This means a full production build is more complex than a standard Next.js site. The Vercel deployment configuration is in vercel.json at the repository root.

The repository also contains a .claude/ directory and CLAUDE.md file, indicating the project has set up documentation for AI-assisted contribution workflows.

Translation and Language Support

react.dev does not include translated content in this repository. The README states that the React team does not provide official translations but links to a GitHub issue tracking community translation efforts for react.dev. Each language translation is maintained as a separate fork by community volunteers.

For contributors, this means that translation work happens outside this repository. The README's note on language mentions that the site itself is published in English, and links to issue #4135 for those interested in translating the content.

react.dev vs MDN Web Docs: Scope and Purpose

MDN Web Docs is the Mozilla-maintained reference for web platform APIs including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It covers browser APIs, the DOM, and web standards broadly, with multiple contributors from browser vendors. react.dev is React-specific: it covers React concepts, hooks, components, and patterns as defined by the React team at Meta.

The difference in approach matters when choosing a reference: MDN documents the browser platform that React runs on; react.dev documents React's programming model and API surface. An engineer learning about useEffect reads react.dev; an engineer debugging a browser fetch call reads MDN. The two resources are complementary. The react.dev site explicitly covers the React version that the documentation team maintains, which means it reflects the React team's current recommended patterns rather than a community consensus across all React versions.

Editorial conclusion

Developers who want to understand React deeply should use react.dev itself, not clone this repository. The source code is for contributors who want to fix documentation errors, add examples, or improve the site itself. Before submitting any change, run yarn check-all to catch formatting, lint, and type errors. Translation contributions follow a separate process tracked in a dedicated GitHub issue.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. License: CC-BY-4.0
3. Project website
4. reactjs/react.dev on GitHub
5. README