# react-countdown-circle-timer: an SVG countdown for React and React Native

> A small TypeScript component that draws a countdown as an SVG circle, with the arc and the colour changing on one requestAnimationFrame loop. It ships as two npm packages from a pnpm monorepo, and its own toolchain is pinned to a much older React than most teams now run.

**vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer** — Lightweight React/React Native countdown timer component with color and progress animation based on SVG

- Repository: https://github.com/vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer
- Stars: 716 · Forks: 87
- Language: TypeScript
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-10-21 · Updated: 2026-10-21 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/vydimitrov-react-countdown-circle-timer

## One requestAnimationFrame loop drives both the arc and the colour

The feature list makes an explicit performance claim about the animation mechanism: the component is "performance optimized with single `requestAnimationFrame` loop to animate color and progress". That is the core design decision. A naive countdown implementation usually pairs a `setInterval` for the remaining time with a separate animation for the progress ring, which means two independent timers that can drift apart, especially when the tab is backgrounded and the browser throttles interval callbacks. Driving both the stroke offset and the colour transition from one frame loop means the two always describe the same instant. The colour of the ring can also change during the countdown rather than staying fixed, which turns the component into a visual status indicator and not just a clock. Everything else in the feature list is small by comparison: the centre of the circle holds whatever content you put there, and the same code path serves iOS and Android.

## packages/web and packages/mobile publish as two npm names

This is a monorepo, and the layout tells you how the project is split. The root package.json is a private workspace package named `countdown-circle-timer-monorepo`, and the source lives under `packages/`. The badges in the README point at `packages/web/src` and `packages/mobile/src`, and the documentation links point at `packages/web` and `packages/mobile` respectively, so the two platforms are separate packages with their own source trees and their own documentation pages. The web package is published as `react-countdown-circle-timer` and the mobile one as `react-native-countdown-circle-timer`. A pnpm workspace file and a pnpm lockfile sit at the root, so the two packages share one dependency graph rather than being versioned independently. That matters when a breaking change lands: the version number you pin for the web component and the one you pin for the native component are cut together from the same repository, and the CHANGELOG.md at the root covers both.

## Adding the web package is a single yarn command

The README keeps installation to one line for the web package. Run it in the project that renders the component, and the package lands in your dependency list:

```bash
yarn add react-countdown-circle-timer
```

The same README lists the peer expectation for native, where the SVG renderer comes from a separate library:

```bash
yarn add react-native-countdown-circle-timer
```

The README is direct about the catch on the native side: "This component has a peer dependency on `react-native-svg`". A peer dependency is a declaration rather than an automatic install, so on React Native you also need `react-native-svg` present in the consuming app, and on older React Native setups that means linking and a native rebuild, not only a JavaScript install. The README then defers the real guide, telling readers to open the full documentation in `packages/mobile` for the installation guide, demos and use cases. The web documentation lives in `packages/web` in the same way. Expect to spend your first visit in those pages rather than in the root README.

## The repository's own toolchain is pinned to React 17 and Jest 27

The root package.json reveals the development environment, and it is not recent. The devDependencies pin `react` and `react-dom` at 17.0.2, `typescript` at 4.5.3, `jest` at 27.1.0, `ts-jest` at 27.1.2, `@types/react` at 17.0.37, `prettier` at 2.3.2 and `esbuild` at 0.25.0, with testing-library packages for jest-dom, react and react-hooks. The scripts delegate to the workspace root rather than running anything directly: `build`, `test`, `test-coverage` and `dev:push` each call `pnpm recursive` with the same suffix. That arrangement means the root does not build the packages, it fans the task out to every package in the workspace, which is how a two-package monorepo keeps one command working on both sides. The mix of ages is worth noting for contributors. The React 17 and TypeScript 4.5 pins are of that era, while `esbuild` at 0.25.0 is a later addition, so the build tooling moved on even though the type definitions did not.

## Release tags stop at v3.2.1 while the branch keeps moving

The published releases are old. The three most recent are v3.2.1 and v3.2.0, both released on 2023-03-15 within minutes of each other, and v3.1.0 on 2022-11-28. Two tags on the same day usually means a fix release cut right after a feature release, so the version you would install from npm today is in the v3.2 line. Against that, the repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-09-29, so commits are still landing on the default branch `master` even though the npm tags have not moved. The gap between the two facts is the practical upgrade question: consumers pin a published artefact, and the published artefact stopped at 2023-03-15. Whether unreleased commits on the branch already fix compatibility with newer React versions is something the repository does not say in a place this README exposes. The CHANGELOG.md at the root is the file to check first if you need to know what changed after v3.2.1.

## The README carries no prop table and no platform support matrix

Here is where the documentation thins out. The root README lists features, two installation commands, a note about the `react-native-svg` peer dependency, and links to the per-package documentation. It does not list the component's props, their types, their defaults, or the shape of the value passed to the render callback for the centre content. It does not state which React versions are supported, which React Native versions are supported, or which SVG features are used on each platform. It does not document server side rendering behaviour, accessibility attributes, or reduced motion handling, and it says nothing about how the component behaves when the countdown target is already in the past or when the tab is backgrounded. Any of these could be answered in the `packages/web` and `packages/mobile` documentation that the README links to, but the root README does not answer them, so treat that linked documentation as a required reading rather than a nice to have.

## When a CSS keyframe animation is the cheaper answer

The component is a good fit when the countdown has to stay accurate against a wall clock target, when the ring colour carries meaning, and when the same visual has to look identical on web and on a phone. It is a poor fit when the countdown is decorative. A pure CSS keyframe animation on a border or an SVG stroke draws a convincing circle with no JavaScript per frame, no package dependency and no framework coupling, which matters when the same marketing page ships in a stack where adding a runtime dependency is a review event. The difference in approach is the point: this component owns a live frame loop and reads remaining time, so it can stop at a real deadline and reflect state, whereas a CSS animation is a fixed duration that cannot be paused or resynced without extra work. If you need the countdown to be truthful, this component earns its dependency. If it only needs to look like it is counting, the CSS route wins on cost.

## Conclusion

Adopt react-countdown-circle-timer if you need a circular countdown on React or React Native and want the arc and the colour change driven by one animation loop you control, and accept that you will read the component API in the packages/web documentation rather than in the README. Do not adopt it if your app is on React 18 or 19 and you need the maintainer to have validated that pairing, because the repository's own devDependencies still pin React 17.0.2 and the last published release was v3.2.1 on 2023-03-15, even though the last push was on 2026-09-29. Before wiring it into a product, run the demo in packages/web against your own React version, and add react-native-svg first if the mobile package is part of the plan.

## FAQ

### How do I install react-countdown-circle-timer in a React project?

The README gives one command for the web package: `yarn add react-countdown-circle-timer`. For React Native the package is `react-native-countdown-circle-timer`, and it needs the `react-native-svg` peer dependency installed as well.

### Does react-countdown-circle-timer support React Native?

Yes. The project publishes a separate `react-native-countdown-circle-timer` package from the `packages/mobile` directory, and its features list names support for iOS and Android.

### How does react-countdown-circle-timer animate the countdown?

The README states it is performance optimized with a single `requestAnimationFrame` loop that animates colour and progress. The ring can also transition between colours during the countdown rather than staying a fixed colour.

### What license is react-countdown-circle-timer released under?

MIT. The root package.json lists the license as MIT and a LICENSE file is present at the top level of the repository.

## Sources

- [Issues](https://github.com/vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer/issues)
- [License: MIT](https://github.com/vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer/blob/master/LICENSE)
- [README](https://github.com/vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer/blob/master/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer/releases)
- [vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer on GitHub](https://github.com/vydimitrov/react-countdown-circle-timer)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/vydimitrov-react-countdown-circle-timer