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jamiebuilds/react-loadable

16,531JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TLDR

React Loadable is a small React library for splitting your app's code at the component level, defer loading heavy UI pieces until the user actually needs them, cutting your initial bundle size.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      React code splitting
      Component-level lazy loading
      Bundle size reduction
    How it works
      Higher-order component
      Dynamic import
      Loading placeholder
    Use cases
      Heavy modals and tabs
      Route-based splitting
      Hidden UI sections
    Audience
      React developers
      Frontend engineers
    Topics
      Code splitting
      Server-side rendering
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Code map

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filefunction / class

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Wrap a heavy modal or chart component so its code only downloads when the user opens it, reducing the initial bundle by tens of kilobytes.

USE CASE 2

Split a large single-page app by route so each page's JavaScript loads only when that route is visited.

USE CASE 3

Add a skeleton loading placeholder that shows while a lazily-loaded component fetches, keeping the UI responsive.

Tech stack

JavaScriptReact

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min
License information is not mentioned in the explanation.

In plain English

React Loadable is a small library for React apps that helps developers split their code into smaller pieces so the browser does not have to download everything up front. As single-page apps grow, the bundle a visitor downloads on first page-load gets bigger and slower, code-splitting is the practice of breaking that bundle into several smaller ones and loading each piece only when it is needed. React Loadable's job is to make that splitting easy at the level of individual components rather than only at the level of routes. The library is built around a higher-order component, a function that takes a normal component and returns a new wrapped one with extra behaviour. You hand it a loader function that performs a dynamic import (a standardised way to fetch a JavaScript module on demand) and a loading component to show while the real one is being fetched. The wrapped component renders the loading placeholder, kicks off the fetch, and swaps in the real component once it arrives. The README points out the same approach works for modals, tabs and any part of the interface hidden until the user reveals it, and that React Loadable also covers awkward cases like import failures and server-side rendering. Someone would reach for this when their React bundle has grown large enough to hurt initial load time and they want to defer loading parts of the interface users may never see. The README's testimonials describe drops in main-bundle size of tens to over a hundred kilobytes after adopting it. The repository's primary language is JavaScript, listed topics include code-splitting and server-side rendering, and the full README is longer than what was provided here.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I'm using jamiebuilds/react-loadable in my React app. Show me the minimal code to lazy-load a HeavyChart component that is hidden until a user clicks a button, including the loading placeholder.
Prompt 2
How do I use react-loadable to split my app by route in React Router so each route's component is only downloaded when the user navigates to it?
Prompt 3
My react-loadable import fails occasionally on slow connections. How do I handle the error state in the loading component so the user sees a retry button instead of a blank screen?
Prompt 4
I want to verify that react-loadable is actually splitting my bundle. Show me how to inspect the webpack chunk output to confirm separate files are being generated for each loadable component.
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