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What is react-refresh-webpack-plugin?

gaearon/react-refresh-webpack-plugin — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2020-07-24

★ 5Audience · developerComplexity · 3/5DormantSetup · moderate

In one sentence

A Webpack plugin that reloads only the React component you changed during development, keeping the rest of the app's state intact instead of a full page refresh.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Patches changed components live
      Keeps app state on save
      Only active in development
    Tech stack
      Webpack
      Babel
      React
    Use cases
      Speed up UI iteration
      Preserve form state while coding
      Show error overlay on break
    Audience
      React developers
      UI designers

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Keep form and navigation state intact while tweaking a React component's code

USE CASE 2

Speed up iteration on UI-heavy pages by avoiding full page reloads on every save

USE CASE 3

See a helpful error overlay in development when a component update breaks

What is it built with?

WebpackBabelReact

How does it compare?

gaearon/react-refresh-webpack-plugin00kaku/wp-rest-playground1ncendium/aibuster
Stars555
Language—JavaScriptPython
Last pushed2020-07-24——
MaintenanceDormant——
Setup difficultymoderatehardmoderate
Complexity3/53/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires configuring both Webpack and Babel together, still experimental with some edge-case limitations.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to configure Webpack and Babel to enable React Fast Refresh with this plugin
Prompt 2
Add this plugin to my existing webpack-dev-server setup for React development
Prompt 3
Explain the limitations of this plugin, like why class components remount on update

Frequently asked questions

What is react-refresh-webpack-plugin?

A Webpack plugin that reloads only the React component you changed during development, keeping the rest of the app's state intact instead of a full page refresh.

Is react-refresh-webpack-plugin actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2020-07-24).

How hard is react-refresh-webpack-plugin to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is react-refresh-webpack-plugin for?

Mainly developer.

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