🎃You need to leave Create React App in 2024

A spook-tacular guide to leaving this haunted framework

You started building your React app in 2018 with a team of offshore developers. You didn’t understand exactly what they were doing but you trusted them to get the job done. Choosing to use Create React App wasn’t a bad decision at the time. It was even recommended by the React documentation. This was due to the massive amount of complexity that React needed to be wrapped in to launch a web app at the time. Create React App abstracted that complexity but at a cost: tight coupling to the framework and hiding that complexity also hid certain pieces of key functionality. The CRA team did what they needed to do to make it easy for almost anyone to launch a SPA React app in the late 2010s/early 2020s. They ultimately ran up against fundamental architecture limitations and became victim to React’s own success.

What should you do?

It’s a very personal decision. If you want to continue developing the application there are essentially two options.

1. Start from scratch

You might be better served doing this. Many of your components and files may be almost exactly usable by copy/pasting, or at least the general patterns and structure of your code. It’s also a good opportunity for a redesign and re-think of your application. There may be lots of unnecessary bloat in the application that is slowing it and your developers down.

2. Port your application

If your application has been built with the possiblity to port it to another framework then this may be an option. Vite and NextJS are especially friendly to porting Create React Applications.

If you would like to learn more about how Finest City Digital can consult with you on the how to migrate from your Create React App you can drop us a line at f@finestcitydigital.com