3 React Libraries to Use in Your Projects in 2024

Introduction

React is a powerful and popular library for building user interfaces with JavaScript. However, React alone is not enough to create a complete web application. You also need other libraries and tools to handle various aspects of web development, such as routing, data fetching, state management, testing, styling, and more.

In this blog post, I will introduce you to some of the best React libraries that you should use in your projects in 2024. These libraries will help you to enhance your React app’s functionality, performance, and user experience.

React Query

React Query is a library that simplifies data fetching and caching in React apps. It allows you to write declarative and asynchronous code to fetch data from any source, such as REST APIs, GraphQL, Firebase, etc. React Query also handles caching, refetching, pagination, optimistic updates, and more.

To use React Query, you need to install it and wrap your app with the QueryClientProvider component. Then, you can use the useQuery hook to fetch data and access the query status and data. For example:

import { useQuery } from 'react-query';

function App() {
  const { isLoading, error, data } = useQuery('posts', () =>
    fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts').then(res =>
      res.json()
    )
  );

  if (isLoading) return <div>Loading...</div>;

  if (error) return <div>An error occurred: {error.message}</div>;

  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Posts</h1>
      <ul>
        {data.map(post => (
          <li key={post.id}>{post.title}</li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

React Query is ideal for React projects that need to fetch and manage data from various sources, and want to optimize the data loading and caching behavior.

React Router

React Router is a library that enables routing and navigation in React apps. It allows you to create dynamic and user-friendly URLs, and render different components based on the URL. React Router also supports nested routes, redirects, transitions, and more.

To use React Router, you need to install it and wrap your app with the BrowserRouter component. Then, you can use the Route and Link components to define and navigate between routes. For example:

import { BrowserRouter, Route, Link } from 'react-router-dom';

function App() {
  return (
    <BrowserRouter>
      <div>
        <nav>
          <ul>
            <li>
              <Link to="/">Home</Link>
            </li>
            <li>
              <Link to="/about">About</Link>
            </li>
            <li>
              <Link to="/contact">Contact</Link>
            </li>
          </ul>
        </nav>

        <Route path="/" exact component={Home} />
        <Route path="/about" component={About} />
        <Route path="/contact" component={Contact} />
      </div>
    </BrowserRouter>
  );
}

function Home() {
  return <h1>Home</h1>;
}

function About() {
  return <h1>About</h1>;
}

function Contact() {
  return <h1>Contact</h1>;
}

React Router is ideal for React projects that need to create and manage multiple routes and pages, and provide a smooth and intuitive navigation experience.

Redux Toolkit

Redux Toolkit is a library that simplifies state management in React apps. It is the official, recommended way to use Redux, and it provides several utilities and best practices to make Redux easier and more efficient. Redux Toolkit also integrates with other libraries, such as React Redux, Redux Thunk, and Redux DevTools.

To use Redux Toolkit, you need to install it and create a store with the configureStore function. Then, you can use the createSlice function to create reducers and actions, and the createAsyncThunk function to create async actions. For example:

import { configureStore, createSlice, createAsyncThunk } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';

// Define an async action to fetch posts
const fetchPosts = createAsyncThunk('posts/fetchPosts', async () => {
  const response = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts');
  return response.json();
});

// Define a slice of state for posts
const postsSlice = createSlice({
  name: 'posts',
  initialState: {
    items: [],
    status: 'idle',
    error: null,
  },
  reducers: {
    // Define sync actions here
  },
  extraReducers: {
    // Handle async actions here
    [fetchPosts.pending]: (state, action) => {
      state.status = 'loading';
    },
    [fetchPosts.fulfilled]: (state, action) => {
      state.status = 'succeeded';
      state.items = action.payload;
    },
    [fetchPosts.rejected]: (state, action) => {
      state.status = 'failed';
      state.error = action.error.message;
    },
  },
});

// Export the actions and the reducer
export const { /* sync actions */ } = postsSlice.actions;
export default postsSlice.reducer;

// Create the store with the posts reducer
const store = configureStore({
  reducer: {
    posts: postsReducer,
  },
});

Redux Toolkit is ideal for React projects that need to manage complex and global state, and want to use Redux in a simpler and more scalable way.

Conclusion

In this blog post, I have introduced you to some of the best React libraries that you should use in your projects in 2024. These libraries will help you to handle various aspects of web development, such as data fetching, routing, state management, and more. I hope this blog post has helped you to choose the best libraries for your React project. Happy coding! 😊