📨 #233: RSC, Next.js, Compiler, Unhead, Shadcn, Relay, Mantine | Expo, WebGPU, Skia, Apple fees, Reanimated, Fragment Refs | Node.js, TS, Prisma, Deno, GSAP

May 7, 2025 · 10 min read

Newsletter creator - Docusaurus maintainer

Hi everyone!

This week we don't have one, but 2 interesting blog posts from Dan Abramov, and various React releases.

I found the mobile news particularly interesting, with Expo 53, Skia Graphite, Reanimated Shared Elements Transitions, and the Apple fees court injunction.

My fellows at ui.dev are also launching the final content of their react.gg course (30% off now), designed to teach you all the brand-new React 19 concepts from first principles. I got access to review it and can assure you that it's a really playful way to learn React, full of interactive examples, visualizations and pragmatic quizzes.

As always, thanks for supporting us on your favorite platform:

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⚛️ React

💸 Product for Engineers - What engineers get wrong about communication
👀 Next.js Docs - New runAfterProductionCompile lifecycle hook: Upcoming (unreleased) feature already documented.
💬 React Compiler oxc plugin: Interesting discussions between the React Compiler team and the oxc team to integrate the compiler as an oxc plugin for upcoming usage with Vite and Oxc/Rolldown. The React team suggests making it happen in 2 steps (make it work, then make it fast).
🧵 shadcn introducing the registry MCP - One command to make any component registry mcp-compatible.
📜 Functional HTML: Dan gradually reinvents the HTML he wants from first principles, leading to an RSC implementation.
📜 RSC for Astro Developers: RSC and Astro have 2 remarkably similar mental models, but Dan exposes some interesting subtle differences. RSCs may feel less intuitive at first, but they also solve some of Astro’s limitations.
📜 The future of AI interaction: Beyond just text: Kent argues that MCPs could have a role to play in implementing generative UIs with React Server Components. He wants the protocol to allow richer return types like html and RSC payloads.
📜 Frontends are hard: The devs at SST reflect on the challenges of self-hosting modern meta-frameworks, including React ones, that led them to start the OpenNext initiative.
📜 Add a Color Scheme Toggle in React Router: This method avoids FOUC with a cookie instead of inlined JS.
📜 Robust Data Fetching Architecture For Complex React/Next.js Apps: Suggests using 3 layers: Server Components, React Query, and Optimistic Updates.
📜 Server Components Give You Optionality: They give flexibility to choose in which environments your components run in (Server, Server+Client, or Client) and when.
📜 How We Fell Out of Love with Next.js and Back in Love with Ruby on Rails & Inertia.js
📜 Why Kleinanzeigen.de Picked Astro Over Next.js
📜 When You Might Need to Override the Defaults in TanStack Query
💸 React.gg - The interactive way to master modern React, including new v19 modules - 30% off during launch week
📦 Unhead 2.0 - The full stack <head> package for any framework: This framework-agnostic package from the UnJS ecosystem now includes React bindings. This could be a great drop-in alternative to react-helmet with React 19 support if the new built-in APIs are not good enough for you (see my comment here).
📦 Blade - Build instant web apps with React: A new opinionated React meta-framework with Server Components support, that purposefully doesn’t comply with the RSC spec.
📦 Relay 19.0 - @alias required on conditional fragments, support React 19
📦 Mantine 8.0 - Updated dates package, new TimePicker, Heatmap, CodeHighlight components, nested menus and more
📦 React Error Boundary 6.0 - ESM-only
📦 React Admin 5.8 - InPlaceEditor, DataTable, AuthLayout, MUI v7, CSS vars, theming
📦 Unverceled Next.js - A Next.js 15 Starter Kit Deployed to Cloudflare using OpenNext
📦 Radix UI - New unstable PasswordToggleField and Checkbox parts
📦 React Router DevTools 5.0 - Complete overhaul of the routes tab
📦 MUI 7.1 - Support for Tailwind CSS 4
🎥 Jack Herrington - React's New Activity Component: Huge Performance Win!
🎥 Fireship - The growing divide among React developers…
🎙️ Front-end Fire 93 - React Activity, Storybook 9 Beta, and AI as a Collaborator

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William CandillonReact-Native animations expert - Youtuber

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📱 React-Native

Expo SDK 53

This is quite an impressive Expo release, with highlights:

Upgrades to React Native 0.79, React 19, and RNW 0.20
Turns the New Arch on by default
Edge-to-edge on Android is enabled by default
New Expo BackgroundTask, a modern, reliable, power-efficient, and future-proof way to run background tasks using Android WorkManager and iOS BGTaskScheduler system APIs
New Expo Maps (alpha) built on Expo Modules API, using SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose, expose platform default Apple Maps and Google Maps components.
Metro package.json#exports resolution enabled by default
Deploy development builds to TestFlight with npx testflight
Improve Android build times up to 25% with prebuilt Expo Modules
And way more!

See also the Expo Router v5 related release with its own highlights:

Requires React 19 / Expo 53
Improves DX, error screen and logging, leverages React owner stacks
Deploy versioned API Routes in production with EAS Hosting
React Server Functions in beta
Protected routes

🎥 Game On - Bringing WebGPU to React Native

In a 37-minute video packed with exciting announcements, William Candillon and guests gave us a glimpse into the future of drawing and animation. Supported by Shopify, he’s bringing modern WebGPU support (Vulkan and Metal) to React Native.

By aligning to the web APIs, it's possible to copy/paste existing web examples (including Three.js) and make them work on all platforms. It also enables general-purpose use of the GPU (AI, TensorFlow.js), which you may achieve more easily thanks to a convenient low-level TypeGPU library.

All this work was needed to create a new experimental Skia Graphite backend based on WebGPU. It enables composing and interleaving 2D/3D experiences in a performant way, like on the web, but across all platforms, with full Reanimated integration. Along the way, Skia doesn’t come with any new feature, but has significantly improved performance, reduced, crashes, and supports 3 new platforms: tvOS, macOS and Node. Keep massaging that octopus William!