Reflections on the React community

Lee Robinson says React has been central to his growth as a product engineer and that its composition model and stability helped the ecosystem grow. He also argues that React’s community changed as the project scaled, because large OSS projects require active stewardship and feedback management.

He contrasts Meta’s non-commercial role in React with commercial OSS projects built on top of React, especially Next.js and Vercel. In his account, React Server Components were developed through close work between React and Next.js, but the release and communication around them were uneven. He closes by asking the React community to treat the people behind OSS with kindness and to recognize the work already being done.

Reading notes

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• React has grown for years because the React way fits many developers, and because composition and stability remain strong parts of the model.
• Managing a large open-source community takes time and energy, and React is not a self-governing community.
• Community feedback is a gift, but once tool authors step back, other voices fill the gap and can spread FUD or drag out disputes.
• React is described as non-commercial OSS, while commercial React projects have different incentives because they need project growth to support the business.
• Next.js is presented as aligned with Vercel’s infrastructure business, even though Vercel does not need Next.js to make the company work.
• React Server Components are framed as a major effort to extend React’s composition model across the network boundary.
• Vercel’s R&D investment helped React core develop and validate APIs like RSC and Actions through Next.js before broader release.
• The App Router and related RSC rollout are described as having communication and timing mistakes, including being marked stable too early.
• RSC was hard to spread beyond Next.js because it depends on bundlers, and broader ecosystem support took years to emerge.
• The post ends with a call for kindness, respect, and active contribution from people who want OSS to improve.