React is widely used by web developers and has earned significant recognition in the tech world — and for good reason. This lightweight, easy-to-use JavaScript library, created by Facebook, continues to evolve, supported by a massive community and countless additional tools. It enables the creation of beautiful and functional interfaces for web apps and websites using reusable building blocks called components.
Speaking of the community — yes, React has a huge one, and that’s exactly why most of the useful tools, add-ons, and extensions weren’t created by React’s core developers but by the community itself. This includes layout tools, browser extensions, IDEs, and libraries.
We previously touched on React, but today we want to give it some focused attention. Specifically, we’ll explore some of the most useful and practical add-ons and extensions for the JS library — tools that simplify workflow, speed up development, unlock new possibilities, and more.
Reactide
Reactide is a specialized integrated development environment (IDE) for React. It’s a cross-platform tool that lets you visualize React components without needing to configure or build a server. Reactide can even launch a built-in node server and custom browser simulator, making live rendering possible.
React Studio
React Studio is mainly geared toward designers who want to create small React apps independently and quickly — even if they lack coding knowledge. This visual design tool allows you to create React components and flow-based applications. It includes built-in drawing tools, mobile previews, and even supports file imports from Sketch, Illustrator, and Photoshop. The idea is simple: you design, and the tool writes the code for you. One catch: React Studio only supports macOS 10.9 and above.
React Styleguidist
React Styleguidist is another interactive environment for working with individual React components. It allows developers to focus on a single component and view examples of various React components in use. A built-in dev server lets you preview all your components in one place and switch between them as needed. The tool supports ES6, Flow, and TypeScript, offering wide functionality.
Chrome and Firefox Developer Tools Extension
Oh yes — this exists too. Most modern browsers now include developer tools that let you inspect background images, audio files, CSS, and code. But there’s more: for Chrome and Firefox, Facebook has released an official extension that shows all React components used on a site, including their hierarchy and state.
After installing the extension, a new React tab appears in the dev tools. There you can see how changes to one component affect others, helping developers structure applications properly. The extension automatically detects React on websites in the background; if React isn’t present, the extension icon remains inactive, and the tab doesn't appear.
For example, sites like Russian Post, DeviantArt, and gw2armory use React. A full list is available on Facebook’s GitHub page and includes well-known names like eBay, Uber, BBC, Feedly, Dropbox, Disqus, and even Yandex Disk.
Though officially made for Chrome and Firefox, the extension works in Opera too — if you install the Install Chrome Extensions add-on.
React Sight
Let’s keep talking about browser extensions. React Sight is a visualization tool that lets you view your React app’s structure in a clear, visual format. It requires the previous React Developer Tools extension. React Sight adds its own tab in developer tools — but won’t work without the first one. After installing the extension, just open your React project and the corresponding tab to start working with your component tree.
React Sight supports React Router and Redux, making it even more accessible to developers using those tools.
React Boilerplate
Sometimes learning new dev environments feels overwhelming. Beginners often seek simple tools that do the heavy lifting in the background, so they can learn at their own pace. If you're looking for a starter kit to quickly launch a new React project, React Boilerplate is a great choice. It’s high-performance, scalable, autonomous, and supports modern JavaScript features like template strings and arrow functions.
It includes a set of pre-tested modules considered industry-standard, plus debugging tools. Notable modules include Redux Saga, ImmutableJS, React Router, Styled Components, Jest, React Loadable, and more.
React Guide Generator Style
React projects need consistent style guides. A convenient way to create them is with React Style Guide Generator. Just create a separate file and add your documentation in JavaScript using some predefined rules. The generator supports ES6 syntax and offers detailed documentation on GitHub.
React Extension Pack
We’ve talked about browser extensions — now let’s move to IDEs. For Visual Studio Code, there’s a powerful add-on bundle called React Extension Pack. It includes seven extensions: Reactjs code snippets, JavaScript (ES6) snippets, NPM IntelliSense, npm support, node_modules search, and more. Add it to VS Code, and you’ll instantly boost productivity.
React-Bootstrap
Bootstrap is still one of the most popular frameworks — and it has its own React integration. Developed by Twitter, Bootstrap includes a set of CSS and HTML templates for building site components like navbars, buttons, and forms — basically everything you need for a UI. It’s hard to argue with its usefulness, though opinions may vary.
The React version repackages familiar components as React-compatible versions. Note: this extension supports Bootstrap 3. Some developers call it the “advanced reincarnation” of classic Bootstrap tools.
React Toolbox
React Toolbox is ideal for developers using Google Material Design. It’s built with SASS, ES6, and Webpack. You can easily integrate React Toolbox components into your Webpack workflow or use another bundler. The site includes a live “sandbox” to test and view components in action.
React Belle
React Belle is great for those working primarily on mobile. While it supports desktops too, it’s optimized for mobile devices. It includes UI components like buttons, search, calendars, toggles, star ratings, and more. The standout feature: complete control over styles. You can freely customize base styles or tweak specific components.
React Grommet
React Grommet is designed for building enterprise-level apps. The creators call it an “advanced UX framework for enterprise apps.” Think dashboards, sensor data, and live analytics. Grommet is ideal for handling large, complex datasets in real-time.
It includes a massive collection of libraries grouped by use case. Of course, it supports cross-browser compatibility, theming, style customization, and more.
React Cosmos
React Cosmos is a tool for developing reusable React components. It scans your project and separates all components. You can render them in various combinations of state, context, and props — which is especially useful when retrofitting new features into existing apps. It also supports live previewing via localstorage or API responses.
Final Thoughts
Picking the right tools and libraries for UI development helps not only with the development process but also with mastering your chosen framework — in this case, React. Of course, it’s essential to thoroughly study the core documentation before exploring extensions.
Just like Photoshop has countless extensions (as we’ve covered before), React has a huge ecosystem of tools. Some are mainstream, others more niche — but many offer incredibly useful functionality. We’ve only highlighted a few that can come in handy in various frontend dev scenarios.
Some readers may already use these tools, others are still looking, and some may prefer alternative solutions. Everyone works differently — but we hope these React tools will find their way into your development toolkit.