What is react-scripts?
The react-scripts package is a set of scripts from the create-react-app starter kit that help automate the setup and management of React applications. It includes scripts for building, testing, and starting a development server, among other tasks, without the need for configuring these processes manually.
What are react-scripts's main functionalities?
Starting a Development Server
This command starts a development server that serves your React application, enabling hot module replacement for a better development experience.
npm start
Building the Application for Production
This command compiles the React application into static files for production deployment, optimizing the build for the best performance.
npm run build
Running Tests
This command runs the test runner in the interactive watch mode, allowing developers to write and run tests for their components and modules.
npm test
Ejecting Configuration
This command will remove the single build dependency from your project, copying all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them.
npm run eject
Other packages similar to react-scripts
parcel-bundler
Parcel is a web application bundler that offers a similar zero-configuration experience to react-scripts but with a different approach to bundling and a focus on speed and simplicity.
webpack
Webpack is a powerful module bundler that can be used for React applications. Unlike react-scripts, it requires manual configuration, but it offers a high degree of customization and plugin support.
vite
Vite is a build tool that significantly improves the frontend development experience. It's similar to react-scripts in providing a development server and build process, but it leverages native ES modules and is known for its fast cold server start.
snowpack
Snowpack is a modern build tool for faster web development. It's comparable to react-scripts but uses a different approach, focusing on unbundled development and faster rebuilds with ESM (ES Module) support.