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wtf is react-devtools?

facebook/react-devtools — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

★ 11,014Audience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · moderate

TL;DR

This is the archived original home of React DevTools, a browser extension for inspecting React component trees, active development has moved to the main React repository at facebook/react.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((react-devtools))
    What it does
      Component inspection
      Chrome extension
      Firefox extension
    Status
      Archived repo
      Moved to facebook/react
      Legacy v3 branch
    Use cases
      Legacy v3 access
      Source build
    Audience
      React developers
      OSS contributors

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Access the legacy version 3 of the React DevTools extension for older React projects that need it

REASON 2

Build the archived version 3 React DevTools extension from source using the instructions on the legacy branch

How it stacks up

facebook/react-devtoolsbytebot-ai/bytebotzilliztech/claude-context
Stars11,01411,01311,013
Language—TypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatemoderate
Complexity1/54/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

This repository is archived, the actively maintained React DevTools project is at github.com/facebook/react.

Wtf does this do

This repository was the home of React DevTools, a browser extension that lets developers inspect the structure of React apps inside Chrome and Firefox's built-in developer tools. The extension shows which React components make up a page and how they are organized. The project has since moved to the main React repository at github.com/facebook/react. This repository now serves as an archive. The older version 3 of the extension is still available here on a separate branch for anyone who needs it, with brief instructions for building it from source.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Where can I find the current actively maintained version of React DevTools for Chrome or Firefox?
Prompt 2
How do I build the legacy version 3 React DevTools extension from source using the archived branch?
Prompt 3
How do I use React DevTools to inspect a React component's props and state in the Chrome developer tools?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is react-devtools?

This is the archived original home of React DevTools, a browser extension for inspecting React component trees, active development has moved to the main React repository at facebook/react.

How hard is react-devtools to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is react-devtools for?

Mainly developer.

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