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@leanjs/react-router

Installation​

If your React Router app is in a monorepo (recommended) execute the following command at the root of your repository:

yarn add -W react-router-dom history react-dom react \
  @leanjs/react-router @leanjs/core @leanjs/react

then in the package.json of your React Router app add the following peerDependencies:

"peerDependencies": {
  "@leanjs/core": "*",
  "@leanjs/react-router": "*",
  "@leanjs/react": "*",
  "history": "*",
  "react-router-dom": "*",
  "react-dom": "*",
  "react": "*"
}

If your React Router app is not in a monorepo, then run the following command instead of the above:

yarn add react-router-dom history react-dom react \
  @leanjs/react-router @leanjs/core @leanjs/react

Basic usage​

HostProvider​

You have to add a HostProvider at the root of the component tree of your React Router host app if you want to host composable apps within a React Router host. Heads up! HostProvider is not exported from @leanjs/react-router. Learn more about the HostProvider.

Example:

import React from "react";
import { BrowserRouter, Route, Routes } from "react-router-dom";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";
// React runtime package created within your org
import { HostProvider, createRuntime } from "@my-org/react-runtime";

import ExampleApp from "@my-org/example-app";

const runtime = createRuntime({ context: { appName: "AppExample" } });

const Root = () => (
  <HostProvider runtime={runtime}>
    <BrowserRouter>
      <Routes>
        <Route path="/" element={<Host app={ExampleApp} />} />
      </Routes>
    </BrowserRouter>
  </HostProvider>
);

export default Root;
info

Read @leanjs/core if you have not already created your own createRuntime function.

Composable app​

Create small React Router apps that can be composed with other apps.

createApp​

Arguments:

  • App: ReactElement - required
  • options: { appName?: string } - optional. By default, the name of your composable app is the name of your App component. You can change it using the optional argument appName.

Create a file called index.ts|js in the src directory where your composable app is. For example:

my-monorepo/
├─ apps/
│  ├─ react-router-host/
├─ composable-apps/
│  ├─ react-router-app-1/
│  │  ├─ package.json
│  │  ├─ src/
│  │  │  ├─ ReactRouterApp1.tsx
│  │  │  ├─ index.ts 👈
├─ package.json
tip

Read the recommended setup in our getting started page if you want to create a similar monorepo structure

Call createApp with the root component of your app, for example:

// my-monorepo/composable-apps/react-router-app-1/src/index.ts

// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { createApp } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";

import { ReactRouterApp1 } from "./ReactRouterApp1";

// 👇 you have to `export default`
export default createApp(ReactRouterApp1);

// The name of the composable app is the name of your component,
// "ReactRouterApp1 in this case.
// you can name it differently using the second argument, e.g.
// export default createApp(ReactRouterApp1, { appName: "SomeName" });

Hello world example of the ReactRouterApp1 imported above

// my-monorepo/composable-apps/react-router-app-1/src/ReactRouterApp1.tsx

import React from "react";

export const ReactRouterApp1 = () => <h1>Hello React Router app</h1>;

Create a file called selfHosted.ts|js in the src directory where your composable app is, for example:

my-monorepo/
├─ apps/
│  ├─ react-router-host/
├─ composable-apps/
│  ├─ react-router-app-1/
│  │  ├─ package.json
│  │  ├─ src/
│  │  │  ├─ ReactRouterApp1.tsx
│  │  │  ├─ index.ts
│  │  │  ├─ selfHosted.ts 👈
├─ package.json

Export a createRuntime function from the selfHosted.ts|js file. This is the runtime that will be used when the app runs in isolation, meaning without a host.

// my-monorepo/composable-apps/react-router-app-1/src/selfHosted.ts

export { createRuntime } from "@my-org/runtime-react";
info

Read @leanjs/core if you have not already created your own createRuntime function

Components​

Host​

It hosts a composable app in a React Router host.

app - required prop​

The app prop expects a GetComposableApp type. You can import a GetComposableApp from any export default createApp() function, for instance:

// my-monorepo/composable -apps/react-router-app-1/src/ReactRouterApp1.tsx

// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { createApp } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";

import { ReactRouterApp1 } from "./ReactRouterApp1";

export default createApp(ReactRouterApp1);
info

In this example, both the host app and the composable app are React Router apps. However, the React Router <Host> component can host any composable app, e.g. Vue.

then pass it to the Host component in a React Router app:

// my-monorepo/apps/react-router-host/src/pages/index.tsx

// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";

// this composable app is bundled and deployed along with the host app
import ReactRouterApp1 from "@my-org/react-router-app-1";

const Home = () => (
  <>
    <h1>React Router Host</h1>
    <Host app={ReactRouterApp1} />
  </>
);

export default Home;

You can also pass a function to the Host component that returns a dynamic import to lazy load a composable app:

// my-monorepo/apps/react-router-host/src/pages/index.tsx

import React, { Suspense } from "react";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react/17"
import { ErrorBoundary } from "@leanjs/react/18";

const Home = () => (
  <>
    <h1>React Router Host</h1>
    {/* The network can fail.
     Add an ErrorBoundary if you are hosting an app using a dynamic import */}
    <ErrorBoundary>
      <Suspense fallback={<p>Loading...</p>}>
        <Host
          app={() => {
            // this composable app is bundled in a separate chunk
            // but it's still built and deployed along with the host app
            return import("@my-org/react-router-app-1");
          }}
        />
      </Suspense>
    </ErrorBoundary>
  </>
);

export default Home;

Alternatively, you can pass an object to the app prop with a packageName key which value is the field name in the package.json of the composable app that you want to host. In this case, the Host component will try to fetch the mount function from the remote origin specified in <HostProvider origin=" 👉 HERE 👈 " runtime={runtime}> (see origin prop to know more). For example:

// my-monorepo/apps/react-router-host/src/pages/index.tsx

import React, { Suspense } from "react";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react/17"
import { ErrorBoundary } from "@leanjs/react/18";

const Home = () => (
  <>
    <h1>React Host</h1>
    {/* The network can fail.
     Add an ErrorBoundary if you are hosting a remote app */}
    <ErrorBoundary>
      <Suspense fallback={<p>Loading...</p>}>
        {/* in this case, the composable app is neither built nor deployed
          along with the React host */}
        <Host app={{ packageName: "@my-org/react-router-app-1" }} />
      </Suspense>
    </ErrorBoundary>
  </>
);

export default Home;
caution

Fetching from a remote origin only works with Webpack v5 because this feature uses Module Federation under the hood. You need to add a HostWebpackPlugin to your Webpack configuration to enable this feature. If this feature is enabled you need to build and deploy your composable apps independently. See @leanjs/aws to deploy your composable apps to AWS.

tip

You can still pass an import (either dynamic or static) to the app prop of the Host component and configure Webpack to fetch it from a remote origin by changing the configuration of your HostWebpackPlugin.

Tip example:

// webpack.config.js of the host application
const { HostWebpackPlugin } = require("@leanjs/webpack");

module.exports = {
  // the rest of your configuration goes here
  plugins: [
    new HostWebpackPlugin({
      remotes: {
        // these packages are not built along with the host app
        // but downloaded from a remote origin
        packages: ["@my-org/react-router-app-1"],
      },
    }),
  ],
};

then in your React app:

// @my-org/my-react-app pages/index.tsx

import React, { Suspense } from "react";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react/17"
import { ErrorBoundary } from "@leanjs/react/18";

// this composable app is neither bundled nor deployed along with the host app
// because of the above remote: { packages: ["@my-org/react-router-app-1"] }
// in the webpack.config.js HostWebpackPlugin
import ReactRouterApp1 from "@my-org/react-router-app-1";

const Home = () => (
  <>
    <h1>React Host</h1>
    {/* The network can fail.
     Add an ErrorBoundary if you are hosting a remote app */}
    <ErrorBoundary>
      <Suspense fallback={<p>Loading...</p>}>
        <Host app={ReactRouterApp1} />
      </Suspense>
    </ErrorBoundary>
  </>
);

export default Home;

Pro-tip Configure your remotes in HostWebpackPlugin on development only. This way no CI/CD changes are required. It also reduces build time of your monolith in development since these packages are excluded from the monolith build. Last but not least, you can experiment with micro-frontends in development without changing how you implement and host your apps.

Pro-tip example:

// webpack.config.js of the host application
const { HostWebpackPlugin } = require("@leanjs/webpack");

module.exports = {
  // the rest of your configuration goes here
  plugins: [
    new HostWebpackPlugin({
      remotes: {
        // the following packages are built and deployed along with
        // the React Router app on production, but not during development.
        packages:
          process.env.NODE_ENV === "production"
            ? []
            : ["@my-org/react-router-app-1"],
      },
    }),
  ],
};

className - optional prop​

CSS class added to the root DOM element where the app prop is mounted.

// my-monorepo/apps/react-host/src/index.ts

import React from "react";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";
import ReactRouterApp1 from "@my-org/react-router-app-1";

const Home = () => (
  <>
    <h1>React Host</h1>
    <Host className="some-css-class" app={ReactRouterApp1} />
  </>
);

export default Home;

basename - optional prop​

It makes all routes and links in your app relative to a "base" portion of the URL pathname that they all share. For instance, you could render an app BestSellingBooksApp in the following URL https://fake-bookstore.com/best-sellers.

BestSellingBooksApp doesn't need to define internally the segment in the URL pathname where it is hosted. In this example basename is /best-sellers, and it could be changed, e.g. https://fake-bookstore.com/top-📚, without having to change anything inside BestSellingBooksApp. The "base" portion of the URL pathname where BestSellingBooksApp is hosted is responsibility of the host.

// my-monorepo/apps/react-host/src/index.ts

import React from "react";
// for either React 16 or React 17 import from "@leanjs/react-router/17"
import { Host } from "@leanjs/react-router/18";
import BestSellingBooksApp from "@my-org/best-selling-books";

const Home = () => (
  <>
    <h1>React Host</h1>
    <Host basename="/best-sellers" app={BestSellingBooksApp} />
  </>
);

export default Home;