Boost React Performance with Server Components

Unlock the Next Evolution of React Rendering

Photo by Gabriel Heinzer on Unsplash

As web applications grow in scope, optimizing for performance becomes critical. React Server Components aim to significantly improve scaling React apps by revamping the rendering process.

Released as an experimental API in React 18, Server Components offer a compelling new approach to achieve faster load times, efficient updates, and lower memory usage. Let’s explore how.

Server-Side Rendering to Start

Server Components shift component rendering to happen primarily on the server. This means generating HTML for components upfront instead of client-side React hydration.

For example:

// App.server.jsx
export default function App() {
 return <Navbar /> // renders on server 
}
// index.js
import { renderToPipeableStream } from 'react-dom/server';
import App from './App.server';
const stream = renderToPipeableStream(<App />);

This SSR process results in faster first load experiences compared to client-only rendering. The server can parse and render the components to HTML before sending down the minimal final result.

Granular Hydration