Get Typed with TypeScript in React

Unleash the Power of Types for Safer Code

Photo by Joan Gamell on Unsplash

TypeScript has become massively popular in the React ecosystem as a way to add types and prevent bugs. With excellent tooling and integration, using TypeScript in React apps is a breeze — and well worth the minimal additional effort.

In this post, we’ll look at some of the main benefits of TypeScript for React development and how to integrate it into your apps. Let’s get typed!

Catch Errors Early

One of the best features of TypeScript is catching errors during compilation that would otherwise crop up later at runtime.

For example, say we have a Greeting component:

// Greeting.tsx
interface Props {
 name: string; 
}
function Greeting({name}: Props) {
 return <div>Hi {name}!</div>
}
// Usage
<Greeting name={1} /> // Would cause runtime error

TypeScript would complain about passing a number instead of a string for the name. This helps catch bugs earlier in development rather than when software hits production.

Better Tooling

In addition to error checking, TypeScript’s awareness of data types enables top-notch tooling like faster autocomplete and intelligent typeahead in editors like VSCode.