Overview

• SSR (Server Side Rendering) as a view template engine
• Dynamic props
  • Passing the server data to the React client props
  • Suitable for:
    • Admin Panels
    • Blogging
• Developer Experience
  • Zero config of webpack and babel
  • HMR (Hot Module Replacement) both scripts and even if styles when process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production'
  • Built-in Sass (SCSS) support

Pros and Cons

Pros

Because it is just a view template engine:

• It doesn't need to have any APIs, all we have to do is to pass the server data to the client
• It supports multiple engines like .hbs, .ejs and React .(ts|js)x
• We can use passport authentication as it always is

Cons

• It is not so performant, because it assembles the whole HTML on each request
• It does not support client side routing

Usage

Install it:

$ npm install --save @react-ssr/core @react-ssr/express express react react-dom

And add a script to your package.json like this:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node server.js"
  }
}

Then, populate files below inside your project:

server.js:

const express = require('express');
const register = require('@react-ssr/express/register');

const app = express();

(async () => {
  // register `.jsx` or `.tsx` as a view template engine
  await register(app);

  app.get('/', (req, res) => {
    const message = 'Hello World!';
    res.render('index', { message });
  });

  app.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('> Ready on http://localhost:3000');
  });
})();

views/index.jsx:

export default function Index({ message }) {
  return <p>{message}</p>;
}

Finally, just run npm start and go to http://localhost:3000, and you'll see Hello World!.

Configuration (ssr.config.js)

Here is the default ssr.config.js, which is used by react-ssr when there are no valid values:

module.exports = {
  id: 'default',
  distDir: '.ssr',
  viewsDir: 'views',
  staticViews: [],
  webpack: (config /* webpack.Configuration */, env /* 'development' | 'production' */) => {
    return config;
  },
};

ssr.config.js#id

The id of UI framework. (default: default)

It can be ignored only when the project does not use any UI frameworks.

Supported UI frameworks are:

• [x] default (the id default doesn't need to be specified in ssr.config.js)
  • [x] bulma
  • [x] semantic-ui
  • [x] Or any other non CSS-in-JS UI frameworks
• [x] emotion
• [x] styled-components
• [x] material-ui
• [x] antd
• [ ] and more...

For example, if we want to use emotion, ssr.config.js is like this:

module.exports = {
  id: 'emotion',
};

ssr.config.js#distDir

The place where react-ssr generates production results. (default: .ssr)

If we use TypeScript or any other library which must be compiled, the config below may be useful:

module.exports = {
  // dist folder should be ignored by `.gitignore`
  distDir: 'dist/.ssr',
};

ssr.config.js#viewsDir

The place where we put views. (default: views)

A function res.render('xxx') will render views/xxx.jsx or views/xxx.tsx.

A working example is here: examples/basic-custom-views

ssr.config.js#staticViews

If specified, react-ssr generates html cache when production:

module.exports = {
  staticViews: [
    'auth/login',
    'auth/register',
    'about',
  ],
};

ssr.config.js#webpack()

module.exports = {
  webpack: (config /* webpack.Configuration */, env /* 'development' | 'production' */) => {
    // we can override default webpack config here
    return config;
  },
};

Custom process.env.NODE_ENV

If you set process.env.REACT_SSR_ENV, you can separate process.env.NODE_ENV from react-ssr:

package.json

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "cross-env NODE_ENV=k8s REACT_SSR_ENV=production node dist/main.js"
  }
}

Custom Babel Config

We can extends its default .babelrc like this:

.babelrc:

{
  "presets": [
    "@react-ssr/express/babel"
  ]
}

A working example is here: examples/basic-custom-babelrc

Custom App

Just put _app.jsx or _app.tsx into the views root:

views/_app.jsx:

// we can import global styles or use theming
import '../styles/global.scss';

const App = (props) => {
  // yes, this `props` contains data passed from the server
  // and also we can inject additional data into pages
  const { children, ...rest } = props;

  // we can wrap this PageComponent for persisting layout between page changes
  const PageComponent = children;

  return <PageComponent {...rest} />;
};

export default App;

A working example is here:

• examples/basic-custom-app
• examples/with-jsx-emotion
• examples/with-jsx-material-ui

Custom Document

Just put _document.jsx or _document.tsx into the views root:

views/_document.jsx:

import React from 'react';
import {
  Document,
  Head,
  Main,
} from '@react-ssr/express';

export default class extends Document {
  render() {
    return (
      <html lang="en">
        <Head>
          <title>Default Title</title>
          <meta charSet="utf-8" />
          <meta name="viewport" content="minimum-scale=1, initial-scale=1, width=device-width" />
          <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
        </Head>
        <body>
          <Main />
        </body>
      </html>
    );
  }
};

Note:

• Please put <Main /> component directly under <body> tag and don't wrap <Main /> component with another components, because this is a hydration target for the client.

And then, use it as always:

views/index.jsx:

const Index = (props) => {
  return <p>Hello World!</p>;
};

export default Index;

A working example is here: examples/basic-custom-document

Dynamic Head

We can use the Head component in any pages:

views/index.jsx:

import React from 'react';
import { Head } from '@react-ssr/express';

const Index = (props) => {
  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      <Head>
        <title>Dynamic Title</title>
        <meta name="description" content="Dynamic Description" />
      </Head>
      <p>Of course, SSR Ready!</p>
    </React.Fragment>
  );
};

export default Index;

A working example is here: examples/basic-dynamic-head

Supported UI Framework

• [x] default (the id default doesn't need to be specified in ssr.config.js)
  • [x] bulma
  • [x] semantic-ui
  • [x] Or any other non CSS-in-JS UI frameworks
• [x] emotion
• [x] styled-components
• [x] material-ui
• [x] antd
• [ ] and more...

Non CSS-in-JS framework

Like semantic-ui, non CSS-in-JS frameworks are supported without extra configuration.

All we have to do is to load global CSS in _document or each page:

views/_document.jsx:

import React from 'react';
import {
  Document,
  Head,
  Main,
} from '@react-ssr/express';

export default class extends Document {
  render() {
    return (
      <html lang="en">
        <Head>
          <title>A Sample of Semantic UI React</title>
          <link rel="stylesheet" href="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/semantic.min.css" />
        </Head>
        <body>
          <Main />
        </body>
      </html>
    );
  }
}

With Ant Design

In order to enable SSR, we must install babel-plugin-import as devDependencies.

And then, populate .babelrc in your project root:

{
  "presets": [
    "@react-ssr/express/babel"
  ],
  "plugins": [
    [
      "import",
      {
        "libraryName": "antd",
        "style": "css"
      }
    ]
  ]
}

A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-antd

With Emotion

In order to enable SSR, we must install these packages:

• @emotion/cache as dependencies
• create-emotion-server as dependencies
• babel-plugin-emotion as devDependencies

And then, populate .babelrc in your project root:

{
  "presets": [
    "@react-ssr/express/babel"
  ],
  "plugins": [
    "emotion"
  ]
}

A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-emotion

With Material UI

We can use material-ui without extra configuration.

A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-material-ui

With styled-components

In order to enable SSR, we must install babel-plugin-styled-components as devDependencies.

And then, populate .babelrc in your project root:

{
  "presets": [
    "@react-ssr/express/babel"
  ],
  "plugins": [
    "styled-components"
  ]
}

A working example is here: examples/with-jsx-styled-components

TypeScript Support

To enable TypeScript engine (.tsx), just put tsconfig.json in your project root directory.

The code of TypeScript will be like this:

package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "ts-node server.ts"
  }
}

server.ts:

import express, { Request, Response } from '@react-ssr/express';

const app = express();

app.get('/', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  const message = 'Hello World!';
  res.render('index', { message });
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('> Ready on http://localhost:3000');
});

views/index.tsx:

interface IndexProps {
  message: string;
}

export default function Index({ message }: IndexProps) {
  return <p>{message}</p>;
}

Examples

@react-ssr/express

.jsx

• examples/basic-jsx
• examples/basic-custom-app
• examples/basic-custom-babelrc
• examples/basic-custom-document
• examples/basic-custom-views
• examples/basic-dynamic-head
• examples/basic-hmr-css
• examples/basic-hmr-scss
• examples/basic-blogging
• examples/basic-multiple-view-engines
• examples/support-yarn2-pnp
• examples/with-jsx-antd
• examples/with-jsx-bulma
• examples/with-jsx-emotion
• examples/with-jsx-material-ui
• examples/with-jsx-semantic-ui
• examples/with-jsx-styled-components

.tsx

• examples/basic-tsx
• examples/with-tsx-redux-todo

@react-ssr/nestjs-express

• examples/basic-nestjs
• examples/basic-nestjs-nodemon

Real World Examples

• react-ssr-jsx-starter
• react-ssr-tsx-starter
• react-ssr-nestjs-starter
• react-ssr-redux-todo-app

Articles

Introducing an Alternative to NEXT.js

[Express] React as a View Template Engine?

Related

reactjs/express-react-views

Contact

• via GitHub Issues
• via Twitter