Speeding Up React Projects with Vite and SWC

Introduction

Vite and SWC (stands for Speedy Web Compiler) are two powerful tools that can be used together to enhance the development experience of React projects. In this blog, we will explore how these tools work and how to use them in your next project.

What is Vite?

Vite is a fast and minimalist build tool for modern web development. It is designed to provide a faster development experience than traditional build tools like webpack. Vite achieves this by leveraging native ES modules in the browser, which eliminates the need for bundling during development.

Vite is a build tool that was developed by Evan You, the creator of Vue.js. It aims to provide a faster and more streamlined development experience by leveraging modern browser features such as native ES modules. Vite is able to achieve fast development times by using an in-browser dev server that provides hot module replacement (HMR), allowing changes to code to be instantly reflected in the running application without requiring a full-page refresh.

Vite also supports hot module replacement (HMR), which means that changes to your code are reflected in the browser immediately without needing a full reload. This can save developers a lot of time during development.

What is SWC?

SWC is a super-fast JavaScript and TypeScript compiler that is designed to be a drop-in replacement for Babel. It uses a Rust-based parser and a JavaScript-based compiler to achieve faster compilation times than Babel.

SWC is able to provide faster compile times by leveraging Rust’s speed and multi-threading capabilities, making it particularly useful for large-scale projects.

SWC supports all the latest features of JavaScript and TypeScript and has been shown to be significantly faster than Babel in benchmark tests.

Why use Vite + SWC in React projects?

Vite and SWC are a perfect combination for React projects because they can provide a fast and efficient development experience. Vite’s HMR feature allows changes to be reflected in the browser immediately, and SWC’s fast compilation times can speed up the build process.

Additionally, using Vite + SWC can reduce the size of the build output, which can improve the performance of your application.

Both Vite and SWC can be used together to further optimize the development process. By using Vite’s in-browser dev server with HMR and SWC’s fast compile times, developers can achieve a highly productive workflow that allows them to quickly develop and iterate on their web applications.

Setting up Vite + SWC in a React TypeScript project

To use both Vite + SWC while setting up a new React project you have to make sure you have Node version 12 or higher installed, then run the following command:

npm create vite

Once you run the above command You’ll be asked to pick a name for your project. Once you name your project, select React from the list of frameworks. After that, you can select either Javascript + SWC or Typescript + SWC. Once you created your project change directory cd into your project and run the following command:

npm install

npm run dev

Once you run the above command it will run a development server for your site with the URL localhost:5173/

Conclusion

Vite and SWC are powerful tools that can significantly improve the development experience for React projects. With their ability to reduce build times, improve performance, and provide a fast and efficient workflow, developers can quickly develop and iterate on their web applications. By leveraging native ES modules in the browser and using a super-fast compiler, Vite + SWC can reduce build times and improve performance.