npm package: @replayio/react-devtools-inline
Description: Embed react-devtools within a website
Latest version: 4.28.6

# `react-devtools-inline`

This package can be used to embed React DevTools into browser-based tools like [CodeSandbox](https://codesandbox.io/), [StackBlitz](https://stackblitz.com/), and [Replay](https://replay.io).

If you're looking for the standalone React DevTools UI, **we suggest using [`react-devtools`](https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/main/packages/react-devtools) instead of using this package directly**.

---

> **Note** that this package (and the DevTools UI) relies on several _experimental_ APIs that are **only available in the [experimental release channel](https://reactjs.org/docs/release-channels.html#experimental-channel)**. This means that you will need to install `react@experimental` and `react-dom@experimental`.

---

# Usage

This package exports two entry points: a frontend (to be run in the main `window`) and a backend (to be installed and run within an `iframe`<sup>1</sup>).

The frontend and backend can be initialized in any order, but **the backend must not be activated until the frontend initialization has completed**. Because of this, the simplest sequence is:

1. Frontend (DevTools interface) initialized in the main `window`.
1. Backend initialized in an `iframe`.
1. Backend activated.

<sup>1</sup> Sandboxed iframes are supported.

# Backend APIs
### `initialize(windowOrGlobal)`

Installs the global hook on the window/global object. This hook is how React and DevTools communicate.

> **This method must be called before React is loaded.** (This includes `import`/`require` statements and `<script>` tags that include React.)

### `activate(windowOrGlobal)`

Lets the backend know when the frontend is ready. It should not be called until after the frontend has been initialized, else the frontend might miss important tree-initialization events.

### Example
```js
import { activate, initialize } from 'react-devtools-inline/backend';

// This should be the iframe the React application is running in.
const iframe = document.getElementById(frameID);
const contentWindow = iframe.contentWindow;

// Call this before importing React (or any other packages that might import React).
initialize(contentWindow);

// Initialize the frontend...

// Call this only once the frontend has been initialized.
activate(contentWindow);
```

# Frontend APIs

### `initialize(windowOrGlobal)`
Configures the DevTools interface to listen to the `window` (or `global` object) the backend was injected into. This method returns a React component that can be rendered directly.

> Because the DevTools interface makes use of several new React concurrent features (like Suspense) **it should be rendered using `ReactDOMClient.createRoot` instead of `ReactDOM.render`.**

### Example
```js
import { initialize } from 'react-devtools-inline/frontend';

// This should be the iframe the backend hook has been installed in.
const iframe = document.getElementById(frameID);
const contentWindow = iframe.contentWindow;

// This returns a React component that can be rendered into your app.
// e.g. render(<DevTools {...props} />);
const DevTools = initialize(contentWindow);
```

# Advanced examples

### Supporting named hooks

DevTools can display hook "names" for an inspected component, although determining the "names" requires loading the source (and source-maps), parsing the code, and inferring the names based on which variables hook values get assigned to. Because the code for this is non-trivial, it's lazy-loaded only if the feature is enabled.

To configure this package to support this functionality, you'll need to provide a prop that dynamically imports the extra functionality:
```js
// Follow code examples above to configure the backend and frontend.
// When rendering DevTools, the important part is to pass a 'hookNamesModuleLoaderFunction' prop.
const hookNamesModuleLoaderFunction = () => import('react-devtools-inline/hookNames');

// Render:
<DevTools
  hookNamesModuleLoaderFunction={hookNamesModuleLoaderFunction}
  {...otherProps}
/>;
```

### Configuring a same-origin `iframe`

The simplest way to use this package is to install the hook from the parent `window`. This is possible if the `iframe` is not sandboxed and there are no cross-origin restrictions.

```js
import {
  activate as activateBackend,
  initialize as initializeBackend
} from 'react-devtools-inline/backend';
import { initialize as initializeFrontend } from 'react-devtools-inline/frontend';

// The React app you want to inspect with DevTools is running within this iframe:
const iframe = document.getElementById('target');
const { contentWindow } = iframe;

// Installs the global hook into the iframe.
// This must be called before React is loaded into that frame.
initializeBackend(contentWindow);

// Initialize DevTools UI to listen to the hook we just installed.
// This returns a React component we can render anywhere in the parent window.
// This also must be called before React is loaded into the iframe
const DevTools = initializeFrontend(contentWindow);

// React application can be injected into <iframe> at any time now...
// Note that this would need to be done via <script> tag injection,
// as setting the src of the <iframe> would load a new page (without the injected backend).

// <DevTools /> interface can be rendered in the parent window at any time now...
// Be sure to use ReactDOMClient.createRoot() to render this component.

// Let the backend know the frontend is ready and listening.
activateBackend(contentWindow);
```

### Configuring a sandboxed `iframe`

Sandboxed `iframe`s are also supported but require more complex initialization.

**`iframe.html`**
```js
import { activate, initialize } from "react-devtools-inline/backend";

// The DevTools hook needs to be installed before React is even required!
// The safest way to do this is probably to install it in a separate script tag.
initialize(window);

// Wait for the frontend to let us know that it's ready.
function onMessage({ data }) {
  switch (data.type) {
    case "activate-backend":
      window.removeEventListener("message", onMessage);

      activate(window);
      break;
    default:
      break;
  }
}

window.addEventListener("message", onMessage);
```

**`main-window.html`**
```js
import { initialize } from "react-devtools-inline/frontend";

const iframe = document.getElementById("target");
const { contentWindow } = iframe;

// Initialize DevTools UI to listen to the iframe.
// This returns a React component we can render anywhere in the main window.
// Be sure to use ReactDOMClient.createRoot() to render this component.
const DevTools = initialize(contentWindow);

// Let the backend know to initialize itself.
// We can't do this directly because the iframe is sandboxed.
// Only initialize the backend once the DevTools frontend has been initialized.
iframe.onload = () => {
  contentWindow.postMessage(
    {
      type: "activate-backend"
    },
    "*"
  );
};
```

### Advanced: Custom "wall"

Below is an example of an advanced integration with a website like [Replay.io](https://replay.io/) or Code Sandbox's Sandpack (where more than one DevTools instance may be rendered per page).

```js
import {
  activate as activateBackend,
  createBridge as createBackendBridge,
  initialize as initializeBackend,
} from 'react-devtools-inline/backend';
import {
  createBridge as createFrontendBridge,
  createStore,
  initialize as createDevTools,
} from 'react-devtools-inline/frontend';

// DevTools uses "message" events and window.postMessage() by default,
// but we can override this behavior by creating a custom "Wall" object.
// For example...
const wall = {
  _listeners: [],
  listen(listener) {
    wall._listeners.push(listener);
  },
  send(event, payload) {
    wall._listeners.forEach(listener => listener({event, payload}));
  },
};

// Initialize the DevTools backend before importing React (or any other packages that might import React).
initializeBackend(contentWindow);

// Prepare DevTools for rendering.
// To use the custom Wall we've created, we need to also create our own "Bridge" and "Store" objects.
const bridge = createFrontendBridge(contentWindow, wall);
const store = createStore(bridge);
const DevTools = createDevTools(contentWindow, { bridge, store });

// You can render DevTools now:
const root = createRoot(container);
root.render(<DevTools {...otherProps} />);

// Lastly, let the DevTools backend know that the frontend is ready.
// To use the custom Wall we've created, we need to also pass in the "Bridge".
activateBackend(contentWindow, {
  bridge: createBackendBridge(contentWindow, wall),
});
```

Alternately, if your code can't share the same `wall` object, you can still provide a custom Wall that connects a specific DevTools frontend to a specific backend like so:
```js
const uid = "some-unique-string-shared-between-both-pieces";
const wall = {
  listen(listener) {
    window.addEventListener("message", (event) => {
      if (event.data.uid === uid) {
        listener(event.data);
      }
    });
  },
  send(event, payload) {
    window.postMessage({ event, payload, uid }, "*");
  },
};
```

### Advanced: Node + browser

Below is an example of an advanced integration that could be used to connect React running in a Node process to React DevTools running in a browser.

##### Sample Node backend
```js
const {
  activate,
  createBridge,
  initialize,
} = require('react-devtools-inline/backend');
const { createServer } = require('http');
const SocketIO = require('socket.io');

const server = createServer();
const socket = SocketIO(server, {
  cors: {
    origin: "*",
    methods: ["GET", "POST"],
    allowedHeaders: [],
    credentials: true
  }
});
socket.on('connection', client => {
  const wall = {
    listen(listener) {
      client.on('message', data => {
        if (data.uid === UID) {
          listener(data);
        }
      });
    },
    send(event, payload) {
      const data = {event, payload, uid: UID};
      client.emit('message', data);
    },
  };

  const bridge = createBridge(global, wall);

  client.on('disconnect', () => {
    bridge.shutdown();
  });

  activate(global, { bridge });
});
socket.listen(PORT);
```

##### Sample Web frontend
```js
import { createElement } from 'react';
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
import {
  createBridge,
  createStore,
  initialize as createDevTools,
} from 'react-devtools-inline/frontend';
import { io } from "socket.io-client";

let root = null;

const socket = io(`http://${HOST}:${PORT}`);
socket.on("connect", () => {
  const wall = {
    listen(listener) {
      socket.on("message", (data) => {
        if (data.uid === UID) {
          listener(data);
        }
      });
    },
    send(event, payload) {
      const data = { event, payload, uid: UID };
      socket.emit('message', data);
    },
  };

  const bridge = createBridge(window, wall);
  const store = createStore(bridge);
  const DevTools = createDevTools(window, { bridge, store });

  root = createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
  root.render(createElement(DevTools));
});
socket.on("disconnect", () => {
  root.unmount();
  root = null;
});
```

# Local development
You can also build and test this package from source.

## Prerequisite steps
DevTools depends on local versions of several NPM packages<sup>1</sup> also in this workspace. You'll need to either build or download those packages first.

<sup>1</sup> Note that at this time, an _experimental_ build is required because DevTools depends on the `createRoot` API.

### Build from source
To build dependencies from source, run the following command from the root of the repository:
```sh
yarn build-for-devtools
```
### Download from CI
To use the latest build from CI, go to `scripts/release/` and run the following commands:
```sh
yarn
./download-experimental-build.js --commit=main
```

## Build steps
Once the above packages have been built or downloaded, you can watch for changes made to the source code and automatically rebuild by running:
```sh
yarn start
```

To test package changes, refer to the [`react-devtools-shell` README](https://github.com/facebook/react/blob/main/packages/react-devtools-shell/README.md).