Skip to main content

Type Reference

React exports a handful of utility types that may be useful to you when typing advanced React patterns. In previous sections we have seen a few of them. The following is a complete reference for each of these types along with some examples for how/where to use them.

These types are all exported as named type exports from the react module. If you want to access them as members on the React object (e.g. React.Node) and you are importing React as an ES module then you should import React as a namespace:

import * as React from 'react';

If you are using CommonJS you can also require React:

const React = require('react');

You can also use named type imports in either an ES module environment or a CommonJS environment:

import type {Node} from 'react';

We will refer to all the types in the following reference as if we imported them with:

import * as React from 'react';

Note: While importing React with a default import works:

import React from 'react';

You will have access to all of the values that React exports, but you will not have access to the types documented below! This is because Flow will not add types to a default export since the default export could be any value (like a number). Flow will add exported named types to an ES namespace object which you can get with import * as React from 'react' since Flow knows if you export a value with the same name as an exported type.

Again, if you import React with: import React from 'react' you will be able to access React.Component, React.createElement(), React.Children, and other JavaScript values. However, you will not be able to access React.Node, React.ChildrenArray or other Flow types. You will need to use a named type import like: import type {Node} from 'react' in addition to your default import.

React.Node​

This represents any node that can be rendered in a React application. React.Node can be null, a boolean, a number, a string, a React element, or an array of any of those types recursively.

React.Node is a good default to use to annotate the return type of a function component and class render methods. You can also use it to type elements your component takes in as children.

Here is an example of React.Node being used as the return type to a function component:

function MyComponent(props: {}): React.Node {
  // ...
}

It may also be used as the return type of a class render method:

class MyComponent extends React.Component<{}> {
  render(): React.Node {
    // ...
  }
}

Here is an example of React.Node as the prop type for children:

function MyComponent({ children }: { children: React.Node }) {
  return <div>{children}</div>;
}

All react-dom JSX intrinsics have React.Node as their children type. <div>, <span>, and all the rest.

React.MixedElement​

The most general type of all React elements (similar to mixed for all values).

A common use case of this type is when we want to annotate an element with a type that hides the element details. For example

const element: React.MixedElement = <div />;

React.ChildrenArray<T>​

A React children array can be a single value or an array nested to any level. It is designed to be used with the React.Children API.

For example if you want to get a normal JavaScript array from a React.ChildrenArray<T> see the following example:

import * as React from 'react';

// A children array can be a single value...
const children: React.ChildrenArray<number> = 42;
// ...or an arbitrarily nested array.
const children: React.ChildrenArray<number> = [[1, 2], 3, [4, 5]];

// Using the `React.Children` API can flatten the array.
const array: Array<number> = React.Children.toArray(children);

React.AbstractComponent<Config, Instance, Renders>​

tip

In Flow v0.243.0+, consider using Component Types instead, which will make it easier to migrate your Flow code to React 19. The type will be removed in Flow v0.251.0.

React.AbstractComponent<Config, Instance, Renders> represents a component with a config of type Config and instance of type Instance that renders something of type Renders.

The Config of a component is the type of the object you need to pass in to JSX in order to create an element with that component. The Instance of a component is the type of the value that is written to the current field of a ref object passed into the ref prop in JSX. Renders is a Component Syntax feature that allows you to specify what your component renders via Render Types

Config is required, but Instance is optional and defaults to mixed and Renders is optional and defaults to React.Node.

A class or function component with config Config may be used in places that expect React.AbstractComponent<Config>.

This is Flow's most abstract representation of a React component, and is most useful for writing HOCs and library definitions.

React.ComponentType<Config>​

This is the same as React.AbstractComponent, but only specifies the first type argument.

React.ElementType​

Similar to React.AbstractComponent<Props> except it also includes JSX intrinsics (strings).

The definition for React.ElementType is roughly:

type ElementType =
  | string
  | React.ComponentType<empty>;

React.Key​

The type of the key prop on React elements. It is a union of strings and numbers defined as:

type Key = string | number;

React.Ref<typeof Component>​

The type of the ref prop on React elements. React.Ref<typeof Component> could be a string, ref object, or ref function.

The ref function will take one and only argument which will be the element instance which is retrieved using React.ElementRef<typeof Component> or null since React will pass null into a ref function when unmounting.

Like React.Element<typeof Component>, typeof Component must be the type of a React component so you need to use typeof as in React.Ref<typeof MyComponent>.

The definition for React.Ref<typeof Component> is roughly:

type Ref<C> =
  | string
  | (instance: React.ElementRef<C> | null) => mixed;
  | { -current: React$ElementRef<ElementType> | null, ... }

React.PropsOf<Component>​

When Component is written using Component Syntax, React.PropsOf<Component> gives you the type of an object that you must pass in to instantiate Component with JSX. Importantly, the props with defaults are optional in the resulting type.

For example:

1import * as React from 'react';2
3component MyComponent(foo: number, bar: string = 'str') {4  return null;5}6
7// Only foo is required8({foo: 3}) as React.PropsOf<MyComponent>;

React.ElementConfig<typeof Component>​

Like React.PropsOf, this utility gets the type of the object that you must pass in to a component in order to instantiate it via createElement() or jsx(). While PropsOf takes in an element of a component, which is convenient when using Component Syntax, ElementConfig takes in the type of a component instead. typeof Component must be the type of a React component so you need to use typeof as in React.ElementConfig<typoef Component>.

Importantly, props with defaults are optional in the resulting type.

For example,

import * as React from 'react';

class MyComponent extends React.Component<{foo: number}> {
  static defaultProps = {foo: 42};

  render() {
    return this.props.foo;
  }
}

// `React.ElementProps<>` requires `foo` even though it has a `defaultProp`.
({foo: 42}) as React.ElementProps<typeof MyComponent>;

// `React.ElementConfig<>` does not require `foo` since it has a `defaultProp`.
({}) as React.ElementConfig<typeof MyComponent>;

Like React.Element<typeof Component>, typeof Component must be the type of a React component so you need to use typeof as in React.ElementProps<typeof MyComponent>.

React.ElementProps<typeof Component>​

Note: Because React.ElementProps does not preserve the optionality of defaultProps, React.ElementConfig (which does) is more often the right choice, especially for simple props pass-through as with higher-order components. You probably should not use ElementProps.

Gets the props for a React element type, without preserving the optionality of defaultProps. typeof Component could be the type of a React class component, a function component, or a JSX intrinsic string. This type is used for the props property on React.Element<typeof Component>.

Like React.Element<typeof Component>, typeof Component must be the type of a React component so you need to use typeof as in React.ElementProps<typeof MyComponent>.

React.RefOf<Component>​

When using Component Syntax, React.RefOf<Component> will give you the type of the current field on the ref prop of the component. If there is no ref prop on the component it will return void.

React.ElementRef<typeof Component>​

Gets the instance type for a React element. The instance will be different for various component types:

  • React.AbstractComponent<Config, Instance> will return the Instance type.
  • React class components will be the class instance. So if you had class Foo extends React.Component<{}> {} and used React.ElementRef<typeof Foo> then the type would be the instance of Foo.
  • React function components do not have a backing instance and so React.ElementRef<typeof Bar> (when Bar is function Bar() {}) will give you the void type.
  • JSX intrinsics like div will give you their DOM instance. For React.ElementRef<'div'> that would be HTMLDivElement. For React.ElementRef<'input'> that would be HTMLInputElement.

Like React.Element<typeof Component>, typeof Component must be the type of a React component so you need to use typeof as in React.ElementRef<typeof MyComponent>.

React.Config<Props, DefaultProps>​

Calculates a config object from props and default props. This is most useful for annotating HOCs that are abstracted over configs. See our docs on writing HOCs for more information.

ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<typeof Component>​

danger

This is an exact replacement of the removed 'React.Element' type since 0.245. You should use React.MixedElement or React.Node instead. If you want to enforce design system constraints, use render types instead.

A React element is the type for the value of a JSX element:

const element: ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<'div'> = <div />;

ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<typeof Component> is also the return type of React.createElement()/React.jsx().

A ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED takes a single type argument, typeof Component. typeof Component is the component type of the React element. For an intrinsic element, typeof Component will be the string literal for the intrinsic you used. Here are a few examples with DOM intrinsics:

<div /> as ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<'div'>; // OK
<span /> as ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<'span'>; // OK
<div /> as ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<'span'>; // Error: div is not a span.

typeof Component can also be your React class component or function component.

function Foo(props: {}) {}
class Bar extends React.Component<{}> {}

<Foo /> as ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<typeof Foo>; // OK
<Bar /> as ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<typeof Bar>; // OK
<Foo /> as ExactReactElement_DEPRECATED<typeof Bar>; // Error: Foo is not Bar

Take note of the typeof, it is required! We want to get the type of the value Foo. Foo as Foo is an error because Foo cannot be used as a type, so the following is correct: Foo as typeof Foo.

Bar without typeof would be the type of an instance of Bar: new Bar() as Bar. We want the type of Bar not the type of an instance of Bar. Class<Bar> would also work here, but we prefer typeof for consistency with function components.