React's been around for a while now, and it's still going strong. But the tech world doesn't stand still, and AI is shaking things up in a big way.
Let's talk about what a React + AI stack might look like in 2025. If you're planning a new project or thinking about upgrading your current setup, this might give you some ideas.
Look, I know some of you still resist TypeScript, but it's like peanut butter and jelly with React at this point. It catches mistakes early, makes refactoring less painful, supercharges your IDE's autocomplete, and gives new devs on your team built-in docs. Plus, all those fancy AI coding assistants? They work way better with strongly-typed code.
Next.js is the Swiss Army knife of React development. It does everything, and it does it well. It's got full React 19 support, integrated routing and API management, and built-in performance optimizations.
Now, I'm not saying it's the only option. Remix is still awesome for full-stack apps, and there's this new kid on the block called Tanstack Start that's doing some cool things so make sure to keep an eye out. And hey, if you just need routing, React Router V7 was recently launched.
I used to be a Tailwind skeptic, but experience changed my mind. Pair it with shadcn/ui and you've got a styling powerhouse. AI tools can generate precise Tailwind classes, shadcn/ui gives you accessible components out of the box, your bundle stays optimized, and you can prototype and iterate quickly while keeping designs consistent.
For client-side state, Zustand is the way to go. It's got zero boilerplate, a tiny bundle size, and a simple but powerful API that's easy to learn. You can create a store with just a few lines of code, which is pretty neat.
TanStack Query handles all the annoying parts of server state. It auto-refreshes data, has smart caching that actually works, handles real-time updates without headaches, does optimistic updates that feel magical, and has devtools that'll make you wonder how you ever lived without them.
For animations in React, Motion is your best bet. It's got declarative animations that are easy to understand, gesture support that just works, advanced features like shared layout animations, and it's perfect for everything from simple transitions to complex motion designs.
We're not skimping on testing. Here's the trifecta: Vitest is faster than Jest and works with ES modules out of the box. React Testing Library is still great for component testing, helping you catch accessibility issues and test like a user would. For end-to-end testing, Playwright is awesome, handling multiple browsers, visual testing, network stuff, and mobile device emulation without the flaky tests.
If you're doing anything with tables, Tanstack Table is a must. It's got type-safe tables, virtual scrolling for tons of data, sorting and filtering that are easy to use, flexible column setups, and it performs amazingly well even with massive datasets.
Forms in React used to be a pain, but not with React Hook Form. It's built for speed, makes validation a breeze when using Zod, works great with TypeScript, has a tiny bundle size, and an API that's actually intuitive.
Supabase has evolved into a full-blown backend with some cool AI features. It's got vector similarity search for AI stuff, built-in support for storing embeddings, can turn plain English into SQL (yeah, really), has real-time subscriptions that just work, and edge functions for when you need to do AI processing close to your users.
React Native is the powerhouse for cross-platform mobile development. Write once, run everywhere, get native performance when you need it, enjoy hot reloading for rapid development, tap into a huge ecosystem of libraries and tools, and integrate with native modules when you need platform-specific features.
Storybook is essential for building and testing components in isolation. It's perfect for component-driven development, has a built-in testing environment, generates great documentation, supports visual regression testing, and has collaboration features for designers and developers.
Vercel is the go-to for hosting React apps. You can deploy without thinking about it, use edge functions for extra speed, get built-in analytics that are actually useful, and it works like a dream with Next.js. Plus, your app is fast everywhere thanks to their global CDN.
Now, here's where things get interesting. These tools cost money, but they're worth it:
Visual Copilot is an AI-powered design-to-code Figma plugin that turns your Figma designs into React code for with just one click. You can choose your styling library (like Tailwind or Styled Components), map your own components (like MaterialUI), and it'll generate code that actually fits your project. You can tweak the generated code with custom prompts, and it learns your coding style if you feed it some of your code samples.
Cursor makes coding feel like you've got superpowers. It doesn't just suggest code; it understands your whole project. The Tab feature is like mind-reading for code completion, while ⌘ K is your on-demand coding wizard. It's got a smart terminal, context-aware chat, and can even generate entire apps with its Composer feature. Cursor can even index and learn the docs of your favourite React libraries. It is particularly great at generating React + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS code.
Bolt is a browser-based development platform that's pretty wild. It turns your words into working React apps. You just describe what you want, and boom – you've got a full-stack application right in your browser. No need to set up a local environment or fiddle with complicated tools. It's got some neat tricks: real-time preview as you work, automated debugging, and one-click deployment to places like Netlify. You can go from idea to live app without ever leaving your browser.
So there you have it - the React + AI stack for 2025. Is it overkill for some projects? Probably. But if you're building something serious and want to leverage all the cool AI stuff out there, this stack is hard to beat.
Remember, the best tools are the ones you actually use. So don't feel like you need to adopt everything here all at once. Start small, see what works for you, and build from there.
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Introducing Visual Copilot: convert Figma designs to high quality code in a single click.
