react: A Development History
A factual reconstruction of react's evolution, drawn from 13.4 years of commits, 100 releases and 99 contributors.
The Beginning
2013 · first commit
In 2013, react published the first commit to react, a JavaScript project. It set out to the library for web and native user interfaces.
From the outset the repository was written chiefly in JavaScript, Rust and TypeScript. What began as a single initiative would, over the next 13.4 years, accumulate 250.8k stars and draw 99 contributors into its orbit.
Building Foundations
Structure and the first releases
The early period was about foundations. Version v0.14.6 marked the first tagged release — the moment the project declared itself ready to be relied upon.
sebmarkbage authored the largest share of this groundwork, shaping an architecture the project still rests on. In all, 100 releases would follow, arriving on average every 13 days.
Across 100 tagged releases, the project crossed its 1.0 milestone (now v19.3.0), declaring a stable interface.
Rapid Growth
Acceleration
Momentum built. Activity peaked around Sep '26, among the busiest stretches on record. Commits arrived at roughly 12.7 per week as the project's reach widened to 250.8k stars.
acdlite drove much of the new functionality, while zpao kept regressions in check. On the project's DNA it scored 92 for innovation and 81 for growth.
The cadence itself was steady, with 7% of recent commits landing on weekends — a signature of how the work was paced.
Community Expansion
99 contributors
As react grew, so did the circle around it. 99 contributors took part, with the top 6 authoring more than half of all commits, and 51.4k forks branching into experiments and downstream work.
sophiebits helped connect the project to its wider audience. gaearon kept the machinery running — dependencies current, the pipeline green. Community strength registered at 74 in its DNA.
Of the pull requests it received, 12% were ultimately merged, typically within 6 days — a measure of how readily outside work was absorbed.
Present Day
Maturity
Today react sits in its Maturity phase. A well-established project: broadly adopted, steadily released, and dependable. Its most recent activity was 1 days ago.
The latest tagged release is v19.3.0. After 13.4 years, react stands at 250.8k stars and 99 contributors, its history still being written.
