How to create reusable components in React
Łukasz Holeczek
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Building reusable components is fundamental to creating maintainable and scalable React applications. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, and with over 11 years of experience in software development, I’ve designed thousands of reusable components that serve millions of developers worldwide. The key to creating truly reusable components is designing flexible APIs through props, using composition patterns, and maintaining proper abstraction levels. This approach ensures components can adapt to different use cases while remaining easy to understand and maintain.
Design components with flexible props and composition patterns to maximize reusability across different contexts.
function Button({ variant = 'primary', size = 'medium', children, onClick, ...props }) {
const className = `btn btn-${variant} btn-${size}`
return (
<button className={className} onClick={onClick} {...props}>
{children}
</button>
)
}
This component demonstrates key reusability principles: accepting props for customization (variant, size), using children for flexible content, providing sensible defaults, and spreading additional props for extensibility. The component focuses on a single responsibility while remaining flexible enough to handle various use cases. The props API is intuitive and follows common React patterns that developers expect.
Best Practice Note:
This is exactly how we design components in CoreUI React - with clear prop interfaces and composition in mind. Consider using TypeScript for better prop validation and creating compound components for complex UI patterns that need multiple related components working together.
