Create React App

Application role

Language: JavaScript / TypeScript · Components: web

Roles: Browser interface

UI: client-rendered React; inspect routing, rendering, state and browser APIs in the actual app

Host: Typically emits static assets for a web server or CDN. Any separately owned API, authentication, jobs and data services remain outside CRA and must be inventoried independently.

Responsibilities to inventory

• Browser interface: client-rendered React; inspect routing, rendering, state and browser APIs in the actual app
• React component and page behavior
• CRA scripts, webpack/Babel configuration and environment variables
• Routes, client state, forms and browser-side validation
• Static asset paths, public files, service workers and deployment rewrites
• Any separately owned API, identity, persistence, jobs and integrations
• Server runtime: inventory the actual API, identity, data, job, integration and hosting owners; the browser framework itself does not establish whether or how these exist.

Lifecycle and version check

Deprecated for new applications; existing applications remain in maintenance mode Deprecation announced 2025-02-14; CRA continues to work in maintenance mode

• Read package.json and the lockfile for react-scripts, React, Node and related tooling versions.
• Record custom webpack overrides, eject status, Babel/Jest configuration and installed scripts.
• Check CRA's official deprecation guidance and the target tool/framework's migration documentation at planning time; versions and ecosystem support can change.

Inventory before rewrite

Inventory the actual application before choosing a target. For every responsibility, record its owner and interface, then mark it kept, replaced or retired. A target match is not compatibility evidence.

• Map route behavior, authentication boundaries, browser storage, analytics, service worker and asset URL assumptions.
• List every API and service owner; record endpoints, request/response shapes, credentials and error behavior.
• Capture test, lint, build and deploy commands, environment variables, browser support and direct-route behavior.
• Identify build-time assumptions such as proxy configuration, public URL and imported environment variables.

Change options

• Keep CRA temporarily while making a scoped dependency or application change, with an explicit maintenance and security plan.
• Retain React and replace CRA tooling with a build tool such as Vite, Parcel or Rsbuild when the app remains a client application; explicitly recreate required routing, testing, environment and deployment behavior.
• Move to a React framework when its routing, server rendering or full-stack capabilities match actual requirements; server rendering is not mandatory for every migration.
• Partially replace routes or isolated UI while preserving API, identity and data owners.

Target research

React can remain the UI ecosystem. Compare the maintained React framework or build-tool paths against server-rendering, routing, deployment, API ownership and team requirements. A target guide is a starting point, not proof that its framework replaces every source responsibility.

Caution

Do not equate CRA deprecation with React deprecation. A tooling change can alter routing, asset paths, environment variable conventions, service-worker behavior and build outputs. Verify each against the deployed app.

Sources

• Sunsetting Create React App: React deprecated CRA for new apps, says existing apps continue in maintenance mode, and describes migration to a framework or build tool; client-side rendering can still be appropriate.
• Creating a React App: Current official React guidance describes framework and build-tool choices.

Source guidance based on public documentation. It does not certify compatibility or establish what is installed in a particular application. Inventory the actual source, versions, extensions, data and operational owners before planning a rewrite.

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