estree-util-build-jsx

estree utility to turn JSX into function calls: <x /> -> h('x')!

What is this?
When should I use this?
Install
Use
API
Examples
- Example: use with Acorn
Types
Compatibility
Related
Security
Contribute
License

What is this?

This package is a utility that takes an estree (JavaScript) syntax tree as input that contains embedded JSX nodes (elements, fragments) and turns them into function calls.

When should I use this?

If you already have a tree and only need to compile JSX away, use this. If you have code, use something like SWC or esbuild instead.

Install

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 16+), install with npm:

npm install estree-util-build-jsx

In Deno with esm.sh:

import {buildJsx} from 'https://esm.sh/estree-util-build-jsx@3'

In browsers with esm.sh:

<script type="module">
  import {buildJsx} from 'https://esm.sh/estree-util-build-jsx@3?bundle'
</script>

Use

Say we have the following example.jsx:

import x from 'xastscript'

console.log(
  <album id={123}>
    <name>Born in the U.S.A.</name>
    <artist>Bruce Springsteen</artist>
    <releasedate date="1984-04-06">April 6, 1984</releasedate>
  </album>
)

console.log(
  <>
    {1 + 1}
    <self-closing />
    <x name key="value" key={expression} {...spread} />
  </>
)

…and next to it a module example.js:

import fs from 'node:fs/promises'
import jsx from 'acorn-jsx'
import {fromJs} from 'esast-util-from-js'
import {buildJsx} from 'estree-util-build-jsx'
import {toJs} from 'estree-util-to-js'

const doc = String(await fs.readFile('example.jsx'))

const tree = fromJs(doc, {module: true, plugins: [jsx()]})

buildJsx(tree, {pragma: 'x', pragmaFrag: 'null'})

console.log(toJs(tree).value)

…now running node example.js yields:

import x from "xastscript";
console.log(x("album", {
  id: 123
}, x("name", null, "Born in the U.S.A."), x("artist", null, "Bruce Springsteen"), x("releasedate", {
  date: "1984-04-06"
}, "April 6, 1984")));
console.log(x(null, null, 1 + 1, x("self-closing"), x("x", Object.assign({
  name: true,
  key: "value",
  key: expression
}, spread))));

API

This package exports the identifier buildJsx. There is no default export.

`buildJsx(tree[, options])`

Turn JSX in tree into function calls: <x /> -> h('x')!

Algorithm

In almost all cases, this utility is the same as the Babel plugin, except that they work on slightly different syntax trees.

Some differences:

no pure annotations things
this is not a component: <this> -> h('this'), not h(this)
namespaces are supported: <a:b c:d> -> h('a:b', {'c:d': true}), which throws by default in Babel or can be turned on with throwIfNamespace
no useSpread, useBuiltIns, or filter options

Parameters

tree (Node) — tree to transform (typically Program)
options (Options, optional) — configuration

Returns

Nothing (undefined).

`Options`

Configuration (TypeScript type).

👉 Note: you can also configure runtime, importSource, pragma, and pragmaFrag from within files through comments.

Fields

`runtime`

Choose the runtime (Runtime, default: 'classic').

Comment form: @jsxRuntime theRuntime.

`importSource`

Place to import jsx, jsxs, jsxDEV, and Fragment from, when the effective runtime is automatic (string, default: 'react').

Comment form: @jsxImportSource theSource.

👉 Note: /jsx-runtime or /jsx-dev-runtime is appended to this provided source. In CJS, that can resolve to a file (as in theSource/jsx-runtime.js), but for ESM an export map needs to be set up to point to files:
// …
"exports": {
  // …
  "./jsx-runtime": "./path/to/jsx-runtime.js",
  "./jsx-dev-runtime": "./path/to/jsx-runtime.js"
  // …

`pragma`

Identifier or member expression to call when the effective runtime is classic (string, default: 'React.createElement').

Comment form: @jsx identifier.

`pragmaFrag`

Identifier or member expression to use as a symbol for fragments when the effective runtime is classic (string, default: 'React.Fragment').

Comment form: @jsxFrag identifier.

`development`

When in the automatic runtime, whether to import theSource/jsx-dev-runtime.js, use jsxDEV, and pass location info when available (boolean, default: false).

This helps debugging but adds a lot of code that you don’t want in production.

`filePath`

File path to the original source file (string, example: 'path/to/file.js'). Passed in location info to jsxDEV when using the automatic runtime with development: true.

`Runtime`

How to transform JSX (TypeScript type).

Type

type Runtime = 'automatic' | 'classic'

Examples

Example: use with Acorn

To support configuration from comments in Acorn, those comments have to be in the program. This is done by espree but not automatically by acorn:

import {Parser} from 'acorn'
import jsx from 'acorn-jsx'

const doc = '' // To do: get `doc` somehow.

const comments = []
const tree = Parser.extend(jsx()).parse(doc, {onComment: comments})
tree.comments = comments

Types

This package is fully typed with TypeScript. It exports the additional type Options and Runtime.

Compatibility

Projects maintained by the unified collective are compatible with maintained versions of Node.js.

When we cut a new major release, we drop support for unmaintained versions of Node. This means we try to keep the current release line, estree-util-build-jsx@^3, compatible with Node.js 166.

syntax-tree/hast-util-to-estree — turn hast (HTML) to estree JSX
coderaiser/estree-to-babel — turn estree to Babel trees

Security

This package is safe.

Contribute

See contributing.md in syntax-tree/.github for ways to get started. See support.md for ways to get help.

This project has a code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organization, or community you agree to abide by its terms.