# React 19 migration: lint signals

`@skyscanner/eslint-config-skyscanner` layers in a set of lint-level signals to help codebases prepare for React 19 _before_ the upgrade itself lands. This page documents what each signal catches, why it's on, and how to act.

The goal is **visibility**: squads see the backlog in their IDE and CI now, while still on React 18, instead of discovering it at upgrade time. All signals listed here ship at `warn` so upgrading this config surfaces the backlog without breaking any consumer's build.

## What's enabled

| Rule                                                                      | Severity | Covers                                                 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| [`@eslint-react/no-default-props`](#no-default-props-function-components) | `warn`   | `FnComponent.defaultProps = {}` on function components |
| [`@eslint-react/no-forward-ref`](#no-forward-ref)                         | `warn`   | `forwardRef(...)` usage (no longer required in R19)    |
| [`@eslint-react/no-unstable-default-props`](#no-unstable-default-props)   | `warn`   | Array / object literal defaults in destructuring       |

The existing airbnb-enabled `react/no-deprecated`, `react/no-string-refs`, and `react/no-find-dom-node` rules are already at `error` and cover `ReactDOM.render` / `ReactDOM.hydrate`, string refs, and `findDOMNode` respectively — you don't need to do anything extra for those.

Other React 19 breaking changes — notably `act` moving from `react-dom/test-utils` to `react`, and `useFormState` being renamed to `useActionState` and moved to `react` — are **not** currently linted by this config. They'll surface naturally when a repo bumps `react` to 19. [`npx codemod react/19/migration-recipe`](https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19-upgrade-guide) applies the most common migrations in one pass.

---

## `no-default-props` (function components)

React 19 **removes `defaultProps` on function components**. Code that relies on it will silently stop applying default values after the upgrade — no error is thrown, the prop is just `undefined`. From the upstream upgrade guide:

> We're also removing `defaultProps` from function components in place of ES6 default parameters. Class components will continue to support `defaultProps` since there is no ES6 alternative.
>
> — [React 19 upgrade guide](https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19-upgrade-guide#removed-defaultprops-for-function-components)

### What this rule catches

The `FnComponent.defaultProps = { ... }` assignment pattern on a function component:

```jsx
// Will warn
const Banner = ({ message }) => <div>{message}</div>;
Banner.defaultProps = { message: 'Hello' };
```

### What about class components?

Class components — including `static defaultProps` — continue to work in React 19; the upgrade guide explicitly exempts them, and this rule does not flag them. Audits across the fleet (Falcon, Backpack) are migrating class `defaultProps` anyway for fleet coherence and for `@types/react@19` alignment, but it is not a hard React 19 blocker.

### Remediation

Replace with ES6 default parameters via destructuring:

```jsx
// Before
const Banner = ({ message, tone }) => <div className={tone}>{message}</div>;
Banner.defaultProps = { message: 'Hello', tone: 'info' };

// After
const Banner = ({ message = 'Hello', tone = 'info' }) => (
  <div className={tone}>{message}</div>
);
```

---

## `no-forward-ref`

React 19 makes `forwardRef` unnecessary — refs can be passed and received as a regular prop. Existing `forwardRef(...)` call-sites still work, but they're worth cleaning up at the same time as the upgrade for simpler component signatures.

### What this rule catches

Any call to `forwardRef`:

```jsx
// Will warn
const Input = forwardRef<HTMLInputElement, Props>((props, ref) => (
  <input ref={ref} {...props} />
));
```

### Remediation

Accept `ref` as a prop on a regular function component:

```jsx
// After (React 19)
const Input = ({ ref, ...props }: Props & { ref?: Ref<HTMLInputElement> }) => (
  <input ref={ref} {...props} />
);
```

If the component also uses `defaultProps`, the combination is specifically called out in the Falcon audit as a required rewrite — `defaultProps` was never supported on `forwardRef` components in React 19.

---

## `no-unstable-default-props`

Flags destructured defaults that are object or array **literals**, which re-create on every render and break downstream memoization. The footgun is not new, but concurrent rendering in React 19 makes the perf consequences more visible.

### What this rule catches

```jsx
// Will warn
const List = ({ items = [] }) => items.map((i) => <Item key={i} />);
const Sheet = ({ styles = {} }) => <div style={styles} />;
```

### Remediation

Hoist the default to a module-level constant:

```jsx
const EMPTY_LIST: string[] = [];
const List = ({ items = EMPTY_LIST }) => items.map((i) => <Item key={i} />);
```

---

## Opting out in legacy code

If a file is genuinely stuck on the old pattern and can't be migrated in this PR, suppress locally with an `eslint-disable` comment and link to the owning ticket:

```jsx
// eslint-disable-next-line @eslint-react/no-forward-ref -- tracked in LOOM-1234
const Input = forwardRef(...);
```

Do **not** turn a rule off globally in a consumer config — the warnings are there so the squad sees the backlog. If a repo genuinely has dozens of cases, surface that to the config maintainers so we can decide on a fleet-level path forward rather than hiding the signal.

## References

- [React 19 upgrade guide](https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19-upgrade-guide)
- [`@eslint-react/no-default-props`](https://eslint-react.xyz/docs/rules/no-default-props)
- [`@eslint-react/no-forward-ref`](https://eslint-react.xyz/docs/rules/no-forward-ref)
- [`@eslint-react/no-unstable-default-props`](https://eslint-react.xyz/docs/rules/no-unstable-default-props)
- React 19 codemod: `npx codemod react/19/migration-recipe`