About React Developer Tools
React Developer Tools is the official debugger for React apps. It adds a Components tab to your browser's DevTools, so you can see the tree of components behind a page instead of the flat HTML. Select one and you can read its props, state and instance details, and search the tree by component name.
The extension is built from the React repository, which is MIT licensed, and the Chrome build runs on Manifest V3. It was updated in September 2026, and the Chrome store listing now shows the React Foundation as the developer. It works in Chrome, Firefox and Edge. For Safari and other browsers there is no extension, but the same project ships a standalone react-devtools app that connects through a script tag, and React Native has a built-in debugger that integrates it.
The trade-offs are modest. The tabs appear only on pages built with React. Its Chrome rating of 3.5 out of 5 is lower than the other framework tools. It also asks for access to every site so it can detect React. For anyone writing React, installing it is an easy decision, and it is the obvious first pick for this category.
Pros and cons
- Maintained in the React repository itself
- Free, MIT licensed and updated in 2026
- Works in Chrome, Firefox and Edge
- Standalone app covers Safari and other browsers
- Chrome rating is lower than you might expect, at 3.5 out of 5
- Only appears on pages built with React
- Needs broad access to the sites you open
Permissions
It requests access to all websites so it can detect React on any page, plus scripting, tabs and storage permissions, and optional clipboard write access for copying values.
