How to use the new Bootstrap 5 with React

Bootstrap and React have both been around for a while now, but now that the Bootstrap 5 beta is out, there's finally something to cheer about! 🙌

Now that Bootstrap 5 no longer requires jQuery, using it in your React app is much easier and without conflicts! 😲 Now that Bootstrap 5 components are written as vanilla JS plugins, you get improved alignment with React's best patterns & practices.

This also means it's possible to use Bootstrap 5 components without the need for a 3rd party library like react-bootstrap or reactstrap.

First up, add Bootstrap to your React app's package.json:

npm install bootstrap --save

Once Bootstrap is included, you'll be able to import components the way you do with any JS module. For example, let's import Bootstrap's Toast component...

import { Toast} from bootstrap

And then use it with React's useEffect and useState hooks...

function ToastDemo() {
    var [toast, setToast] = useState(false);
    const toastRef = useRef();

    useEffect(() => {
        var myToast = toastRef.current
        var bsToast = bootstrap.Toast.getInstance(myToast)

        if (!bsToast) {
            // initialize Toast
            bsToast = new Toast(myToast, {autohide: false})
            // hide after init
            bsToast.hide()
            setToast(false)
        }
        else{
            // toggle
            toast ? bsToast.show() : bsToast.hide()

        }
    })

    return (
    <div className="py-2">
        <button className="btn btn-success" onClick={() => setToast(toast => !toast)}>
            Toast {toast?'hide':'show'}
        </button>
        <div className="toast" role="alert" ref={toastRef}>
            <div className="toast-header">
                <strong className="me-auto">Bootstrap 5</strong>
                <small>4 mins ago</small>
                <button type="button" className="btn-close" onClick={() => setToast(false)} aria-label="Close"></button>
            </div>
            <div className="toast-body">
              Hello, world! This is a toast message.
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    )
}

Or, (if that wasn't easy enough) use the new namespaced data-bs- attributes directly in your markup. For example, let's use the Bootstrap 5 Collapse component...

function CollapseDemo() {
  return (
    <div className="py-2">
        <button className="btn btn-primary" data-bs-target="#collapseTarget" data-bs-toggle="collapse">
            Toggle collapse
        </button>
        <div className="collapse" id="collapseTarget">
            This is the toggle-able content!
        </div>
    </div>
  )
}

Now you can easily use any of the Bootstrap 5 Components in your React project. Check out these Bootstrap 5 React examples that use the Bootstrap 5 Toast, Alert, Collapse, Modal, Tooltip and Popover. Also be sure to take a look at all the new updates in Bootstrap 5.

What do you think? Do you plan on bringing Bootstrap 5 into your next React project, or do you prefer a different React friendly design system?

Blog

Using Bootstrap 5 with React

Carol Skelly

How to use the new Bootstrap 5 with React

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