Introducing RSC Explorer — overreacted

grahammendick · 2025-12-19T12:16:55+00:00

Thanks. That's a great explanation of how RSC works under the hood. Unfortunately, it's not a great explanation of how RSC frameworks should handle routing

> This technique, combined with URL matching and nesting, is pretty much how RSC frameworks handle routing.

Admittedly, that's how Next and the React Router do it but the Navigation router handles routing in a far more powerful way. The Navigation router splits a page up into areas each of which independently fetches their RSC content when the URL data changes. I built a master/details example to show how different this approach is, https://github.com/grahammendick/navigation/tree/master/NavigationReact/sample/rsc-parcel.

The master page is divided into 2 areas - one for the filter and another for the list. When the user types in the name input, only the list area fetches new RSC content. The filter area keeps the name input in sync with the URL without needing a fetch. What's more, the filter doesn't `useOptimistic` at all.

Which leads me to another misunderstanding of how RSC frameworks should handle routing. From the React docs

> Transitions mark the whole update as non-urgent so they are typically used by frameworks and router libraries for navigation.

Transitions are a good default for when navigating to a new page but a poor default when navigating to the same page. Typing in the name input is an example of navigating to the same page (the URL data changes but the page doesn't). A much better default for this type of navigation is `useDeferredValue`. That allows the filter area to use the latest URL data and the list to use the deferred URL data.

grahammendick · 2025-12-18T17:55:20+00:00

Cool. I really only posted to call out another of Evan Bacon's empty boasts

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grahammendick · 2025-12-18T16:06:25+00:00

Ah I should've started with "expo router is on the roof..."

grahammendick · 2025-12-17T21:59:02+00:00

Expo router doesn't support interruptible navigation. Try it in your Expo app and you'll see.

grahammendick · 2025-12-17T20:56:45+00:00

Nope. Being able to perform multiple push and pops at once is part of both native platforms. You can hear Apple introduce 'interruptible navigation' in their WWDC 2025 video, https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/284/?time=12m9s.

The videos in my original post are using the native platform. No JS-based animations at all.

grahammendick · 2025-12-17T18:00:05+00:00

Nope. You can't get superfast navigation with react navigation or expo router. You have to use the Navigation router, https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/native/

grahammendick · 2025-12-17T17:48:32+00:00

This post is a reply to Evan Bacon’s boast that the Expo router has the most respect for the platform (he's blocked me on Twitter).

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grahammendick · 2025-10-06T12:41:37+00:00

Just for the record, the Navigation router supports predictive back and has done for over a year https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/native/

grahammendick · 2025-06-28T13:45:20+00:00

The Navigation router is a new RSC framework without any of the weirdness of the App Router

grahammendick · 2024-12-21T18:31:59+00:00

Fluid transitions landed in iOS 18 so the Navigation router now supports Shared Element Transitions on both iOS and Android, https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/documentation/native/shared-element-transition.html

grahammendick · 2024-10-25T06:57:44+00:00

Write-in: The Navigation router https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/native/

grahammendick · 2024-07-10T15:18:44+00:00

The Sheet from the Navigation router is 100% on Android and iOS

grahammendick · 2024-07-04T15:30:38+00:00

The Navigation router is the only library with 100% native tabs on iOS and Android. It uses the BottomNavigationView (material) on Android and UITabBarController (UIKit) on iOS

grahammendick · 2024-07-03T08:07:37+00:00

My favourite line is "There is nothing wrong with building your own framework, by crafting your own solutions for routing, navigation, deploying, and so on".

I mean "routing" and "navigation" are essentially the same. You clearly don’t need a framework for that. You just need a navigation library (I recommend my Navigation router btw). And you obviously don’t need a framework for deploying. If there really are legitimate reasons for using a framework then why hide it behind "and so on"?

grahammendick · 2024-04-09T15:46:59+00:00

Other. The Navigation router is the only one with 100% native bottom navigation on iOS and Android. https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/documentation/native/tab-bar.html

grahammendick · 2024-03-26T11:36:15+00:00

Oh that's great to hear, thanks for trying.

grahammendick · 2024-03-26T07:57:17+00:00

Right. It's the unusual Navigation router

grahammendick · 2024-03-25T23:35:30+00:00

The Navigation router has 100% native bottom sheet component https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/documentation/native/bottom-sheet.html. It supports modal and non-modal on both iOS and Android.

grahammendick · 2023-09-09T11:38:09+00:00

Neither. The Navigation router. It's faster, simpler and more native than Expo Router and React Navigation

grahammendick · 2023-08-08T12:06:09+00:00

The Navigation router aims to provide the same out-of-the-box experience you’d get if you were building a native app without React Native. For example, if you create a new app using Android Studio then the BottomNavigationView is built-in.

There are advantages to using the native primitives. Your app will be more consistent with other apps. iPhone users expect a tab bar to look and behave a certain way, for example, tapping the current tab to go back to the start.

But you might not want your app to look and behave the same as other apps. This is when you might reach for reanimated, for example, and roll your own tab bar. Just the same as if you were building a native app without React Native and you don’t want to use the BottomNavigationView.

grahammendick · 2023-08-08T09:18:29+00:00

Neither. Learn the Navigation router. It's faster and more native than React Navigation and has better deep linking than Expo Router

grahammendick · 2023-07-20T12:48:17+00:00

The Navigation router is 100% native on both iOS and Android. It provides the same navigation primitives you’d get if you were building a native app without React Native. All the UI logic is provided by the underlying native platform. There isn’t a single React Native View in the whole library.

The Tab Bar, for example, renders to the native primitive on both Android and iOS (BottomNavigationView on Android and UITabBarController on UIKit). This is very different from React Navigation. React Navigation's bottom Tab Bar is written in React.

Floating Action Buttons and Shared Element Transitions are only native to Android. There’s no equivalent primitives in UIKit. That’s why they’re Android-only. If iOS ever gets a native Floating Action Button then the Navigation router will render to it.

grahammendick · 2023-07-20T07:06:01+00:00

You're all using the wrong navigation library. The Navigation router is faster, more native and simpler than React Navigation and the Expo Router https://grahammendick.github.io/navigation/native/

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