show-component

Inspired by react-show-in-atom and click-to-component.

Development tool for React apps. Right-click any element to jump straight to the component source code in your editor.

Works by reading React fiber internals and resolving source maps in the browser — no server or build plugin required.

Background

Tools like click-to-component, react-dev-inspector, and locatorjs let you click any React element in the browser to jump to its source in your editor. They all relied on _debugSource — a property that React attached to fiber nodes when the codebase was compiled with @babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-source.

React 19 removed _debugSource, breaking the entire ecosystem of click-to-source tools (facebook/react#32574). The removal was intentional — the Babel transform had limitations: it only worked with JSX, didn't compose with source maps, and was DEV-only.

show-component takes a different approach. Instead of relying on a build-time Babel transform, it reads _debugStack — the Error stack trace that React 19 attaches to every fiber node at render time — and resolves original source locations through your bundler's standard source maps at runtime.

This means:

• No build plugin required — works with any bundler that emits source maps (Vite, webpack, esbuild, etc.)
• No Babel JSX transform — no @babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx-source or similar needed
• React 19 compatible — uses the same mechanism React itself now uses for component stacks

This library does not fall back to _debugSource and exclusively relies on _debugStack. If you are on React 18 or earlier, you are better served by click-to-component or react-dev-inspector, which are designed around the Babel JSX source transform.

Installation

npm install show-component

Setup

Render <ShowComponent /> once at the root of your app (usually next to your router or providers). It does not wrap children — it attaches a global context-menu listener.

import { ShowComponent } from 'show-component';

function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <ShowComponent />
      <YourApp />
    </>
  );
}

Usage

Shortcut	Action
Alt + Right Click	Navigate directly to the source of the clicked component
Alt + Shift + Right Click	Show a popover with the full component chain; click any entry to navigate, or inspect its props

Navigation opens the file in your editor via a custom protocol URL (default cursor://file/…). Use the editorScheme prop to target a different editor.

Source Root

By default, resolved paths are URL-relative (e.g. /src/components/Foo.tsx). To get absolute paths your editor can open directly, set the project root:

// Via prop
<ShowComponent sourceRoot="/Users/me/project" />

// Via global
window.__SHOW_COMPONENT_SOURCE_ROOT__ = '/Users/me/project';

// Programmatic
import { configureSourceRoot } from 'show-component';
configureSourceRoot('/Users/me/project');

Editor Scheme

By default, navigation uses the cursor:// protocol. To open files in a different editor, pass the editorScheme prop with the appropriate URL scheme:

// VS Code
<ShowComponent editorScheme="vscode" />

// VS Code Insiders
<ShowComponent editorScheme="vscode-insiders" />

// Windsurf
<ShowComponent editorScheme="windsurf" />

The scheme is the part before :// in the generated URL (e.g. vscode://file/path/to/File.tsx:12:5).

Custom Navigation

Override the default editor-opening behavior with onNavigate:

<ShowComponent
  onNavigate={({ source, line, column, url, componentName }) => {
    console.log(`${componentName} → ${source}:${line}:${column}`);
  }}
/>

When onNavigate is provided, the protocol handler is not triggered — the consumer decides what to do with the resolved location.

Custom Click Target

By default, Alt + Right Click navigates to the component closest to the clicked DOM element (index 0 in the chain). Use getClickTarget to choose a different component:

<ShowComponent
  getClickTarget={(chain) => {
    // Skip design-system primitives, navigate to the first "real" component
    const skip = new Set(['Button', 'Icon', 'Text', 'Box']);
    const idx = chain.findIndex((c) => !skip.has(c.componentName));
    return idx >= 0 ? idx : undefined; // undefined = default (index 0)
  }}
/>

Each entry in the chain is a ComponentHandle with the component name and props available immediately. Source-map resolution is lazy — it only happens if you call resolveSource():

<ShowComponent
  getClickTarget={async (chain) => {
    // Prefer deciding by name alone (zero overhead)
    const byName = chain.findIndex((c) => c.componentName === 'PageContent');
    if (byName >= 0) return byName;

    // Fall back to resolving source locations when names aren't enough
    for (const handle of chain) {
      const loc = await handle.resolveSource();
      if (loc && !loc.source.includes('node_modules')) return handle.index;
    }
    return undefined;
  }}
/>

The callback can return synchronously (just a number) or asynchronously (a Promise). Returning null or undefined falls back to the default behaviour.

API

<ShowComponent />

Prop	Type	Default	Description
sourceRoot	string	—	Absolute path to the project root. Converts URL-relative paths to absolute filesystem paths.
editorScheme	string	"cursor"	URL scheme for editor navigation (e.g. "vscode", "vscode-insiders", "windsurf"). See Editor Scheme.
onNavigate	(event: NavigationEvent) => void	—	Custom navigation handler. Replaces the default protocol call.
getClickTarget	(chain: ComponentHandle[]) => number | null | undefined | Promise<…>	—	Customise which component Alt+Right-Click navigates to. See Custom Click Target.

configureSourceRoot(root: string | undefined)

Sets the source root programmatically. Equivalent to the sourceRoot prop.

NavigationEvent

interface NavigationEvent {
  source: string;       // Resolved source file path
  line: number;         // Line number in the original source
  column: number;       // Column number in the original source
  url: string;          // The editor protocol URL (e.g. cursor://file/…)
  componentName?: string;
}

ComponentHandle

Passed to getClickTarget. Immediate data is available synchronously; source resolution is lazy.

interface ComponentHandle {
  componentName: string;                    // Display name of the component
  props: Record<string, unknown> | undefined; // Component props (from fiber)
  index: number;                            // Position in the chain (0 = closest to DOM)
  resolveSource: () => Promise<{            // Lazy source-map resolution (cached)
    source: string;
    line: number;
    column: number;
  } | null>;
}

Requirements

• React 16.8+ (uses fiber internals available in development builds)
• Development mode only — fiber debug info (_debugOwner, _debugStack) is stripped in production builds

License

MIT