react-hot-api

This is a deprecated library for React developers who wanted to edit their component code and see changes instantly without losing the app's current state or restarting the browser.

Normally, when you're building a React app and you change a component's code, the browser reloads and your app restarts from scratch—losing any form inputs you've typed, scroll positions, or other data. This library tried to solve that problem by intercepting component updates and keeping the existing state alive while swapping in the new code. So you could tweak a button's color or fix a typo and watch the change happen live, with your test data still in place.

The library worked at a generic level, meaning it was designed to work across different React setups and tools, rather than being tied to one specific build system. Under the hood, it essentially let developers tell React "keep running, just use this new code instead" rather than the normal full-page reload cycle.

Developers working on interactive React prototypes or complex UIs would have found this useful—imagine designing a dashboard and being able to adjust layout and styling fifty times in a minute without manually re-entering test data each time.

However, the README makes it clear this project is no longer recommended. The author points to React Proxy as the successor: a more polished tool that does the same job better, has a cleaner API, and comes with proper test coverage. The ecosystem has also moved on significantly since this library was written. If you're building a React project today, modern build tools like Vite or Create React App have hot reload built in as a standard feature. This library is essentially a historical artifact—useful for understanding how hot reload works, but superseded by better solutions.