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default export

The React component that renders when the route matches.

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Signature

export default function Component() {
  // Component implementation
}
The default export is a React component with no props. It must be present in every route module.

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Basic Example

// app/routes/about.tsx
export default function About() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>About Us</h1>
      <p>We build amazing software.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

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Using Loader Data

import { useLoaderData } from "react-router";

export async function loader({ params }: Route.LoaderArgs) {
  const product = await fetchProduct(params.productId);
  return { product };
}

export default function Product() {
  const { product } = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();
  
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>{product.name}</h1>
      <p>{product.description}</p>
      <p>${product.price}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

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Nested Routes with Outlet

import { Outlet } from "react-router";

export default function Layout() {
  return (
    <div>
      <header>
        <nav>{/* navigation */}</nav>
      </header>
      
      <main>
        {/* Child routes render here */}
        <Outlet />
      </main>
      
      <footer>{/* footer */}</footer>
    </div>
  );
}

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With Actions and Forms

import { Form, useActionData } from "react-router";

export async function action({ request }: Route.ActionArgs) {
  const formData = await request.formData();
  const email = formData.get("email");
  
  if (!email?.includes("@")) {
    return { error: "Invalid email" };
  }
  
  await subscribe(email);
  return { success: true };
}

export default function Newsletter() {
  const actionData = useActionData<typeof action>();
  
  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Subscribe to our newsletter</h2>
      
      {actionData?.success ? (
        <p>Thanks for subscribing!</p>
      ) : (
        <Form method="post">
          <input type="email" name="email" required />
          {actionData?.error && (
            <span className="error">{actionData.error}</span>
          )}
          <button type="submit">Subscribe</button>
        </Form>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

import { useParams, useNavigate, Link } from "react-router";

export default function Team() {
  const params = useParams();
  const navigate = useNavigate();
  
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Team: {params.teamId}</h1>
      
      <nav>
        <Link to="members">Members</Link>
        <Link to="settings">Settings</Link>
      </nav>
      
      <button onClick={() => navigate("/teams")}>
        Back to Teams
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

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Async Components

Components cannot be async. Use loaders for data fetching: 
// ❌ This doesn't work
export default async function Product() {
  const product = await fetchProduct();
  return <div>{product.name}</div>;
}

// ✅ Use a loader instead
export async function loader() {
  const product = await fetchProduct();
  return { product };
}

export default function Product() {
  const { product } = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();
  return <div>{product.name}</div>;
}

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Component Naming

You can use any valid function name: 
// All of these work
export default function Component() { /* ... */ }
export default function ProductDetail() { /* ... */ }
export default function() { /* ... */ }

// Arrow functions work too
const Component = () => { /* ... */ };
export default Component;

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Best Practices

Structure your components with proper HTML elements:
export default function Article() {
  return (
    <article>
      <header>
        <h1>Title</h1>
        <time>2024-01-01</time>
      </header>
      <section>{/* content */}</section>
      <footer>{/* metadata */}</footer>
    </article>
  );
}
Extract complex UI into separate components:
// app/routes/dashboard.tsx
import { Sidebar } from "~/components/Sidebar";
import { MetricsPanel } from "~/components/MetricsPanel";

export default function Dashboard() {
  return (
    <div className="dashboard">
      <Sidebar />
      <MetricsPanel />
    </div>
  );
}
Use hooks to handle different states:
import { useNavigation } from "react-router";

export default function SearchResults() {
  const navigation = useNavigation();
  const data = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();
  
  const isSearching = navigation.state === "loading";
  
  return (
    <div>
      {isSearching && <Spinner />}
      <ul>
        {data.results.map(result => (
          <li key={result.id}>{result.name}</li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}
Leverage type inference from loaders and actions:
export async function loader() {
  return { message: "Hello", count: 42 };
}

export default function Component() {
  const data = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();
  data.message; // string
  data.count;   // number
}

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See Also

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