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Debugging React Native with Reactotron 🚀

Debugging React Native with Reactotron 🚀

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Cindy Muthoni
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2 min read

React Native is a popular framework for building mobile applications using JavaScript and React. However, debugging can often be challenging. This is where Reactotron comes in. Reactotron is a powerful tool that helps developers debug React Native applications effectively. In this article, we’ll dive deep into how to set up and use Reactotron for debugging your React Native applications. We’ll also explore some practical examples to illustrate its capabilities.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction to Reactotron

  2. Setting Up Reactotron in Your React Native Project

  3. Configuring Reactotron

  4. Debugging with Reactotron

    • Logging Messages

    • Monitoring API Requests

    • Tracking Redux Actions

    • Handling Async Storage

    • Custom Commands

  5. Best Practices for Debugging with Reactotron

  6. Conclusion

1. Introduction to Reactotron 🌟

Reactotron is a desktop application for inspecting and debugging your React Native (and React JS) projects. It provides features like logging, state monitoring, API request tracking, and more. Reactotron makes it easier to visualize and interact with your app’s state and network requests, which can significantly speed up the debugging process.

2. Setting Up Reactotron in Your React Native Project 🚀

To get started with Reactotron, you’ll need to install the Reactotron app on your desktop and the Reactotron library in your React Native project.

Step 1: Install Reactotron App

Download and install the Reactotron app from the official Reactotron website. It is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Step 2: Install Reactotron Library

In your React Native project, install the Reactotron library and its dependencies:


npm install --save reactotron-react-native
npm install --save-dev reactotron-redux
npm install --save redux

3. Configuring Reactotron ⚙️

After installing the necessary packages, you need to configure Reactotron in your project. Create a new file named ‘ReactotronConfig.js’ in your project’s root directory and add the following code:

import Reactotron from 'reactotron-react-native';
import { reactotronRedux } from 'reactotron-redux';
import { AsyncStorage } from 'react-native';

// Initialize Reactotron
Reactotron
  .setAsyncStorageHandler(AsyncStorage)
  .configure() // controls connection & communication settings
  .useReactNative() // add all built-in react native plugins
  .use(reactotronRedux()) // add redux plugin
  .connect(); // let's connect!

// Clear Reactotron on every time we load the app
if (__DEV__) {
  Reactotron.clear();
}

// Making Reactotron available throughout the project
console.tron = Reactotron;

export default Reactotron;

Check it Out!

React Native