A full version history of the react-scripts package with size, number of distributed files and dependency evolution.
react-scripts has undergone significant evolution since its initial release, mirroring the development of the React ecosystem. Version 0.0.0, a "placeholder" release in 2016, quickly matured into version 0.1.0 introducing core dependencies like Webpack, Babel, and ESLint, establishing the foundation for Create React App's build pipeline.
Subsequent 0.x versions rapidly iterated, introducing features like file size optimization, improved linting rules, and proxy support culminating in version 0.5.1 to 0.7.0, marking important improvements in testing with Jest.
The subsequent 1.x versions were characterized by dependency upgrades, bug fixes, and integration of new tools like react-error-overlay to offer a smoother developer experience.
react-scripts version 2.x represented a major overhaul, embracing Webpack 4 and Babel 7, improving build performance and incorporating modern JavaScript features. Typechecking got an upgrade and TypeScript support became more robust and built in directly to the project. The 3.x versions enhanced the developer experience and continued to upgrade further the build toolchain culminating with much better ESList integration and better support for more complex tooling. Finally react-scripts verion 4.x and 5.0.1 marked further updates to dependencies, including Jest, ESLint, and Webpack, while adopting new features like Fast Refresh for hot module replacement.