API Reference
React APIs

Suspense

Suspense is a React component that displays a fallback until its children have finished loading.

<Suspense fallback={<Loading />}>
  <SomeComponent />
</Suspense>

Usage

Displaying a fallback while something is loading

You can wrap any part of your application with a Suspense component. If either data or code in its children hasn’t loaded yet, React will switch to rendering the fallback prop instead. For example:

<>
  <Post />
  <Suspense fallback={<LoadingSpinner />}>
    <Comments />
  </Suspense>
</>

Suppose that Comments takes longer to load than Post. Without a Suspense boundary, React wouldn’t be able to show either component until both have loaded — Post would be blocked by Comments.

Because of the Suspense boundary, Post doesn’t need to wait for Comments. React renders LoadingSpinner in its place. Once Comments finishes loading, React replaces LoadingSpinner with Comments.

Suspense will never show unintentional “holes” in your content. For example, if PhotoAlbums has loaded but Notes have not, with the structure below, it will still show a LoadingSpinner instead of the entire Grid:

<>
  <ProfileHeader />
  <Suspense fallback={<LoadingSpinner />}>
    <Grid>
      <PhotoAlbums />
      <Notes />
    </Grid>
  </Suspense>
</>

To reveal nested content as it loads, you need to add more Suspense boundaries.

Pitfall

Only Suspense-enabled data sources will activate a Suspense boundary. These data sources are said to suspend when the data needed to render has not yet loaded. Currently, Suspense is only supported for:

Suspense-enabled data fetching without the use of an opinionated framework is not yet supported. The requirements for implementing a Suspense-enabled data source are unstable and undocumented. An official API for integrating data sources with Suspense will be released in a future version of React.

Suspense does not detect when data is fetched inside an Effect or event handler.

Revealing nested content as it loads

When a component suspends, it activates the fallback of only the nearest parent Suspense boundary. This means you can nest multiple Suspense boundaries to create a loading sequence. Each Suspense boundary’s fallback will be filled in as the next level of content becomes available.

To illustrate, consider the following example:

<Suspense fallback={<BigSpinner />}>
  <MainContent>
    <Post />
    <Suspense fallback={<CommentsGlimmer />}>
      <Comments />
    </Suspense>
  </MainContent>
</Suspense>

The sequence will be:

  • If Post hasn’t loaded yet, BigSpinner is shown in place of the entire main content area.
  • Once Post finishes loading, BigSpinner is replaced by the main content.
  • If Comments hasn’t loaded yet, CommentsGlimmer is shown in its place.
  • Finally, once Comments finishes loading, it replaces CommentsGlimmer.

Lazy-loading components with Suspense

The lazy API is powered by Suspense. When you render a component imported with lazy, it will suspend if it hasn’t loaded yet. This allows you to display a loading indicator while your component’s code is loading.

import { lazy, Suspense, useState } from 'react';

const MarkdownPreview = lazy(() => import('./MarkdownPreview.js'));

function MarkdownEditor() {
  const [showPreview, setShowPreview] = useState(false);
  // ...
  return (
    <>
      ...
      {showPreview && (
        <Suspense fallback={<Loading />}>
          <h2>Preview</h2>
          <MarkdownPreview />
        </Suspense>
      )}
    </>
  );
}

In this example, the code for MarkdownPreview won’t be loaded until you attempt to render it. If MarkdownPreview hasn’t loaded yet, Loading will be shown in its place. Try ticking the checkbox:

import { useState, Suspense, lazy } from 'react';
import Loading from './Loading.js';

const MarkdownPreview = lazy(() => delayForDemo(import('./MarkdownPreview.js')));

export default function MarkdownEditor() {
  const [showPreview, setShowPreview] = useState(false);
  const [markdown, setMarkdown] = useState('Hello, **world**!');
  return (
    <>
      <textarea value={markdown} onChange={e => setMarkdown(e.target.value)} />
      <label>
        <input type="checkbox" checked={showPreview} onChange={e => setShowPreview(e.target.checked)} />
        Show preview
      </label>
      <hr />
      {showPreview && (
        <Suspense fallback={<Loading />}>
          <h2>Preview</h2>
          <MarkdownPreview markdown={markdown} />
        </Suspense>
      )}
    </>
  );
}

// Add a fixed delay so you can see the loading state
function delayForDemo(promise) {
  return new Promise(resolve => {
    setTimeout(resolve, 2000);
  }).then(() => promise);
}

This demo loads with an artificial delay. The next time you untick and tick the checkbox, Preview will be cached, so there will be no loading state displayed. To see the loading state again, click “Reset” on the sandbox.

Reference

Suspense

Props

  • children: The actual UI you intend to render. If children suspends while rendering, the Suspense boundary will switch to rendering fallback.
  • fallback: An alternate UI to render in place of the actual UI if it has not finished loading. Any valid React node is accepted, though in practice, a fallback is a lightweight placeholder view, such as a loading spinner or skeleton. Suspense will automatically switch to fallback when children suspends, and back to children when the data is ready. If fallback suspends while rendering, it will activate the closest parent Suspense boundary.

Caveats

  • React does not preserve any state for renders that got suspended before they were able to mount for the first time. When the component has loaded, React will retry rendering the suspended tree from scratch.
  • If Suspense was displaying content for the tree, but then it suspended again, the fallback will be shown again unless the update causing it was caused by startTransition or useDeferredValue.
  • If React needs to hide the already visible content because it suspended again, it will clean up layout Effects in the content tree. When the content is ready to be shown again, React will fire the layout Effects again. This lets you make sure that Effects measuring the DOM layout don’t try to do this while the content is hidden.
  • React includes under-the-hood optimizations like Streaming Server Rendering and Selective Hydration that are integrated with Suspense. Read an architectural overview and watch a technical talk to learn more.

Troubleshooting

How do I prevent the UI from being replaced by a fallback during an update?

Replacing visible UI with a fallback creates a jarring user experience. This can happen when an update causes a component to suspend, and the nearest Suspense boundary is already showing content to the user.

To prevent this from happening, mark the update as non-urgent using startTransition. During a transition, React will wait until enough data has loaded to prevent an unwanted fallback from appearing:

function handleNextPageClick() {
  // If this update suspends, don't hide the already displayed content
  startTransition(() => {
    setCurrentPage(currentPage + 1);
  });
}

This will avoid hiding existing content. However, any newly rendered Suspense boundaries will still immediately display fallbacks to avoid blocking the UI and let the user see the content as it becomes available.

React will only prevent unwanted fallbacks during non-urgent updates. It will not delay a render if it’s the result of an urgent update. You must opt in with an API like startTransition or useDeferredValue.

If your router is integrated with Suspense, it should wrap its updates into startTransition automatically.

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