React 20 Drops forwardRef: What It Means for Component Library Migrations

React 20 eliminates the longstanding forwardRef pattern by treating ref as a standard prop, just like className or onClick. This change removes the need for wrapper functions that component library teams have maintained for years across hundreds of components. For large libraries, the migration involves updating TypeScript interfaces, removing forwardRef wrappers, and releasing a new major version to signal a breaking change. Teams are advised to provide codemods and clear upgrade documentation to avoid disrupting downstream consumers. The update is expected to reduce maintenance overhead significantly by unifying component prop interfaces into a single, consistent API.
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