The React Compiler now runs in Rust inside Vite, and one 1,036-file build dropped from 14.3s to 0.81s

The React Compiler can now run as native Rust code inside Vite, without Babel. The work comes from the oxc project, which shipped oxc-transform-react on 4 August 2026, and from @vitejs/plugin-react v6.1.0, which added experimental native React Compiler support behind a compiler option. A write-up published on 4 September 2026 measured what the swap does to a real build, and it reached the Hacker News front page with 68 points.

The measured numbers

On a React Router codebase of 1,036 files, the compiler step fell from 14.3 seconds to 0.81 seconds. That is 17.6 times faster for that stage. Because compilation is one part of a build, the whole build moved less: 22.1 seconds down to 9.3 seconds, or roughly 2.4 times faster. Boshen, who leads oxc, is quoted in the post saying the Rust version is "more than 10 times faster than Babel in our preliminary benchmark."

These are the author's figures on one repository, so treat them as a single measurement rather than a general rate. The size of the gain will depend on how much of your build time is compilation and how much is bundling, type checking, and everything else.

What changes in a project

The practical change is that the Babel toolchain comes out. A standard Vite React project that was carrying babel-plugin-react-compiler and its dependencies can drop them and turn the compiler on through the plugin option instead. React Router framework mode has a separate path: a plugin called @acusti/vite-plugin-react-compiler replaces the several Babel packages that setup previously needed.

Support is still marked experimental in @vitejs/plugin-react, which matters if you were planning to move a production build over this week.

Why this is worth attention

The React Compiler has had an adoption problem that had nothing to do with whether it produces good output. It was slow, because it ran through Babel, and a slow compiler is one people turn off. Removing that cost changes the decision. If the compiler stage stops being the thing you wait for, the argument for leaving it on in local development gets much simpler.

There is a second effect worth noticing. For teams whose builds are now dominated by AI-assisted iteration loops, the wait between a change and a running app is the thing that sets the pace of work. A build that finishes in nine seconds instead of twenty-two is a different working rhythm, and that is felt every hour rather than once a release.

The honest caveat is the experimental label and the single-codebase measurement. Anyone considering the switch should time their own build before and after, on their own repository, rather than assuming the 17.6 times figure transfers.

Source

The Rust React Compiler is now native in Vite, blog.master.dev, 4 September 2026.