Meta Ports React Compiler to Rust for Faster Builds and Tighter Toolchain Integration

Meta has merged a Rust port of the React Compiler into the main React repository, rewriting it from TypeScript to Rust. The Rust version runs approximately 3x faster as a Babel plugin and up to 10x faster for isolated transformations. When integrated directly into Turbopack (bypassing the Babel plugin overhead), Vercel reported 20–50% faster route compilation on Next.js apps. The port used LLMs extensively for mechanical translation, with humans handling architecture and review — a decision drawing community debate about long-term maintainability. The public API remains unchanged for a drop-in upgrade experience. Other Rust-based JS toolchains including SWC, Oxc, and Rspack 2.1 have also integrated the compiler, while Rolldown temporarily withdrew its integration to improve code quality.