Tamagui Compiler

Adding the compiler to your apps

The Tamagui Compiler significantly improves performance of both web and native applications through partial analysis and view flattening.

See the Benchmarks or a more in-depth background. Note that Tamagui features work at compile-time and runtime, so installing the compiler is optional, and in fact we recommend only setting it up once you’re ready for production.

The compiler uses Babel to analyze JSX and styled functions, then attempts to statically analyze and optimize them down to platform-native primitives. The end result is less abstraction - like a div on web, or plain React Native View on native:



Use inline props or the `styled` function:

Input
import { View, Text, styled } from '@tamagui/core'
import { Heading } from './Heading'
const App = (props) => (
<View px={10} width={550} $gtSm={{ px: 30 }}>
<Heading size={props.big ? 'large' : 'small'}>Lorem ipsum.</Heading>
</View>
)
const Heading = styled(Text, {
render: 'h1',
color: 'green',
backgroundColor: '$background',
variants: {
size: {
large: {
fontSize: 22,
},
small: {
fontSize: 16,
},
},
},
})

Get back perfectly optimized DOM on web (or View/Text on native).

Output
export const App = props => <div className={_cn}>
<h1 className={_cn2 + (_cn3 + (props.big ? _cn4 : _cn5))}>
Lorem ipsum.
</h1>
</div>
const _cn5 = " _fos-16px"
const _cn4 = " _fos-22px"
const _cn3 = " _bg-180kg62 _col-b5vn3b _mt-0px _mr-0px _mb-0px _ml-0px _ww-break-word _bxs-border-box _ff-System _dsp-inline "
const _cn2 = " font_System"
const _cn = " _fd-column _miw-0px _mih-0px _pos-relative _bxs-border-box _fb-auto _dsp-flex _fs-0 _ai-stretch _w-550px _pr-1aj14ca _pl-1aj14ca _pr-_gtSm_lrpixp _pl-_gtSm_lrpixp"

The compiler generates built versions of your components and config into a .tamagui directory. You’ll want to add that directory to your .gitignore.

Configuration with tamagui.build.ts

We recommend creating a tamagui.build.ts file in your project root as the single source of truth for your compiler configuration. All bundler plugins and the CLI automatically read from this file, so you only need to define your options once.

This file lets the Tamagui CLI read your config and perform operations like generating CSS, pre-compiling components, and verifying optimizations — while also sharing that same configuration with whichever bundler plugin you use. Without it, you’d need to duplicate options across your metro, babel, vite, or webpack configs.

tamagui.build.ts

import type { TamaguiBuildOptions } from 'tamagui'
export default {
config: './tamagui.config.ts',
components: ['tamagui'],
outputCSS: './public/tamagui.generated.css',
// optional:
importsWhitelist: ['constants.js', 'colors.js'],
disableExtraction: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development',
} satisfies TamaguiBuildOptions

With this file in place, your bundler plugins can be configured with no options at all — they’ll pick up everything from tamagui.build.ts:

// vite: tamaguiPlugin()
// webpack: new TamaguiPlugin()
// metro: withTamagui(config)
// all read from tamagui.build.ts automatically

You can still pass options directly to a plugin, and they’ll be merged with (and override) the options from tamagui.build.ts.

Install

There are plugins for a variety of bundlers, or you can use the @tamagui/cli to compile in-place:

Webpack

yarn add tamagui-loader

We have a full example of a plain Webpack or Vite setup in the simple starter accessible through npm create tamagui@latest, which shows a complete configuration with more detail.

Add tamagui-loader and set up your webpack.config.js.

You can set it up more manually like so:

const { shouldExclude } = require('tamagui-loader')
const tamaguiOptions = {
config: './tamagui.config.ts',
components: ['tamagui'],
importsWhitelist: ['constants.js', 'colors.js'],
logTimings: true,
disableExtraction: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development',
// optional advanced optimization of styled() definitions within your app itself, not just ones in your components option
// default is false
enableDynamicEvaluation: false,
}
module.exports = {
resolve: {
alias: {
// Resolve react-native to react-native-web
'react-native$': require.resolve('react-native-web'),
// optional, for lighter svg icons on web
'react-native-svg': require.resolve('@tamagui/react-native-svg'),
},
},
module: {
rules: [
{
test: /\.[jt]sx?$/,
// you'll likely want to adjust this helper function,
// but it serves as a decent start that you can copy/paste from
exclude: (path) => shouldExclude(path, __dirname, tamaguiOptions),
use: [
// optionally thread-loader for significantly faster compile!
'thread-loader',
// works nicely alongside esbuild
{
loader: 'esbuild-loader',
},
{
loader: 'tamagui-loader',
options: tamaguiOptions,
},
],
},
],
},
}

Or you can use the TamaguiPlugin which automates some of this setup for you. If you have a tamagui.build.ts, you can pass no options:

const { TamaguiPlugin } = require('tamagui-loader')
module.exports = {
plugins: [
// reads from tamagui.build.ts automatically
new TamaguiPlugin(),
],
}

Or pass options inline to override:

const { TamaguiPlugin } = require('tamagui-loader')
module.exports = {
plugins: [
new TamaguiPlugin({
config: './tamagui.config.ts',
components: ['tamagui'],
importsWhitelist: ['constants.js', 'colors.js'],
logTimings: true,
disableExtraction: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development',
}),
],
}

Some notes on the options:

  • importsWhitelist: Tamagui takes a conservative approach to partial evaluation, this field whitelists (matching against both .ts and .js) files to allow files that import them to read and use their values during compilation. Typically colors and constants files.
  • disableExtraction: Useful for faster developer iteration as your design system hot reloads more reliably.

Vite

See the Vite guide for more complete setup.

Add @tamagui/vite-plugin and update your vite.config.ts. If you have a tamagui.build.ts, no options are needed:

import { tamaguiPlugin } from '@tamagui/vite-plugin'
export default defineConfig({
plugins: [
// reads from tamagui.build.ts automatically
tamaguiPlugin(),
],
})

Or pass options inline:

import { tamaguiPlugin } from '@tamagui/vite-plugin'
export default defineConfig({
plugins: [
tamaguiPlugin({
config: 'src/tamagui.config.ts',
components: ['tamagui'],
disableExtraction: true,
}),
],
})

Next.js

See the guide for more complete setup.

Next.js with Turbopack (the default) works best with the CLI approach — create a tamagui.build.ts and use tamagui build to optimize production builds. No bundler plugin needed.

For older Webpack-based Next.js setups, add @tamagui/next-plugin and configure your next.config.js:

const { withTamagui } = require('@tamagui/next-plugin')
module.exports = function (name, { defaultConfig }) {
const tamaguiPlugin = withTamagui({
// reads from tamagui.build.ts automatically, or pass inline:
config: './tamagui.config.ts',
components: ['tamagui'],
disableExtraction: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development',
excludeReactNativeWebExports: ['Switch', 'ProgressBar', 'Picker'],
})
return {
...defaultConfig,
...tamaguiPlugin(defaultConfig),
}
}

Note: If running into issues, the environment variable IGNORE_TS_CONFIG_PATHS to “true” can fix issues with Tamagui being resolved incorrectly.

See the Next.js Guide for more details on setting up your app.

Babel / Metro

Note that the @tamagui/babel-plugin is completely optional, and on native Tamagui doesn’t optimize as much as on web, so leaving it out is actually recommended to start. If later on you feel the need for a bit more speed, you can try adding it.

yarn add @tamagui/babel-plugin

Add to your babel.config.js. With a tamagui.build.ts, you can pass no options:

module.exports = {
plugins: [
// reads from tamagui.build.ts automatically
'@tamagui/babel-plugin',
],
}

Or pass options inline:

module.exports = {
plugins: [
[
'@tamagui/babel-plugin',
{
components: ['tamagui'],
config: './tamagui.config.ts',
importsWhitelist: ['constants.js', 'colors.js'],
logTimings: true,
disableExtraction: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development',
},
],
],
}

Expo

Check out the Expo guide for more information on setting up Expo. It’s as simple as adding the babel plugin.

CLI-Based In-Place Compilation

For bundlers that don’t have a Tamagui plugin yet (like Turbopack), or if you prefer a simple setup, you can use @tamagui/cli to pre-compile your components in-place before your build step.

This approach is meant for production builds only and should run in your deployment pipeline, not during development. It rewrites files in place which will mess up your working directory, but makes it highly compatible with any bundler or tool. The downside is you don’t get the helpful development compatibility parts of the plugins, plus dev-mode debugging and data- attributes.

For complete CLI documentation including all available commands, see the CLI Guide.

Setup

  1. Install:
yarn add -D @tamagui/cli
  1. Create a tamagui.build.ts if you haven’t already (see above).

  2. Add a build script to your package.json:

{
"scripts": {
"build": "tamagui build ./src -- next build"
}
}

Usage

Terminal

# Build all components in a directory (web + native by default)
npx tamagui build ./src
# Build for web only
npx tamagui build --target web ./src
# Build for native only
npx tamagui build --target native ./src
# Build a specific file
npx tamagui build ./src/components/MyComponent.tsx
# Include/exclude patterns
npx tamagui build --include "components/**" --exclude "**/*.test.tsx" ./src
# Output to a separate directory (source files unchanged)
npx tamagui build --output ./dist ./src
# Create platform-specific files next to source files (.web.tsx or .native.tsx)
npx tamagui build --target native --output-around ./src
# Preview changes without writing files
npx tamagui build --dry-run ./src
# Verify minimum optimizations (useful in CI)
npx tamagui build --target web --expect-optimizations 10 ./src

CI Verification with —expect-optimizations

The --expect-optimizations flag ensures your build is actually optimizing components. This is useful in CI to catch configuration issues:

{
"scripts": {
"build": "tamagui build --target web --expect-optimizations 10 ./src -- next build"
}
}

If the compiler produces fewer than the expected number of optimizations, the build will fail with an error message showing the actual count. This helps catch:

  • Misconfigured components array
  • Wrong source paths
  • Configuration files not being found

Platform-Specific File Handling

The CLI automatically handles platform-specific files (.web.tsx, .native.tsx, .ios.tsx, .android.tsx):

  • Files with .web.tsx extensions are optimized for web only
  • Files with .native.tsx, .ios.tsx, or .android.tsx extensions are optimized for native only
  • Base files (.tsx) without platform-specific versions are optimized for all platforms
  • If both .web.tsx and .native.tsx exist, the base .tsx file is skipped

Package.json Exports Support

The CLI supports package.json exports for path-specific imports. For example:

{
"exports": {
".": "./src/index.tsx",
"./components/Button": "./src/Button.tsx"
}
}

Both import styles work:

import { Button } from '@my/ui'
import { Button } from '@my/ui/components/Button'

Integration Examples

This works with any build tool - just run tamagui build before your build command. Here are some examples:

Next.js with Turbopack (Turbopack doesn’t support plugins yet):

{
"scripts": {
"dev": "next dev --turbopack",
"build": "tamagui build --target web ./src -- next build"
}
}

Vite, Remix, or any other bundler:

{
"scripts": {
"build": "tamagui build --target web ./src -- vite build"
}
}

React Native / Expo:

{
"scripts": {
"build:ios": "tamagui build --target native ./src -- eas build --platform ios",
"build:android": "tamagui build --target native ./src -- eas build --platform android"
}
}

Using —output (no file restoration needed):

If you prefer to output optimized files to a separate directory instead of modifying source files in-place, use --output:

{
"scripts": {
"build": "tamagui build --target web --output ./dist ./src && next build"
}
}

With --output, your source files are never modified. The optimized files are written to the output directory with their directory structure preserved.

Using —output-around (platform-specific files):

The --output-around flag creates optimized platform-specific files (.web.tsx or .native.tsx) next to your source files instead of modifying them. Bundlers automatically pick up these files via platform-specific resolution:

{
"scripts": {
"prebuild:native": "tamagui build --target native --output-around ./src",
"prebuild:web": "tamagui build --target web --output-around ./src"
}
}

This transforms Button.tsx → creates Button.native.tsx or Button.web.tsx alongside it. Metro/Expo uses .native.tsx on native, and web bundlers use .web.tsx.

The Tamagui CLI optimizes your components in-place (or to an output directory), then your bundler processes the already-optimized files.

Learn more: See the CLI Guide for documentation on all CLI commands including check, generate, add, and more.

Props

All compiler plugins accept the same options:

Props

  • config

    string

    Default: 

    './tamagui.config.ts'

    Relative path to your tamagui.config.ts file which should export default the result from createTamagui. Can be set in tamagui.build.ts instead.

  • components

    string[]

    Default: 

    ['tamagui']

    Array of npm modules containing Tamagui components which you'll be using in your app. For example: if you are using the base Tamagui components. This directs the compiler to load and optimize.

  • importsWhitelist

    string[]

    Array of whitelisted file paths (always end in .js) which the compiler may try and import and parse at build-time. It is normalized to ".js" ending for all file extensions (js, jsx, tsx, ts). This usually should be set to something like ['constants.js', 'colors.js'] for example, where you have a couple mostly static files of constants that are used as default values for styles.

  • logTimings

    boolean

    Default: 

    true

    Tamagui outputs information for each file it compiles on how long it took to run, how many components it optimized, and how many it flattened. Set to false to disable these logs.

  • disable

    boolean

    Default: 

    false

    Disable everything - debug and extraction.

  • disableExtraction

    boolean

    Default: 

    false

    Disable extraction to CSS completely, instead fully relying on runtime. Setting this to true speed up development as generally your app will hot reload the Tamagui configuration itself.

  • disableDebugAttr

    boolean

    Default: 

    false

    If enabled along with disableExtraction, all parsing will turn off. Normally turning off disableExtraction will keep the helpful debug attributes in DOM

  • disableFlattening

    boolean

    Default: 

    false

    Turns off tree-flattening.

  • enableDynamicEvaluation

    boolean

    Default: 

    false

    (Experimental) Enables further extracting of any styled component, even if not in your components. See below for more information.

  • outputCSS

    string

    Path to output extracted CSS. When set, the compiler automatically sets TAMAGUI_DID_OUTPUT_CSS which tree-shakes all runtime CSS generation code from your bundle (~6KB gzipped savings).

  • Dynamic Evaluation

    By default the Tamagui compiler only optimizes styled expressions found in the modules defined by your components config. This means if you do an inline styled() inside your actual app directory, it will default to runtime style insertion.

    This is typically Good Enough™️. As long as you define most of your common components there, you’ll get a very high hit rate of compiled styles being used and runtime generation being skipped, as atomic styles with your design system tokens will be mostly pre-generated.

    Tamagui has experimental support for loading any component, even if it occurs somewhere outside your configured components modules. This is called “dynamic loading”, for now. You can enable it with the setting enableDynamicEvaluation as seen above in the props table.

    The way it works is, when the compiler detects a styled() expression outside one of the defined component directories, it will run the following:

    1. First, read the file and use a custom babel transform to force all top-level variables to be exported.
    2. Then, run esbuild and bundle the entire file to a temporary file in the same directory, something like .tamagui-dynamic-eval-ComponentName.js
    3. Now, read the file in and load all new definitions found.
    4. Finally, continue with optimization, using the newly optimized component.

    You may see why this is experimental. It’s very convenient as a developer, but has a variety of edge cases that can be confusing or breaking, and we want to avoid installation woes. Though it does continue on error and work generally, it outputs warnings in Webpack currently due to our plugin not properly indicating to Webpack about the new files (a fixable bug), which causes big yellow warning output and a cache de-opt.

    We’re leaving this feature under the environment variable while it matures. Let us know if you find it useful.

    Disabling the compiler

    You can disable the compiler optimizations for an entire file with a comment at the top of your file:

    // tamagui-ignore

    You can disable the compiler optimization for a single component with the boolean property disableOptimization:

    import { View } from '@tamagui/core'
    export default () => <View disableOptimization />

    Web-only apps

    If you want autocompleted imports of react-native without having to install all the weight of react-native, you can set react-native version to 0.0.0, and add @types/react-native at the latest version.