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Amit Kumar
Amit Kumar

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Clean Up Your React Native Imports: A Guide to Absolute Paths

#reactnative #android #ios #absolutepath

Tired of messy relative paths like ../../../../components cluttering your React Native project? Absolute imports offer a cleaner, more maintainable alternative. This guide will walk you through setting them up seamlessly.

Why Switch to Absolute Paths?

✅ Cleaner Code – No more counting ../ to navigate directories
✅ Better Refactoring – Move files without breaking imports
✅ Improved Readability – Instantly see where components come from
✅ Faster Development – Spend less time fixing broken paths

Step 1: Install the Required Package

Install babel-plugin-module-resolver to enable path aliasing:

npm install babel-plugin-module-resolver --save-dev # or yarn add babel-plugin-module-resolver --dev
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Step 2: Configure Your Project

- For JavaScript Projects (jsconfig.json)
Create a jsconfig.json file in your project root (delete tsconfig.json if it exists):

{ "compilerOptions": { "baseUrl": "./", "paths": { "app-components/*": ["src/components/*"], "app-screens/*": ["src/screens/*"], "app-assets/*": ["src/assets/*"], "app-navigation/*": ["src/navigation/*"] } }, "exclude": ["node_modules"] }
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- For TypeScript Projects (tsconfig.json)
If using TypeScript, create a similar tsconfig.json with matching aliases.

Step 3: Update Babel Configuration

- Modify babel.config.js to include the resolver plugin:

module.exports = { presets: ['module:@react-native/babel-preset'], plugins: [ 'react-native-reanimated/plugin', // Keep this first if using Reanimated [ 'module-resolver', { root: ['./src'], extensions: ['.js', '.jsx', '.json'], alias: { 'app-components': './src/components', 'app-screens': './src/screens', 'app-assets': './src/assets', 'app-navigation': './src/navigation', }, }, ], ], };
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Note: Remove react-native-reanimated/plugin if not using Reanimated.

Example: Before vs. After

❌ Old Way (Relative Paths) 

import LanguageComponent from '../../../../../components/LanguageComponent';
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✅ New Way (Absolute Paths) 

import LanguageComponent from 'app-components/LanguageComponent';
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Troubleshooting

If VS Code doesn’t recognize the paths (can’t jump to file on hover/click):

1. Restart Everything

  • Close VS Code completely
  • Run these commands: 
rm -rf node_modules npm install npm start -- --reset-cache
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  • Reopen VS Code and wait for indexing

2. Verify Configurations

  • Ensure jsconfig.json/tsconfig.json and babel.config.js match
  • Check for typos in aliases

Customization Tips

🔹 Replace app- with your project name (e.g., myapp-components)
🔹 Add more aliases for directories like utils, services, or hooks
🔹 Keep aliases consistent across your team

Final Thoughts

Switching to absolute paths is a small change with big benefits—cleaner imports, easier refactoring, and a smoother development experience.

🚀 Try it in your next project and enjoy cleaner code!

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