⚛️ React Fiber: Advanced Guide

Introduction: Why Fiber?

React Fiber is a complete rewrite of the React core algorithm (introduced in React 16) to solve performance and concurrency limitations. Fiber enables:

• ⏱️ Incremental rendering (time-slicing)
• 🛑 Pausing, resuming, and discarding work mid-render
• ⭐ Prioritizing updates
• 🌳 Better handling of large component trees

Fiber represents a unit of work — a lightweight object describing a component, its props, state, and tree relations.

The Fiber Data Structure

A Fiber is a JS object with key properties:

interface Fiber { tag: number; key: string | null; elementType: any; type: any; stateNode: any; return: Fiber | null; child: Fiber | null; sibling: Fiber | null; index: number; ref: any; pendingProps: any; memoizedProps: any; memoizedState: any; updateQueue: UpdateQueue | null; effectTag: number; nextEffect: Fiber | null; alternate: Fiber | null; } 

Detailed Property Explanations

• tag: Fiber type (FunctionComponent, HostComponent, etc.)

• key: used during reconciliation

• elementType vs type: JSX type vs resolved component type

• stateNode: instance or DOM node

• return/child/sibling: tree structure

• index: sibling position

• ref: React refs

• pendingProps: upcoming render props

• memoizedProps / memoizedState: last committed props/state

• updateQueue: pending updates stored in Current Fiber

• effectTag: DOM operations

• nextEffect: linked list for commit

• alternate: links Current ↔ WIP

• Current vs WIP: current = last committed tree, workInProgress = in-progress tree

• Hooks stored as linked list (memoizedState) on function component fibers

Rendering Pipeline

Render Phase (Reconciliation)

• Pure phase, no DOM mutations
• Builds WIP Fiber tree, cloned from Current if exists
• Depth-first traversal
• Applies updates from each Fiber’s update queue
• Marks fibers with effect tags
• Supports pausing, resuming, discarding WIP

Commit Phase Overview

• Runs after WIP tree built
• Synchronous phase: DOM mutations
• Sub-phases: Before Mutation, Mutation, Layout Effects, Passive Effects

Commit Phase in Detail 🏁

1. Before Mutation Phase

• getSnapshotBeforeUpdate runs
• DOM snapshot captured before mutations
• WIP in memory, Current Fiber unchanged
• Previous effect cleanups run

2. Mutation Phase

• Apply DOM changes (Placement, Update, Deletion)
• Depth-first traversal
• Batched DOM writes
• Ref attachments/detachments handled

3. Layout Effects Phase

• componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate, useLayoutEffect run
• After DOM mutations, before browser paint
• Synchronous layout calculations

4. Passive Effects Phase

• useEffect hooks run asynchronously after paint
• Non-blocking side effects
• Cleanup of previous effects handled

WIP → Current Swap

• After commit, WIP becomes Current
• Ensures consistent UI even if new render scheduled mid-commit

DOM Insertion & Updates

• Depth-first DOM insertion
• Deletes handled carefully
• Atomicity guaranteed
• Refs updated

Special Notes

• WIP can be discarded if higher-priority update arrives
• Only fully completed WIP trees committed
• UI never reflects half-done work
• Commit errors trigger error boundaries

Hooks & Fiber

• Hooks stored on Fiber (memoizedState)
• useState / useReducer applied during WIP render
• On commit, memoizedState becomes part of Current
• Scheduler clones Current → WIP; pending updates applied
• Deterministic state even if WIP discarded

Common Scenarios

Half-done WIP

• Paused WIP doesn’t affect DOM
• May resume or be discarded
• New WIP clones Current and reapplies updates if discarded

Update Queue

• Stored on Current Fiber
• Survives WIP discard
• Functional updates applied in order

Multiple setState

• Batched: single render
• Unbatched: separate WIP per update
• Object states merged shallowly

[state, setState] recreation

• New array per render
• Prevents mutation of previous hooks

Fiber Interconnections

• return, child, sibling, alternate
• Current ↔ WIP swap keeps references
• Children cloned when WIP created

Diagrams / Pseudo-code

Fiber Tree Example

HostRootFiber └─ AppFiber ├─ HeaderFiber └─ ContentFiber ├─ Child1Fiber └─ Child2Fiber 

• WIP tree created first render
• Commit swaps WIP → Current
• Hooks stored as linked list in function components

Update Queue Example

CounterFiber.updateQueue = { pending: { action: prev => prev + 1, next: null }, baseState: 0 } 

• WIP render: memoizedState = baseState + pending actions

setCount(c => c+1) -> enqueued in Current -> WIP applies -> memoizedState updated 

Closing Notes

• Fiber enables incremental, interruptible, prioritized rendering
• WIP trees ephemeral; Current = source of truth
• Updates queued in Current, replayed in WIP
• Commit phase atomic
• Hooks integrated with Fiber
• Understanding Fiber internals helps optimize React and ace interviews

Author

Yogesh Bamanier
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogesh-007/