Uncaught Error: Too many re-renders

Uncaught Error: Too many re-renders

If you are working on a React project, then you might have come across the "Uncaught Error: Too many re-renders" error. This error occurs when a component is rendered too many times, and it creates an infinite loop. This can cause the application to crash or become unresponsive.

The most common reason for this error is when a state or prop is updated inside the render() method of a component. This causes the component to re-render, which then updates the state or prop again, causing another re-render, and so on.

Example:

import React, { useState } from 'react'

function MyComponent() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0)

  if (count > 5) {
    setCount(0)
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {count}</p>
    </div>
  )
}

In this example, the MyComponent component uses the useState hook to manage the state of the count variable. Inside the render() method, the value of count is checked, and if it's greater than 5, it sets the value of count to 0.

This creates an infinite loop of re-renders because every time setCount(0) is called, it triggers a re-render of the component. To fix this issue, we can move the logic outside of the render() method:

Fixed Example:

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react'

function MyComponent() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0)

  useEffect(() => {
    if (count > 5) {
      setCount(0)
    }
  }, [count])

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {count}</p>
    </div>
  )
}

In this fixed example, we moved the logic to reset the count to 0 inside the useEffect hook. The useEffect hook is called after every re-render of the component, so we can safely update the state inside it without causing an infinite loop.

There are other reasons for this error, like calling a function that changes state in a loop or using a component that has a circular reference. But the most common reason is trying to update state or props inside the render() method.

To avoid this error, make sure to move any state or prop updates outside of the render() method and into a useEffect hook.