# render-props-pattern

A skill that walks through the render props pattern in React and tells you when a hook is the better call. Useful when rendering logic has to be shared across components.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1000 installs · ★ 257
- Author: patterns.dev
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/PatternsDev/skills/tree/HEAD/react/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-04-15
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/render-props-pattern

## What it does

The skill covers passing a function that returns JSX as a prop. A component with a render prop renders almost nothing itself: it calls that function and hands it its own data. Three variants are shown — an explicit `render` prop, `children` as a function, and lifting state to a common ancestor.

There is a section on when not to reach for the pattern. If a custom hook covers the same logic, the author says to use the hook, because stacked render props turn into JSX nobody wants to read. A temperature converter example shows `Input` passing its value through `props.render(value)` or `props.children(value)`, so `Kelvin` and `Fahrenheit` get the data without lifting state into `App`.

The skill triggers on `**/*.tsx` and `**/*.jsx` files. Its related skills are `hooks-pattern` and `hoc-pattern` — on a codebase already built around hooks, render props are worth using sparingly.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill render-props-pattern -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/render-props-pattern/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill render-props-pattern -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill render-props-pattern -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install PatternsDev/skills render-props-pattern
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill render-props-pattern -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/PatternsDev/skills --path react/render-props-pattern
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill render-props-pattern -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/PatternsDev/skills/tree/HEAD/react/render-props-pattern/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- share rendering logic between components with different markup
- pass data from a wrapper component down to child elements
- drop state lifting that re-renders children which never touch the data
- pick between render props, a hook and an HOC for shared logic
- move an explicit `render` prop over to `children` as a function

## Example prompts
- Rewrite my `Input` with a render prop so `Kelvin` and `Fahrenheit` receive the value
- Compare render props and a custom hook for this component and tell me which to keep
- Help me flatten the nested render props in this file

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: bcbf65acd9281e77.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE bcbf65acd9281e77
````text
---
name: render-props-pattern
description: Teaches the render props pattern for flexible component composition. Use when you need to share rendering logic between components by passing a function that returns JSX as a prop.
paths:
  - "**/*.tsx"
  - "**/*.jsx"
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: patterns.dev
  version: "1.1"
related_skills:
  - "hooks-pattern"
  - "hoc-pattern"
---

# Render Props Pattern

## Table of Contents

- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [When NOT to Use](#when-not-to-use)
- [Instructions](#instructions)
- [Details](#details)
- [Source](#source)

Another way of making components very reusable, is by using the **render prop** pattern. A render prop is a prop on a component, which value is a function that returns a JSX element. The component itself does not render anything besides the render prop. Instead, the component simply calls the render prop, instead of implementing its own rendering logic.

Imagine that we have a `Title` component. In this case, the `Title` component shouldn't do anything besides rendering the value that we pass. We can use a render prop for this! Let's pass the value that we want the `Title` component to render to the `render` prop.

## When to Use

- Use this when you need to share stateful logic between components with different rendering needs
- This is helpful when the HOC pattern creates naming collision issues or overly deep nesting

## When NOT to Use

- When custom hooks can replace the pattern — hooks provide the same logic reuse without render prop nesting
- When it creates deeply nested JSX that becomes hard to read and maintain
- When the shared logic is simple enough for a plain utility function or hook

## Instructions

- Pass a function as a `render` prop (or `children` prop) that receives data and returns JSX
- Prefer custom Hooks over render props in most modern React code
- Use the children-as-a-function pattern as a cleaner alternative to explicit `render` props
- Avoid deeply nesting multiple render prop components — refactor to Hooks instead

## Details

```js
<Title render={() => <h1>I am a render prop!</h1>} />
```

Within the `Title` component, we can render this data by returning the invoked `render` prop!

```js
const Title = (props) => props.render();
```

Although they're called _render_ props, a render prop doesn't have to be called `render`. Any prop that renders JSX is considered a render prop!

A component that takes a render prop usually does a lot more than simply invoking the `render` prop. Instead, we usually want to pass data from the component that takes the render prop, to the element that we pass as a render prop!

```js
function Component(props) {
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE bcbf65acd9281e77

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