是否需在不使用Babel的情况下运行/配置React项目？ES6在React中是否必需？

Great question—let’s break this down into clear, practical parts based on what you’re asking.

1. Is it necessary to run a React project without Babel? #

Short answer: No, it’s not necessary, and in most real-world cases, it’s not even practical. Here’s why:

• React’s bread-and-butter syntax, JSX, isn’t valid vanilla JavaScript. Browsers can’t parse JSX directly—you need a tool like Babel to convert it into plain React.createElement() calls that browsers understand.
• While you could write your entire React app using only React.createElement() (ditching JSX entirely), that’s going to make your code verbose, hard to read, and slow to write. For example:

  // With JSX (clean, intuitive)
  <div className="greeting">Hello, React!</div>
  

  vs.

  // Without JSX (clunky, error-prone)
  React.createElement('div', { className: 'greeting' }, 'Hello, React!');
  

• Even modern browsers support most ES6+ features natively, but if you’re using newer syntax (like optional chaining ?., nullish coalescing ??, or decorators), even cutting-edge browsers might not support them without transpilation.

2. Is it necessary to configure a React project without Babel (or should you use Babel because ES6 is required)? #

Again, it’s not necessary to avoid Babel, and here’s when you should (and shouldn’t) lean into it:

• When you might skip Babel: If you’re building a tiny throwaway demo, targeting only the absolute latest browser versions, and willing to give up JSX for raw React.createElement() calls. This is an extremely niche use case, though.
• When you absolutely should use Babel:
  • You want to use JSX (which 99% of React developers do for better productivity and code clarity).
  • You need to support older browsers (like IE11 or legacy Safari/Chrome versions) that don’t understand modern ES6+ syntax.
  • You’re using advanced JavaScript features that aren’t yet fully supported across all browsers.
• Also, keep in mind that modern React tooling (like Create React App, Vite, or Next.js) already includes Babel (or similar transpilers like esbuild) out of the box. You don’t have to manually configure it—transpilation is handled for you, so there’s no reason to avoid it.

At the end of the day, Babel is a tool that solves real pain points in React development: it lets you write clean, modern code (including JSX) that works across almost all browsers. Avoiding it would only make your development process harder without any meaningful benefits for most projects.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者HamzaAhmed