🛠️ React Devs Are Rethinking This Component

Before we dive into the news, a quick update on Cosden Code, my new React platform launching NEXT WEEK.

You've seen what Cosden Code is. Next week, you'll see the offer. 👀

Over the past two weeks, I've walked you through the platform, the Cosden Assistant that guides you through every lesson, and the hands-on coding environment where you actually build instead of just watching.

Now it's almost time.

Black Friday is coming. Cosden Code launches November 28th with everything you need to finally escape tutorial hell. Expert video lessons for every concept, interactive coding built right into your browser, and the Cosden Assistant available 24/7 when you get stuck.

Here's what makes this different from every course you've tried:

Cosden Code is different. New courses drop every single month for all members. When React 19 launches new features, you get them. When new state management patterns emerge, you learn them.

TypeScript integration, advanced hooks patterns, performance optimization, it's all coming, and you get access to everything as it's created.

This isn't a static course you'll outgrow in six months. Your subscription keeps getting better.

Next week, I'm dropping the most value-packed Black Friday offer I've ever created. Early access goes to the waitlist first, doors open a few hours before the public gets in.

P.S. Earlier this week, I sent an exclusive platform walkthrough video to everyone on the waitlist. If you join now, I'll make sure you get it too before launch.

📰 State of React 2025 Survey is Live
React’s 2025 State of React survey just dropped, and honestly, it feels like yesterday we were all combing through the 2024 results. This year’s edition leans into React’s trademark “slow and steady” evolution, even as the long-awaited React Compiler finally makes its official debut. Despite coming from a company once known for “move fast and break things,” React keeps playing the long game, rolling out Server Components, letting the community adopt at its own pace, and now backing everything with the brand-new React Foundation. Go check out the 2025 edition and see where React’s headed next.

🧠 Tooltip Components Should Not Exist
TkDodo drops an interesting take, tooltip components shouldn’t exist. They’re too easy to misuse, breaking accessibility and confusing users with hidden info. Instead of a low-level <Tooltip>, design systems should offer higher-level, consistent patterns like required titles on icon buttons or dedicated info components.

📲 React Native Isn’t Going Anywhere
React Native isn’t going anywhere. Snapchat’s new Valdi framework is interesting, but its ecosystem is small compared to RN’s mature tooling and broad platform reach. React Native macOS continues to gain momentum with lighter builds and improving native support, while WebGPU-powered tools like react-native-wgpu show what’s now possible across devices. Add in the growing Nitro wave of high-performance modules, and the story stays the same, React Native remains firmly positioned for the long haul.

✉ React Email 5.0
React Email isn’t going anywhere, the latest update brings Tailwind 4 support, an easier dark-mode theming system, and a new Resend integration for team-friendly template collaboration. Weekly downloads are up 117%, with 920k installs and a growing community behind it. Version 5 also adds eight new components plus support for React 19.2 and Next.js 16. To upgrade, just install the latest packages and replace renderAsync with render.

🖼 Dynamically Generating PWA App Icons in Next.js 16
Next.js 16 + Serwist makes dynamic PWA icons much easier, especially when you need different icons for dev, test, staging, and production. By generating the manifest through an API route, you can swap icons based on environment variables, keeping installs clearly labeled. Serwist slots neatly into Turbopack builds (with webpack only for local PWA testing), and the setup stays lightweight and predictable. A clean way to manage PWAs across multiple environments.

Quick Links

👀 Reflections on My Tech Career
Bruce Dawson reflects on the second half of his career, covering his moves through Cavedog, Microsoft, Valve, and Google before retiring in 2024. His story centers on debugging, performance work, and finding environments where that specialization mattered. He highlights lessons on interviewing, compensation, learning continuously, and not staying too long at any one company. A thoughtful wrap-up from someone who built a career fixing the hardest problems in the stack.

💭 Satya Nadella’s Reflections on AI Platforms
Satya Nadella argues that AI should be a positive-sum platform, where companies build their own value instead of accidentally giving it away to tech vendors. He cites Microsoft’s partnerships with OpenAI, Nvidia, and AMD as examples of compounding innovation that benefits the broader ecosystem. The real test, he says, isn’t tech valuations but when AI speeds drug discovery, reshapes supply chains, or helps teachers and farmers. The goal is to avoid zero-sum thinking and ensure every firm keeps control of its own destiny in the AI era.

🆕 Gemini 3!
Google says Gemini 3 is its most advanced model yet, with claimed improvements in reasoning, multimodal understanding, and long-horizon planning. The company is rolling it out across Search, the Gemini app, and developer tools, while introducing Google Antigravity, an agent-first development workflow. Google also claims stronger safety measures and benchmark gains, with a stricter review process for the upcoming Deep Think mode.

🎨 StyleX: Meta’s System for Building CSS at Massive Scale
Meta’s StyleX team outlines how the system aims to scale CSS across huge apps, blending CSS-in-JS ergonomics with static, atomic CSS. They describe StyleX as a compiler-first approach that avoids runtime cost, reduces bundle size, and enforces predictable, conflict-free styling. The post walks through how StyleX handles specificity, variables, theming, and dynamic values, and how it’s become Meta’s default styling layer. They also talk about the growing open-source ecosystem and upcoming features as the project continues to evolve.

🗿 Teach Your AI to Think Like a Senior Engineer
Kieran Klaassen outlines how he uses AI agents to plan features before writing code, arguing that parallel research beats jumping straight into implementation. His example, a seemingly simple “email bankruptcy” feature that turned into a multi-day architecture task once an agent surfaced rate-limit and timeout issues early. He describes eight planning strategies, like reproducing bugs, pulling best practices, and grounding in your own codebase, to help AI understand patterns and reduce rework. The goal, he says, is teaching AI to think more like a senior engineer.