Airbnb Introduces New Open-Source Library React-Sketchapp

Airbnb has recently introduced a new open source library which allows users to write React components that render easily to sketch documents. The company wanted to iron out the differences between designers and engineers working on design systems at scale.

Since it is an open source library, engineers and designers can start sketching. The company has already shared some of the work they have done on Sketchapp. Designers and engineers who are well acquainted with React can readily start working with the React-Sketchapp.

“At Airbnb, we’re big fans of React.js. It’s the perfect paradigm for thinking about and building componentized design systems, and we use it for large parts of our web and mobile applications,” said Jon Gold, Design Technologist, Airbnb.

In React, designers will be using components and properties, whereas in Sketch they use symbols and overrides. The concept of designer’s workflow is very similar for both.

Traditionally, designers generate codes from Sketch. But Airbnb wants to achieve the opposite, as they want to generate Sketch files from code in order to keep DLS in sync.