Hi maintainers and community,

I'd like to open a discussion around the future of create-react-app and whether it's time to consider formally archiving the project.

CRA has been an incredibly important part of the React ecosystem — for many developers (myself included), it was the first step into building React applications without needing to wrestle with bundlers and complex tooling. It offered a much-needed abstraction at a time when frontend setup was notoriously difficult, and its impact can’t be overstated.

That said, the ecosystem has evolved significantly:

• Modern tools like Vite, Next.js, and Remix have become the go-to solutions for new projects. They offer faster builds, improved DX, and are better aligned with React's current direction (e.g. server components, SSR, file-based routing).
• Maintenance of CRA has become increasingly difficult, especially with the growing complexity of underlying tools like Webpack, Babel, and Jest. Updates tend to be slow, and keeping up with security patches alone is a challenge.
• The project's activity has slowed down, both in terms of commits and issue resolution. Many users have expressed concerns around stagnation, and some are unsure whether CRA is still a recommended starting point for React apps.
• New React developers may be better served by tools that reflect today’s best practices. CRA's architecture is becoming less representative of modern patterns in the React world.

Archiving CRA wouldn’t diminish its legacy — if anything, it would honor its contributions while making space for the next generation of tooling. Existing users could continue using the latest stable release, while the README and documentation could point newcomers toward actively maintained alternatives.

This issue isn’t meant to criticize the hard work that's gone into CRA — quite the opposite. It’s a suggestion made with respect for what the project has accomplished and out of a desire to see clarity around its status moving forward.

Curious to hear others' thoughts. Is it time to officially sunset create-react-app?

Thanks for everything 🙏