React Flow is an excellent choice for diagramming in React. If you already know React, you can get started right away – the API is small and easy to understand. You can create your first diagram in just a few hours. Watch our video on building a workflow diagram in React Flow.

React Flow works seamlessly with React, allowing you to embed custom HTML or components directly into nodes – perfect for interactive, UI-rich diagrams. GoJS offers superior performance for extensive diagrams and comes with extensive built-in features, but is less flexible for embedding arbitrary React content. See our checklist comparing those libraries.

React Flow is a lightweight library that covers core features like drag-and-drop, linking, resizing, and zooming. For more advanced needs, you’ll need to implement custom solutions or integrate third-party tools. Common examples include:
· Auto-layout libraries like elkjs,
· Advanced state management beyond React Flow’s default store (Zustand),
· Real-time collaboration with tools like Yjs,
· UI and functionality extensions (e.g., custom nodes, edges, grouping) from libraries like Overflow. Some integrations, like Overflow, are straightforward. Others, such as auto-layout or real-time collaboration, require deeper expertise to achieve the desired results without compromising performance or stability.

The choice of a diagramming library should depend on your requirements and the scale of data to be rendered.Need millions of objects? Choose a WebGL/WebGPU-based library. Need tens or hundreds of thousands of interactive objects? A canvas-based library like GoJS is best. Need full interactivity with custom HTML components, CSS styling, and animations? Go with React Flow, which renders diagram components in HTML and React. Regardless of the library, some performance considerations apply to all:
· Auto-layout: Pick the right algorithm – too complex will slow rendering, too simple will harm readability.
· State management: Isolate frequently changing data to avoid unnecessary re-renders; use caching and memoization.
· Visual effects: Transparency, shadows, animations, and complex edge routing can be costly – use sparingly.
· Virtualization: Render only the elements visible in the viewport for large datasets. For more on React Flow performance, see our React Flow project’s performance ebook.

To keep React Flow diagrams smooth and responsive, especially with large datasets, follow these practices:
· Handle state updates efficiently: You can store frequently changing values in global state if needed, but structure it properly and use React’s state management mechanisms to avoid unnecessary re-renders.
· Choose an appropriate auto-layout algorithm: Match the complexity of the layout to your data size – too complex will hurt performance, too simple will harm readability.
· Use memoization and caching: Memoize node and edge components to reduce rendering overhead.
· Limit costly effects: Use transparency, shadows, animations, and complex edge routing sparingly.
· Enable built-in virtualization: React Flow includes viewport-based rendering – just turn it on when working with large diagrams. For an in-depth guide, see our React Flow project’s performance ebook.

The same people behind Overflow Academy.We’re a team of diagramming experts who, every day at Synergy Codes, design and build custom diagramming tools for most demanding industries. Our work spans the entire process — from UX and UI design, through front-end engineering, to performance optimization and advanced features. If your project needs a tailor-made diagramming solution, we can take it from concept to fully working product.

The best partners combine deep expertise in diagramming technologies with proven experience delivering production-ready solutions. Look for teams that know tools like React Flow, GoJS, and custom rendering engines inside out, and can bridge the gap between UX design and high-performance engineering. Our team – the same one behind Overflow Academy – has been doing exactly that for over a decade at Synergy Codes, delivering custom diagramming tools for variety of industries.

For the React part, follow standard best practices for building scalable React applications. React Flow diagrams aren’t much different, but there are key considerations to plan early:
Auto-layout: Choose an algorithm suited to your data. Plan for worst-case scenarios and decide if they should be handled by the general layout or separately.
Dynamic palettes: If your app has a palette for dragging elements, auto-populate it from the database so backend or business teams can control available entities (and even apply role-based access).
Configurable attributes and validation: Store object attributes and diagram rules in the database so other teams can update them or enforce logic without frontend changes. Responsive and accessible UI: Optimize UX for different screens, devices, and accessibility needs. More on that on YouTube and download the Accessibility Checklist.
Scalable state management: Design state handling with performance in mind so it supports new modules as the app grows. Avoid slowdowns from dependencies on frequently modified fields. More in our ebooks on State management in React Flow and React Flow project’s performance.
Versioning and upgrades: Keep track of React Flow releases, review changelogs, and test new versions in staging before deploying to production.
Modular architecture: Build custom nodes, edges, and features as isolated, reusable components or plugins so they can be maintained, replaced, or extended without affecting the rest of the system.

You can do that with libraries like Yjs. It handles multi-user communication over various protocols, provides automatic conflict resolution, and even manages its state with undo/redo support. All that’s required is integrating them into your React Flow application and ensuring proper backend support. More about Yjs in ebook on Real-time collaboration for multiple users in React Flow projects with Yjs.

Yes. The Overflow library offers a custom design system created specifically for React Flow diagrams, along with an open-source implementation of its components. It includes ready-made buttons, modals, popovers, custom nodes, edges, and more – all designed to work seamlessly in React Flow projects.

You don’t have to build everything from scratch. Alongside its UI components, the Overflow library includes a collection of reusable, production-ready plugins for React Flow. That means you get access to reshapeable edges, integration with elkjs auto-layout, advanced grouping, undo/redo, and more functionality plugins you might need.