Server-side React solves 'many other problems we have had for a while' says Core developer Tim Anderson Thu 7 Jan 2021 // 11:01 UTC Share Copy Facebook's React team has previewed Server Components, allowing developers to write code that runs on the server, speeding up data access and reducing the amount of code that has to be downloaded by the web browser. Should applications run most of their code on the client, or on the server? It is a never-ending question and the balance tilts one way and then the other as technology advances. Early web applications ran mainly on the server, in part because web browsers only had basic scripting capabilities, often replacing fat native client applications for Windows or Mac. Faster connections, asynchronous JavaScript, and HTML 5 swung the pendulum back towards the client.