react-page-tracker is a lightweight, zero-dependency library providing accurate navigation tracking, fixed
document.referrer value, and complete history support for React frameworks. Fully compatible with Next.js, Remix, TanStack Query, and React Router.
👉 Demo
🚀 An awesome use case: Magic Back Button in shadcn/ui expansions
- 📝 Identifies whether the user navigated to the page via browser back/forward buttons or by clicking a link.
- 🧩 Works with
History.go(),history.forward(),history.back(), andhistory.pushState(). - 🐞 Fixes incorrect
document.referrerafter navigation, providing the correct referrer for tracking purposes. - 💡 Accurately determines whether the current page is the first or last page.
- 🧭 Offers a complete history browsing record.
- 🚀 Supports Next.js, Remix, TanStack Query, and React Router.
- ⚡️ zero deps.
- ⭐️ typed-safe.
type PageTrackerState = {
/** current page index */
pageIndex: number;
/** correct `document.referrer` */
referrer: string;
/** whether the current page is the first page */
isFirstPage: boolean;
/** whether the current page is the last page */
isLastPage: boolean;
/** whether the user navigated to the page via browser back/forward buttons or by clicking a link */
pageEvent?: PageEvent; // 'back' | 'forward' | 'push' | undefined. undefined for first visit.
/** history browsing record */
pageHistory: string[]; // ['/', '/products', '/pdocuts/1', '/products/2', '/about', ...]
/**
* total page history length.
* When user press `back` button, the `pageHistory`'s end link will become the current link.
* You may need this total length to handle `history.go(N)` to forward N page.
*/
pageHistoryLength: number;
}Simply to get the values you need in any component.
const { pageIndex, referrer, isFirstPage, isLastPage, pageEvent, pageHistory } = usePageTrackerStore((state) => state);npm install react-page-tracker▲ Next.js
layout.tsx
+ import { PageTracker } from 'react-page-tracker';
export default function RootLayout({ children }: Readonly<{ children: React.ReactNode; }>) {
return (
<html lang="en">
<body>
+ <PageTracker /> // next 14, there's an auto detection. A better way is to follow your environment. e,g. `enableStrictModeHandler={process.env.NODE_ENV === 'local'}`
+ <PageTracker enableStrictModeHandler={false} /> // next 15+. always be false
{children}
</body>
</html>
);
}If you are using nextjs 15, you have to set enableStrictModeHandler to false
In nextjs 14, strict mode will execute twice when push a page (e,g. click an Anchor link) which may cause pageHistory values error and hard to handle in development mode.
But in remix, tanstack/query, react-router, it will not execute twice. works fine.
There's an automatic detection for nextjs strict mode, so you don't need to set this prop.
But I can't detect 14 or 15, so you have to set this prop to false in next 15.
PS: DO NOT set enableStrictModeHandler to true in production, it may cause issues.
You are all set up! Now you can access the page tracking information in any component.
component.tsx
import { usePageTrackerStore } from 'react-page-tracker';
export const PageTrackerValue = () => {
// get all state
const state = usePageTrackerStore((state) => state);
// get the specific state you'd like to use
const pickState = usePageTrackerStore((state) => ({
isFirstPage: state.isFirstPage,
referrer: state.referrer,
pageHistory: state.pageHistory,
}));
return (
<div className="flex">
<div className="flex flex-col gap-3">
<pre className="rounded-md bg-gray-100 px-2 py-0.5 font-bold">
state: {JSON.stringify(state)}
</pre>
<pre className="rounded-md bg-gray-100 px-2 py-0.5 font-bold">
pickState: {JSON.stringify(pickState)}
</pre>
</div>
</div>
);
};🆁 Remix
force Vite to build to CommonJS
vite.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
+ ssr: {
+ noExternal: ['react-page-tracker'], // force Vite to build to CommonJS
+ },
plugins: [
remix({
future: {
v3_fetcherPersist: true,
v3_relativeSplatPath: true,
v3_throwAbortReason: true,
v3_singleFetch: true,
v3_lazyRouteDiscovery: true,
},
}),
tsconfigPaths(),
],
});root.tsx
import { Links, Meta, Outlet, Scripts, ScrollRestoration } from '@remix-run/react';
import type { LinksFunction } from '@remix-run/node';
import './tailwind.css';
+ import { PageTracker } from 'react-page-tracker';
export const links: LinksFunction = () => [
{ rel: 'preconnect', href: 'https://fonts.googleapis.com' },
{
rel: 'preconnect',
href: 'https://fonts.gstatic.com',
crossOrigin: 'anonymous',
},
{
rel: 'stylesheet',
href: 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:ital,opsz,wght@0,14..32,100..900;1,14..32,100..900&display=swap',
},
];
export function Layout({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
return (
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charSet="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
<Meta />
<Links />
</head>
<body>
+ <PageTracker />
{children}
<ScrollRestoration />
<Scripts />
</body>
</html>
);
}
export default function App() {
return <Outlet />;
}
You are all set up! Now you can access the page tracking information in any component.
component.tsx
import { usePageTrackerStore } from 'react-page-tracker';
export const PageTrackerValue = () => {
// get all state
const state = usePageTrackerStore((state) => state);
// get the specific state you'd like to use
const pickState = usePageTrackerStore((state) => ({
isFirstPage: state.isFirstPage,
referrer: state.referrer,
pageHistory: state.pageHistory,
}));
return (
<div className="flex">
<div className="flex flex-col gap-3">
<pre className="rounded-md bg-gray-100 px-2 py-0.5 font-bold">
state: {JSON.stringify(state)}
</pre>
<pre className="rounded-md bg-gray-100 px-2 py-0.5 font-bold">
pickState: {JSON.stringify(pickState)}
</pre>
</div>
</div>
);
};Be welcome to contribute! Here's how you can contribute:
- Open an issue if you believe you've encountered a bug.
- Make a pull request to add new features/make quality-of-life improvements/fix bugs.
Built by Hsuan Yi, Chou
Licensed under the MIT License.
