react-doctor/no-ref-current-in-render

Ref mutated during render

• Category: Bugs
• Severity: error
• Source: oxlint-plugin-react-doctor
• Framework: global
• Enabled when: react
• Default: Enabled

Validation prompt

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Confirm the reported code matches Ref mutated during render. Check the framework context and diagnostic message before suppressing it.

Fix prompt

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Move ref writes into an event handler or effect. Render must stay pure because React can replay or discard it. The predictable null-guarded lazy initialization pattern remains supported.

Related rules

More Bugs rules from the rules reference:

• react-doctor/no-render-return-value: Disallow using the return value of ReactDOM.render — a legacy escape hatch removed in React 19.
• react-doctor/no-reset-all-state-on-prop-change: Disallow resetting all state in an effect when a prop changes.
• react-doctor/no-self-updating-effect: Break the self-updating-effect feedback loop: derive the value during render, move the write into an event handler, or guard the update so it provably converges.
• react-doctor/no-set-state-in-render: Move the setter call into a `useEffect`, an event handler, or replace the state with a value computed during render. Calling a setter at render time triggers another render, which calls the setter again — an infinite loop
• react-doctor/no-stale-timer-ref: Cleared timer ref keeps the stale id