React18 String Refs

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Migrating string ref usage - including single element refs
• Multiple refs in a component
• Refs passed to child components
• React 18.3.1 migration (string refs warn) and React 19 migration (string refs removed)

Example prompts

• “Use the react18-string-refs skill to provide exact migration patterns for React string refs (ref="name" + this.refs.name) to React.createRef() in…”
• “/react18-string-refs”

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Add refName = React.createRef(); as a class field (or in constructor)
2. 2Replace ref="refName" → ref={this.refName} in JSX
3. 3Replace this.refs.refName → this.refName.current everywhere

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 7cce7cf. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bash).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

React18 String Refs loads about 527 tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 149 tokens; SKILL.md has 121 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~149

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~527

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~2.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from github/awesome-copilot at commit 7cce7cf, republished under its MIT licence (© github). 121 words, ~527 tokens.

name

react18-string-refs

description

Provides exact migration patterns for React string refs (ref="name" + this.refs.name) to React.createRef() in class components. Use this skill whenever migrating string ref usage - including single element refs, multiple refs in a component, refs in lists, callback refs, and refs passed to child components. Always use this skill before writing any ref migration code - the multiple-refs-in-list pattern is particularly tricky and this skill prevents the most common mistakes. Use it for React 18.3.1 migration (string refs warn) and React 19 migration (string refs removed).

# Find all string ref assignments in JSX
grep -rn 'ref="' src/ --include="*.js" --include="*.jsx" | grep -v "\.test\."

# Find all this.refs accessors
grep -rn "this\.refs\." src/ --include="*.js" --include="*.jsx" | grep -v "\.test\."

© github, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in skills/react18-string-refs of github/awesome-copilot.

• SKILL.md
• references/patterns.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 7cce7cf

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in github/awesome-copilot, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• boshi-xixixi/TraeSkill.trae/Skills/.agents/skills/react18-string-refs