Tired of messy relative paths like ../../../../components cluttering your React Native project? Absolute imports offer a cleaner, more maintainable alternative. This guide will walk you through setting them up seamlessly.

Image description

Why Switch to Absolute Paths?

✅ Cleaner Code – No more counting ../ to navigate directories
✅ Better Refactoring – Move files without breaking imports
✅ Improved Readability – Instantly see where components come from
✅ Faster Development – Spend less time fixing broken paths

Step 1: Install the Required Package

Install babel-plugin-module-resolver to enable path aliasing:

npm install babel-plugin-module-resolver --save-dev
# or
yarn add babel-plugin-module-resolver --dev

Step 2: Configure Your Project

- For JavaScript Projects (jsconfig.json)
Create a jsconfig.json file in your project root (delete tsconfig.json if it exists):

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "app-components/*": ["src/components/*"],
      "app-screens/*": ["src/screens/*"],
      "app-assets/*": ["src/assets/*"],
      "app-navigation/*": ["src/navigation/*"]
    }
  },
  "exclude": ["node_modules"]
}

- For TypeScript Projects (tsconfig.json)
If using TypeScript, create a similar tsconfig.json with matching aliases.

Step 3: Update Babel Configuration

- Modify babel.config.js to include the resolver plugin:

module.exports = {
  presets: ['module:@react-native/babel-preset'],
  plugins: [
    'react-native-reanimated/plugin', // Keep this first if using Reanimated
    [
      'module-resolver',
      {
        root: ['./src'],
        extensions: ['.js', '.jsx', '.json'],
        alias: {
          'app-components': './src/components',
          'app-screens': './src/screens',
          'app-assets': './src/assets',
          'app-navigation': './src/navigation',
        },
      },
    ],
  ],
};

Note: Remove react-native-reanimated/plugin if not using Reanimated.

Example: Before vs. After

❌ Old Way (Relative Paths) 

import LanguageComponent from '../../../../../components/LanguageComponent';

✅ New Way (Absolute Paths) 

import LanguageComponent from 'app-components/LanguageComponent';

Troubleshooting

If VS Code doesn’t recognize the paths (can’t jump to file on hover/click):

1. Restart Everything

  • Close VS Code completely
  • Run these commands: 
rm -rf node_modules
npm install
npm start -- --reset-cache
  • Reopen VS Code and wait for indexing

2. Verify Configurations

  • Ensure jsconfig.json/tsconfig.json and babel.config.js match
  • Check for typos in aliases

Customization Tips

🔹 Replace app- with your project name (e.g., myapp-components)
🔹 Add more aliases for directories like utils, services, or hooks
🔹 Keep aliases consistent across your team

Final Thoughts

Switching to absolute paths is a small change with big benefits—cleaner imports, easier refactoring, and a smoother development experience.

🚀 Try it in your next project and enjoy cleaner code!