Installation

Installing React Hook Form only takes a single command and you're ready to roll.

npm install react-hook-form

Example

The following code excerpt demonstrates a basic usage example:

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, watch, formState: { errors } } = useForm();
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);

  console.log(watch("example")); // watch input value by passing the name of it

  return (
    /* "handleSubmit" will validate your inputs before invoking "onSubmit" */
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      {/* register your input into the hook by invoking the "register" function */}
      <input defaultValue="test" {...register("example")} />
      
      {/* include validation with required or other standard HTML validation rules */}
      <input {...register("exampleRequired", { required: true })} />
      {/* errors will return when field validation fails  */}
      {errors.exampleRequired && <span>This field is required</span>}
      
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}import { useForm, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";

type Inputs = {
  example: string,
  exampleRequired: string,
};

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, watch, formState: { errors } } = useForm<Inputs>();
  const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<Inputs> = data => console.log(data);

  console.log(watch("example")) // watch input value by passing the name of it

  return (
    /* "handleSubmit" will validate your inputs before invoking "onSubmit" */
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      {/* register your input into the hook by invoking the "register" function */}
      <input defaultValue="test" {...register("example")} />
      
      {/* include validation with required or other standard HTML validation rules */}
      <input {...register("exampleRequired", { required: true })} />
      {/* errors will return when field validation fails  */}
      {errors.exampleRequired && <span>This field is required</span>}
      
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

♦

React Web Video Tutorial

This video tutorial illustrates the basic usage and concepts of React Hook Form.

Register fields

One of the key concepts in React Hook Form is to register your component into the hook. This will make its value available for both the form validation and submission.

Note: Each field is required to have a name as a key for the registration process.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm();
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);
   
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName")} />
      <select {...register("gender")}>
        <option value="female">female</option>
        <option value="male">male</option>
        <option value="other">other</option>
      </select>
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import { useForm, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";

enum GenderEnum {
  female = "female",
  male = "male",
  other = "other"
}

interface IFormInput {
  firstName: String;
  gender: GenderEnum;
}

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm<IFormInput>();
  const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<IFormInput> = data => console.log(data);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <label>First Name</label>
      <input {...register("firstName")} />
      <label>Gender Selection</label>
      <select {...register("gender")} >
        <option value="female">female</option>
        <option value="male">male</option>
        <option value="other">other</option>
      </select>
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

Apply validation

React Hook Form makes form validation easy by aligning with the existing HTML standard for form validation.

List of validation rules supported:

required
min
max
minLength
maxLength
pattern
validate

You can read more detail on each rule in the register section.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm();
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);
   
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName", { required: true, maxLength: 20 })} />
      <input {...register("lastName", { pattern: /^[A-Za-z]+$/i })} />
      <input type="number" {...register("age", { min: 18, max: 99 })} />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}import { useForm, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";

interface IFormInput {
  firstName: string;
  lastName: string;
  age: number;
}

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm<IFormInput>();
  const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<IFormInput> = data => console.log(data);
   
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName", { required: true, maxLength: 20 })} />
      <input {...register("lastName", { pattern: /^[A-Za-z]+$/i })} />
      <input type="number" {...register("age", { min: 18, max: 99 })} />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

Integrating an existing form

Integrating an existing form should be simple. The important step is to register the component's ref and assign relevant props to your input.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";

// The following component is an example of your existing Input Component
const Input = ({ label, register, required }) => (
  <>
    <label>{label}</label>
    <input {...register(label, { required })} />
  </>
);

// you can use React.forwardRef to pass the ref too
const Select = React.forwardRef(({ onChange, onBlur, name, label }, ref) => (
  <>
    <label>{label}</label>
    <select name={name} ref={ref} onChange={onChange} onBlur={onBlur}>
      <option value="20">20</option>
      <option value="30">30</option>
    </select>
  </>
));

const App = () => {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm();

  const onSubmit = (data) => {
    alert(JSON.stringify(data));
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Input label="First Name" register={register} required />
      <Select label="Age" {...register("Age")} />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
};
import { Path, useForm, UseFormRegister, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";

interface IFormValues {
  "First Name": string;
  Age: number;
}

type InputProps = {
  label: Path<IFormValues>;
  register: UseFormRegister<IFormValues>;
  required: boolean;
};

// The following component is an example of your existing Input Component
const Input = ({ label, register, required }: InputProps) => (
  <>
    <label>{label}</label>
    <input {...register(label, { required })} />
  </>
);

// you can use React.forwardRef to pass the ref too
const Select = React.forwardRef<
  HTMLSelectElement,
  { label: string } & ReturnType<UseFormRegister<IFormValues>>
>(({ onChange, onBlur, name, label }, ref) => (
  <>
    <label>{label}</label>
    <select name={name} ref={ref} onChange={onChange} onBlur={onBlur}>
      <option value="20">20</option>
      <option value="30">30</option>
    </select>
  </>
));

const App = () => {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm<IFormValues>();

  const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<IFormValues> = data => {
    alert(JSON.stringify(data));
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Input label="First Name" register={register} required />
      <Select label="Age" {...register("Age")} />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
};

Integrating with UI libraries

React Hook Form has made it easy to integrate with external UI component libraries. If the component doesn't expose input's ref, then you should use the Controller component, which will take care of the registration process.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import Select from "react-select";
import { useForm, Controller } from "react-hook-form";
import Input from "@material-ui/core/Input";

const App = () => {
  const { control, handleSubmit } = useForm({
    defaultValues: {
      firstName: '',
      select: {}
    }
  });
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Controller
        name="firstName"
        control={control}
        render={({ field }) => <Input {...field} />}
      />
      <Controller
        name="select"
        control={control}
        render={({ field }) => <Select 
          {...field} 
          options={[
            { value: "chocolate", label: "Chocolate" },
            { value: "strawberry", label: "Strawberry" },
            { value: "vanilla", label: "Vanilla" }
          ]} 
        />}
      />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
};
import Select from "react-select";
import { useForm, Controller, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";
import Input from "@material-ui/core/Input";

interface IFormInput {
  firstName: string;
  lastName: string;
  iceCreamType: {label: string; value: string };
}

const App = () => {
  const { control, handleSubmit } = useForm<IFormInput>();

  const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<IFormInput> = data => {
    console.log(data)
  };

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Controller
        name="firstName"
        control={control}
        defaultValue=""
        render={({ field }) => <Input {...field} />}
      />
      <Controller
        name="iceCreamType"
        control={control}
        render={({ field }) => <Select 
          {...field} 
          options={[
            { value: "chocolate", label: "Chocolate" },
            { value: "strawberry", label: "Strawberry" },
            { value: "vanilla", label: "Vanilla" }
          ]} 
        />}
      />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
};

Integrating Controlled Inputs

This library embraces uncontrolled components and native HTML inputs, however, it's hard to avoid working with external controlled components such as React-Select, AntD and MUI. To make this simple, we provide a wrapper component: Controller to streamline the integration process while still giving you the freedom to use a custom register.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm, Controller } from "react-hook-form";
import { TextField, Checkbox } from "@material-ui/core";

function App() {
  const { handleSubmit, control, reset } = useForm({
    defaultValues: {
      checkbox: false,
    }
  });
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Controller
        name="checkbox"
        control={control}
        rules={{ required: true }}
        render={({ field }) => <Checkbox {...field} />}
      />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}
import { useForm, Controller, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";
import { TextField, Checkbox } from "@material-ui/core";

interface IFormInputs {
  TextField: string
  MyCheckbox: boolean
}

function App() {
  const { handleSubmit, control, reset } = useForm<IFormInputs>();
  const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<IFormInputs> = data => console.log(data);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Controller
        name="MyCheckbox"
        control={control}
        defaultValue={false}
        rules={{ required: true }}
        render={({ field }) => <Checkbox {...field} />}
      />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

Integrating with global state

It doesn't require you to rely on a state management library, but you can easily integrate with them.

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";
import { connect } from "react-redux";
import updateAction from "./actions";

export default function App(props) {
  const { register, handleSubmit, setValue } = useForm();
  // Submit your data into Redux store
  const onSubmit = data => props.updateAction(data);
  
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName")} defaultValue={props.firstName} />
      <input {...register("lastName")} defaultValue={props.lastName} />
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

// Connect your component with redux
connect(({ firstName, lastName }) => ({ firstName, lastName }), updateAction)(YourForm);

Handle errors

React Hook Form provides an errors object to show you the errors in the form. errors' type will return given validation constraints. The following example showcases a required validation rule.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";

export default function App() {
  const { register, formState: { errors }, handleSubmit } = useForm();
  const onSubmit = (data) => console.log(data);
  
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input 
        {...register("firstName", { required: true })} 
        aria-invalid={errors.firstName ? "true" : "false"} 
      />
      {errors.firstName?.type === 'required' && <p role="alert">First name is required</p>}

      <input 
        {...register("mail", { required: "Email Address is required" })} 
        aria-invalid={errors.mail ? "true" : "false"} 
      />
      {errors.mail && <p role="alert">{errors.mail?.message}</p>}
      
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}
import { useForm, SubmitHandler } from "react-hook-form";

interface IFormInputs {
  firstName: string
  lastName: string
}

const onSubmit: SubmitHandler<IFormInputs> = data => console.log(data);

export default function App() {
  const { register, formState: { errors }, handleSubmit } = useForm<IFormInputs>();
  
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName", { required: true })} />
      {errors.firstName && "First name is required"}
      <input {...register("lastName", { required: true })} />
      {errors.lastName && "Last name is required"}
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

Schema Validation

We also support schema-based form validation with Yup, Zod , Superstruct & Joi, where you can pass your schema to useForm as an optional config. It will validate your input data against the schema and return with either errors or a valid result.

Step 1: Install Yup into your project.

npm install @hookform/resolvers yup

Step 2: Prepare your schema for validation and register inputs with React Hook Form.

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";
import { yupResolver } from '@hookform/resolvers/yup';
import * as yup from "yup";

const schema = yup.object({
  firstName: yup.string().required(),
  age: yup.number().positive().integer().required(),
}).required();

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, formState:{ errors } } = useForm({
    resolver: yupResolver(schema)
  });
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName")} />
      <p>{errors.firstName?.message}</p>
        
      <input {...register("age")} />
      <p>{errors.age?.message}</p>
      
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}
import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";
import { yupResolver } from '@hookform/resolvers/yup';
import * as yup from "yup";

interface IFormInputs {
  firstName: string
  age: number
}

const schema = yup.object({
  firstName: yup.string().required(),
  age: yup.number().positive().integer().required(),
}).required();

export default function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, formState: { errors } } = useForm<IFormInputs>({
    resolver: yupResolver(schema)
  });
  const onSubmit = (data: IFormInputs) => console.log(data);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register("firstName")} />
      <p>{errors.firstName?.message}</p>
        
      <input {...register("age")} />
      <p>{errors.age?.message}</p>
      
      <input type="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

React Native

You will get the same performance boost and enhancement in React Native. To integrate with input component, you can wrap it with Controller.

Expo ^TS

import { Text, View, TextInput, Button, Alert } from "react-native";
import { useForm, Controller } from "react-hook-form";

export default function App() {
  const { control, handleSubmit, formState: { errors } } = useForm({
    defaultValues: {
      firstName: '',
      lastName: ''
    }
  });
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);

  return (
    <View>
      <Controller
        control={control}
        rules={{
         required: true,
        }}
        render={({ field: { onChange, onBlur, value } }) => (
          <TextInput
            style={styles.input}
            onBlur={onBlur}
            onChangeText={onChange}
            value={value}
          />
        )}
        name="firstName"
      />
      {errors.firstName && <Text>This is required.</Text>}

      <Controller
        control={control}
        rules={{
         maxLength: 100,
        }}
        render={({ field: { onChange, onBlur, value } }) => (
          <TextInput
            style={styles.input}
            onBlur={onBlur}
            onChangeText={onChange}
            value={value}
          />
        )}
        name="lastName"
      />

      <Button title="Submit" onPress={handleSubmit(onSubmit)} />
    </View>
  );
}

TypeScript

React Hook Form is built with TypeScript, and you can define a FormData type to support form values.

CodeSandbox ^TS

import * as React from "react";
import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";

type FormData = {
  firstName: string;
  lastName: string;
};

export default function App() {
  const { register, setValue, handleSubmit, formState: { errors } } = useForm<FormData>();
  const onSubmit = handleSubmit(data => console.log(data));
  // firstName and lastName will have correct type

  return (
    <form onSubmit={onSubmit}>
      <label>First Name</label>
      <input {...register("firstName")} />
      <label>Last Name</label>
      <input {...register("lastName")} />
      <button
        type="button"
        onClick={() => {
          setValue("lastName", "luo"); // ✅
          setValue("firstName", true); // ❌: true is not string
          errors.bill; // ❌: property bill does not exist
        }}
      >
        SetValue
      </button>
    </form>
  );
}

Design and philosophy

React Hook Form's design and philosophy focus on user and developer experience. The library aims to provide users with a smoother interaction experience by fine-tuning the performance and improving accessibility. Some of the performance enhancements included

Introducing form state subscription model through the proxy
Avoiding unnecessary computation
Isolating component re-rendering when requires

Overall, it improves the user experience while users interact with the application. As for the developers, we introduce build-in validation and are closely aligned with HTML standards, extend it further with powerful validation methods and integrate it with schema validation natively. In addition, having a strongly type-checked form with the help of typescript provides early build-time feedback to help and guide the developer to build a robust form solution.

The following talk given by Bill showcased some of the ideas and design patterns:

Want to learn more?

Check out the React Hook Form documentation and learn all about the API.

Get Started

Installation

Example

React Web Video Tutorial

Register fields

Apply validation

Integrating an existing form

Integrating with UI libraries

Integrating Controlled Inputs

Integrating with global state

Handle errors

Schema Validation

React Native

TypeScript

Design and philosophy

Want to learn more?