Component cannot be used as a JSX component. Its return type 'Element[]' is not a valid JSX element

Matthew C.

—June 15, 2024

The Problem

When using a React node, or a React framework such as Next.js, with TypeScript you may get the following TypeScript error:

error TS2786: 'ListItems' cannot be used as a JSX component.
  Its return type 'Element[]' is not a valid JSX element.
    Type 'Element[]' is missing the following properties from type 'ReactElement<any, any>': type, props, key

For example, the following component may cause this error if you are using a version of TypeScript before version 5.1:

const todos = [
  { id: 1, text: "clean the house" },
  { id: 2, text: "buy milk" }
];

function ListItems(): JSX.Element[] {
  return todos.map((todo) => <li key={todo.id}>{todo.text}</li>);
}

export default ListItems;

The error occurs when the component is rendered:

<ul>
  <ListItems />
</ul>

A React component must return a React node. A React node can be one of the following:

• A React element created using JSX, like a <div /> JSX element
• A string
• A number
• A boolean, null, or undefined value that’s not displayed
• A portal
• An array of React nodes

Note that you can return an array of elements from a component’s render method only if you are using React version 16.

The error occurs in TypeScript versions before version 5.1 that checks if React components return JSX elements of type JSX.Element, which is only one of the possible types that can be returned from a React function component. Returning an array of JSX Elements will cause the type error.

You’ll also get a related error in older TypeScript versions if you change the return type of the ListItem component from JSX.Element[] to React.ReactNode:

const todos = [
  { id: 1, text: "clean the house" },
  { id: 2, text: "buy milk" }
];

function ListItems(): React.ReactNode {
  return todos.map((todo) => <li key={todo.id}>{todo.text}</li>);
}

export default ListItems;

You’ll get the following error:

error TS2786: 'ListItems' cannot be used as a JSX component.
  Its return type 'ReactNode' is not a valid JSX element.
    Type 'undefined' is not assignable to type 'Element | null'.

This error occurs because React.ReactNode includes things that aren’t JSX elements as React nodes can be more than JSX elements, as seen in the list above.

The Solution

Here are two ways to fix the error:

• Make your component return a single element.
• Update TypeScript to version 5.1+.

Make Your Component Return a Single Element

You can wrap your returned elements in a React fragment to achieve this without adding extra nodes to the DOM:

function ListItems(): JSX.Element {
  return (
    <>
      {todos.map((todo) => (
        <li key={todo.id}>{todo.text}</li>
      ))}
    </>
  );
}

You also need to change the return type of the function from JSX.Element[] to JSX.Element.

Update TypeScript to Version 5.1+

If possible, update TypeScript to version 5.1+ so that TypeScript correctly checks if your component returns a valid React node. The version 5.1 release of TypeScript added a new JSX.ElementType to check if a React component returns a valid React node.