Using memo will cause React to skip rendering a component if its props have not changed.

This can improve performance.

Problem

In this example, the Todos component re-renders even when the todos have not changed.

import { useState } from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom/client";
import Todos from "./Todos";

const App = () => {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  const [todos, setTodos] = useState(["todo 1", "todo 2"]);

  const increment = () => {
    setCount((c) => c + 1);
  };

  return (
    <>
      <Todos todos={todos} />
      <hr />
      <div>
        Count: {count}
        <button onClick={increment}>+</button>
      </div>
    </>
  );
};

const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
root.render(<App />);

const Todos = ({ todos }) => {
  console.log("child render");
  return (
    <>
      <h2>My Todos</h2>
      {todos.map((todo, index) => {
        return <p key={index}>{todo}</p>;
      })}
    </>
  );
};

export default Todos;

When you click the increment button, the Todos component re-renders.

If this component was complex, it could cause performance issues.

Solution

To fix this, we can use memo.

Use memoto keep the Todos component from needlessly re-rendering.

Wrap the Todos component export in memo:

import { useState } from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom/client";
import Todos from "./Todos";

const App = () => {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  const [todos, setTodos] = useState(["todo 1", "todo 2"]);

  const increment = () => {
    setCount((c) => c + 1);
  };

  return (
    <>
      <Todos todos={todos} />
      <hr />
      <div>
        Count: {count}
        <button onClick={increment}>+</button>
      </div>
    </>
  );
};

const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
root.render(<App />);

import { memo } from "react";

const Todos = ({ todos }) => {
  console.log("child render");
  return (
    <>
      <h2>My Todos</h2>
      {todos.map((todo, index) => {
        return <p key={index}>{todo}</p>;
      })}
    </>
  );
};

export default memo(Todos);

Now the Todos component only re-renders when the todos that are passed to it through props are updated.