The problem
Create React App builds were slow across the frontend platform, which slowed deploys and burned CI minutes.
Create React App is deprecated, so the problem was only going to get worse.
Constraints
Several applications depended on the same tooling.
Feature work could not stop for a rewrite.
Runtime behavior had to stay identical.
The decision
Move the build to rsbuild instead of rewriting apps on a new framework. The problem was build speed, so the fix targeted the build.
The trade-off
A newer tool with a smaller ecosystem than the default choices, in exchange for a migration that fit alongside normal feature work.
Outcome
Build times dropped by up to 80%.
Faster deploys and lower CI compute costs.