Introduction

The moment that matters

You've built a beautiful clock component. It works perfectly in development. But in production, something's off.

When users first load your page, they see the clock frozen at 3:42 PM — the exact time your site was built. For a brief moment, your app looks broken. Then React loads, the clock jumps to the correct time, and everything starts working.

That moment? That's the problem Prehydrate solves.

Why this happens

Server-rendered React apps have a timing gap:

1. Your server builds the page — The clock shows 3:42 PM (build time)
2. Users see the static HTML — Still 3:42 PM, even though it's now 9:15 AM
3. React finally loads — The clock jumps to 9:15 AM and starts ticking

The bigger your React bundle, the longer users stare at wrong content.

What Prehydrate does

Prehydrate runs a tiny script the instant the page loads — before React even starts downloading. In milliseconds, your clock shows the right time.

No more frozen clocks. No more stale content. No more awkward jumps.

Users see the correct content from the very first moment.