@tanstack/devtools-vite 0.7.0 production build fails — code removal leaves invalid return () syntax

[kimsagro1]

TanStack Devtools version

0.7.0

Framework/Library version

react

Describe the bug and the steps to reproduce it

Bug Report

Describe the bug

After upgrading @tanstack/devtools-vite from 0.6.0 to 0.7.0, the production build fails. The plugin successfully detects and removes devtools code, but the transform leaves behind return (); — an empty parenthesized expression — which is a syntax error that rolldown rejects.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Upgrade @tanstack/devtools-vite from 0.6.0 → 0.7.0
2. Have a component where the entire return value is devtools content:

// src/lib/devtools/devtools.provider.tsx
import { TanStackDevtools } from "@tanstack/react-devtools";
import { FormDevtoolsPanel } from "@tanstack/react-form-devtools";
import { ReactQueryDevtoolsPanel } from "@tanstack/react-query-devtools";

export function DevtoolsProvider() {
  return (
      <TanStackDevtools
        plugins={[
          {
            name: "TanStack Query",
            render: <ReactQueryDevtoolsPanel />,
          },
          {
            name: "TanStack Form",
            render: <FormDevtoolsPanel />,
          },
        ]}
      />
  );
}

3. Run vite build

Expected Behavior

Build succeeds. When the entire return expression is stripped, the transform should produce valid syntax — e.g. return null;.

Actual Behavior

The plugin removes the JSX but leaves the return ( and ); tokens intact, producing:

export function DevtoolsProvider() {
  return (
      );   // ← invalid empty parenthesized expression
}

Which causes the build to fail:

[@tanstack/devtools-vite] Removed devtools code from: /src/lib/devtools/devtools.provider.tsx
✗ Build failed in 708ms
error during build:
Build failed with 1 error:
[builtin:vite-transform] Empty parenthesized expression
   ╭─[ src/lib/devtools/devtools.provider.tsx:3:10 ]
   │
 3 │ ╭─▶   return (
 4 │ ├─▶       );
   │ │
   │ ╰──────────────
───╯

Environment

	Version
@tanstack/devtools-vite	0.7.0 (regression from 0.6.0)
vite	8.0.13
OS	Windows

Workaround

Pin back to @tanstack/devtools-vite@0.6.0, or wrap the return in a fragment so stripping the devtools node still leaves valid syntax:

export function DevtoolsProvider() {
  return (
    <>
    <TanStackDevtools
        plugins={[
          {
            name: "TanStack Query",
            render: <ReactQueryDevtoolsPanel />,
          },
          {
            name: "TanStack Form",
            render: <FormDevtoolsPanel />,
          },
        ]}
      />
    </>
  );
}

(Though this workaround shouldn't be necessary.)

Root Cause (suspected)

The code removal transform in 0.7.0 strips the JSX node inside return (...) but does not remove or replace the surrounding return ( ... ) wrapper. When the stripped node was the only child, this leaves return (); which is syntactically invalid. The fix should replace the emptied return with return null;.

Your Minimal, Reproducible Example - (Sandbox Highly Recommended)

https://stackblitz.com/edit/vitejs-vite-rug5ebyz?file=src%2Fmain.tsx

Screenshots or Videos (Optional)

Do you intend to try to help solve this bug with your own PR?

None

Terms & Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct
• I understand that if my bug cannot be reliable reproduced in a debuggable environment, it will probably not be fixed and this issue may even be closed.

[github-actions]

Thanks for the detailed report. To help us confirm and fix this quickly, could you share a minimal reproducible example (preferably a small repo or sandbox) that reproduces the build failure on a clean setup? A tiny repro with just the relevant provider/component and build config would be ideal.

[kimsagro1]

I have provided a reproducible example