@unirate/react

React hooks and components for the UniRate currency-exchange API.

• useExchangeRate(from, to) — single rate
• useRates(from) — full rate table for a base
• useConvert(from, to, amount) — converted amount
• useCurrencies() — list of supported codes (~600)
• useHistoricalRate(date, from, to) — historical rate (Pro)
• <Currency amount from to /> — drop-in €92.50 JSX
• <Rate from to /> — drop-in 1.0823 JSX
• <UniRateProvider> — one client for the whole tree
• Zero runtime deps. Native fetch. AbortController cleanup on unmount.

Install

npm install @unirate/react
# or
pnpm add @unirate/react
# or
yarn add @unirate/react

Peer dep: react ^18 || ^19. Requires Node 18.17+ for build/server use.

Quickstart

import { UniRateProvider, useExchangeRate, Currency } from "@unirate/react";

function App() {
  return (
    <UniRateProvider apiKey={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_UNIRATE_API_KEY!}>
      <Cart />
    </UniRateProvider>
  );
}

function Cart() {
  const { data: rate, isLoading } = useExchangeRate("USD", "EUR");
  if (isLoading) return <p>Loading…</p>;
  return (
    <p>
      1 USD = {rate} EUR. Your total:{" "}
      <Currency amount={42.99} from="USD" to="EUR" />
    </p>
  );
}

Get a free API key at unirateapi.com — the free tier covers latest rates and conversions for ~600 currencies including crypto. Historical rates, time-series, and commodity feeds require Pro.

Hooks

Every hook returns the same shape:

interface QueryState<T> {
  data: T | undefined;
  error: Error | undefined;
  isLoading: boolean;  // true on the very first fetch only
  isFetching: boolean; // true on every refetch including the first
  refetch: () => void; // re-run the request manually
}

Every hook also accepts an options object:

{
  client?: UniRateClient;  // override the provider's client
  enabled?: boolean;       // skip the fetch until true (default true)
}

useExchangeRate(from, to, options?)

const { data, error, isLoading } = useExchangeRate("USD", "EUR");
// data: 0.92

useRates(from, options?)

Returns the full rate table for a base.

const { data } = useRates("USD");
// data: { EUR: 0.92, GBP: 0.80, JPY: 154.21, ... }

useConvert(from, to, amount, options?)

const { data } = useConvert("USD", "EUR", 100);
// data: 92.50

useCurrencies(options?)

const { data: codes } = useCurrencies();
// data: ["USD", "EUR", "GBP", "JPY", "BTC", ...]

useHistoricalRate(date, from, to, amount?, options?)

Pro endpoint. Returns ProRequiredError on the free tier.

const { data } = useHistoricalRate("2025-01-01", "USD", "EUR");
// data: 0.851

Components

<Currency amount from? to decimals? locale? loading? fallback? />

Renders one converted, locale-formatted amount.

<Currency amount={1234.56} from="USD" to="EUR" />
// → "€1,141.97"

<Currency amount={100} to="EUR" loading="Converting…" />
// from defaults to "USD"; renders "Converting…" until the rate arrives

<Currency
  amount={100}
  from="USD"
  to="EUR"
  fallback={(err) => <span title={err.message}>n/a</span>}
/>

On error with no fallback prop, <Currency> falls back to the unconverted amount in the source currency so layouts don't collapse.

<Rate from to decimals? locale? />

Renders a bare exchange-rate number.

<Rate from="EUR" to="USD" />          // → "1.0823"
<Rate from="EUR" to="USD" decimals={2} /> // → "1.08"

Browser security

Putting an API key directly in client-side React means the key ships to every visitor's browser. For production deployments you have two options:

1. Proxy through your backend. Point baseUrl at your own endpoint and have that endpoint hold the real UNIRATE_API_KEY:

   <UniRateProvider apiKey="placeholder" baseUrl="/api/unirate" />

   The placeholder still passes the client's "apiKey is required" check; your server inspects requests and inserts the real key before forwarding to api.unirateapi.com.

2. Free-tier-only public key. Free-tier UniRate keys are rate-limited per key; if a leaked key only unlocks endpoints you don't mind being shared, shipping it client-side is acceptable.

Server-only React (RSC, Remix loaders, server actions): you can use the raw UniRateClient directly without the provider, since there's no client component involved.

import { UniRateClient } from "@unirate/react/client";

// in a server action / loader:
const client = new UniRateClient({ apiKey: process.env.UNIRATE_API_KEY! });
const rate = await client.getRate("USD", "EUR");

Errors

The same error classes the hooks expose are also exported for instanceof checks:

• AuthenticationError — 401, bad / missing key
• RateLimitError — 429
• InvalidCurrencyError — 404, unknown currency code
• InvalidRequestError — 400, bad params
• ProRequiredError — 403, endpoint requires a Pro subscription
• UniRateError — base class for any other failure

const { error } = useExchangeRate("USD", "XYZ");
if (error instanceof InvalidCurrencyError) {
  return <p>Unsupported currency.</p>;
}

Other UniRate clients

UniRate ships official client libraries and framework integrations across the ecosystem. The repos below are all maintained under the UniRate-API org.

• Languages: Python · Node.js / TypeScript · Go · Rust · Java · Ruby · PHP · .NET · Swift
• Web frameworks: Django / Wagtail · FastAPI · Flask · React · tRPC
• Static-site generators: Astro · Eleventy · Hugo
• Data / orchestration: Airflow · dbt · LangChain
• Workflow / no-code: n8n · Google Sheets · MCP server
• Editors / tools: VS Code · Obsidian
• Specialty bridges: NodaMoney (.NET)

Get a free API key at unirateapi.com.

License

MIT © UniRate API