Is there way to disable react-docgen in Storybook 10.3.4?

[DmitriiKholodov]

Summary

Hello! I faced the issue that react-docgen takes 90% of build time even it is set to 'false'

Additional information

There is my current config:

import { mergeRsbuildConfig } from '@rsbuild/core';
import { pluginReact } from '@rsbuild/plugin-react';
import { pluginSass } from '@rsbuild/plugin-sass';
import { dirname, join } from 'path';
import * as sass from 'sass';
import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';

import { getLocalIdentModule, getResolve } from '@vkph/tools';

const getAbsolutePath = (value: string) => {
  return dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.resolve(join(value, 'package.json'))));
};

const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
const __dirname = dirname(__filename);

const config = {
  stories: ['../src/**/*.stories.@(js|jsx|mjs|ts|tsx)'],
  addons: [getAbsolutePath('storybook-addon-pseudo-states')],
  framework: getAbsolutePath('storybook-react-rsbuild'),
  core: {
    disableWhatsNewNotifications: true,
    disableOnboarding: true,
    disableTelemetry: true,
  },
  typescript: {
    reactDocgen: false,
  },
  rsbuildFinal: (rsbuildConfig) => {
    return mergeRsbuildConfig(rsbuildConfig, {
      plugins: [
        pluginReact(),
        pluginSass({
          sassLoaderOptions: {
            implementation: sass,
            additionalData: `@use '@vkph/ui/assets/scss/mixins' as *;`,
            sassOptions: {
              loadPaths: [join(__dirname, '.')],
            },
          },
        }),
      ],
      tools: {
        cssLoader: {
          modules: {
            exportLocalsConvention: 'dashes',
            getLocalIdent: getLocalIdentModule,
          },
        },
      },
      resolve: getResolve(__dirname),
      output: {
        assetPrefix: './',
        injectStyles: true,
        cssModules: {
          auto: (resourcePath) => resourcePath.endsWith('.scss'),
        },
      },
    });
  },
};

// eslint-disable-next-line import/no-default-export
export default config;

Create a reproduction

No response

[Adit-Jain-srm]

Setting react-docgen: false in your Storybook config should completely disable it. If it's still taking 90% of build time, the config might not be applied correctly in Storybook 10.x with Rsbuild.

For Storybook 10 with Rsbuild, try this in .storybook/main.ts:

import type { StorybookConfig } from '@storybook/react-rsbuild';

const config: StorybookConfig = {
  // ...
  typescript: {
    reactDocgen: false, // Must be here, NOT in rsbuildFinal
  },
};

export default config;

Common mistakes that cause docgen to still run:

1. Setting it in the wrong place — reactDocgen must be under typescript, not under framework.options or rsbuildFinal

2. Plugin conflict — If you're using @storybook/addon-docs, it may force docgen on. Try removing/disabling it:

addons: [
  // Remove or comment out:
  // '@storybook/addon-docs',
  '@storybook/addon-essentials',
],

3. Storybook 10 changed the config shape — in v10 with Rsbuild, the docgen config moved. Check if your version uses:

typescript: {
  reactDocgen: false, // v8+
}
// vs older:
framework: {
  options: {
    builder: {
      useSWC: true, // skips babel-based docgen
    }
  }
}

To verify docgen is truly disabled, check your build output for react-docgen-typescript or @storybook/react-docgen-loader in the module trace.

@DmitriiKholodov What version of @storybook/react-rsbuild are you on? The config API changed between 10.0 and 10.3.

[DmitriiKholodov]

@Adit-Jain-srm Actually I do not use @storybook/react-rsbuild

my only devDeps are:

"devDependencies": {
    "@faker-js/faker": "^9.0.1",
    "@rsbuild/core": "^1.7.1",
    "@rsbuild/plugin-react": "^1.4.2",
    "@rsbuild/plugin-sass": "^1.5.1",
    "@rspack/plugin-react-refresh": "^1.6.1",
    "@storybook/addon-docs": "^10.3.4",
    "@types/culori": "^2.1.1",
    "@types/react-grid-layout": "^1.3.5",
    "react-grid-layout": "^1.5.0",
    "react-image-crop": "^10.0.9",
    "react-resizable": "^3.0.5",
    "storybook": "^10.3.4",
    "storybook-addon-pseudo-states": "^10.3.4",
    "storybook-react-rsbuild": "^3.3.2"
  }

[Adit-Jain-srm]

Apologies for the wrong package reference — I incorrectly assumed @storybook/react-rsbuild when you're using storybook-react-rsbuild (the community package). @chrisjcthomas's suggestion to verify whether your specific framework preset actually reads the reactDocgen option is the right direction here.

[chrisjcthomas]

Your config shape is the right one according to Storybook's config API:

typescript: {
  reactDocgen: false,
}

So if docgen is still consuming most of the build time, I would first verify whether the Storybook framework preset you are using is actually reading that option.

One thing that stands out is this line:

framework: getAbsolutePath('storybook-react-rsbuild'),

Most Storybook 10 docs/examples use the official framework package form, for example:

import type { StorybookConfig } from '@storybook/react-rsbuild'

const config: StorybookConfig = {
  framework: '@storybook/react-rsbuild',
  typescript: {
    reactDocgen: false,
  },
}

export default config

If storybook-react-rsbuild is a wrapper/compat package, it may not pass Storybook's typescript.reactDocgen option through the same way the official preset does. I would test with the official @storybook/react-rsbuild package name directly if possible.

A few other checks:

• remove reactDocgenTypescriptOptions if it exists elsewhere in a composed config
• check whether an addon/preset is merging another typescript block after yours
• temporarily remove rsbuildFinal and pluginReact() to see whether the time is really Storybook docgen or Rsbuild/React transform work
• run with a profiler/build trace and look for react-docgen or react-docgen-typescript specifically; dependency presence alone does not mean it is executing

So I would treat reactDocgen: false as correct, and investigate config merging/preset behavior next.