[Link Component] Accessing element.ref was removed in React 19

[gagzu]

Link to the code that reproduces this issue

https://github.com/gagzu/nextjs-issue-link-component-example

To Reproduce

To reproduce the error:

• Clone this repository https://github.com/gagzu/nextjs-issue-link-component-example
• Install the dependencies yarn install
• Run the app using yarn dev
• Open your browser at http://localhost:3000/
• Open the developer inspector, and you will see an error similar to the following:

hook.js:608 Accessing element.ref was removed in React 19. ref is now a regular prop. It will be removed from the JSX Element type in a future release. Error Component Stack
    at LinkComponent (link.tsx:304:16)
    at NextLinkComposed (index.tsx:22:63)
    at MuiButtonBase-root (emotion-element-7a13…opment.esm.js:48:26)
    at ButtonBase (ButtonBase.js:84:31)
    at MuiButton-root (emotion-element-7a13…opment.esm.js:48:26)
    at Button (Button.js:314:30)
    at div (<anonymous>)
    at Styled(:3000/div) (http://l…16ac0._.js:7324:197)
    at Box (createBox.js:20:26)
    at ButtonExample (<anonymous>)
    at Contact [Server] (<anonymous>)
    at InnerLayoutRouter (layout-router.tsx:324:3)
    at RedirectErrorBoundary (redirect-boundary.tsx:48:5)
    at RedirectBoundary (redirect-boundary.tsx:79:9)
    at HTTPAccessFallbackErrorBoundary (http-access-fallback-boundary.tsx:49:5)
    at HTTPAccessFallbackBoundary (http-access-fallback-boundary.tsx:133:3)
    at LoadingBoundary (layout-router.tsx:465:3)
    at ErrorBoundary (error-boundary.tsx:190:3)
    at InnerScrollAndFocusHandler (layout-router.tsx:289:3)
    at ScrollAndFocusHandler (layout-router.tsx:299:9)
    at RenderFromTemplateContext (render-from-template-context.tsx:8:10)
    at OuterLayoutRouter (layout-router.tsx:511:9)
    at DefaultPropsProvider (DefaultPropsProvider.js:9:3)
    at RtlProvider (index.js:6:3)
    at ThemeProvider (ThemeProvider.js:33:5)
    at ThemeProvider (ThemeProvider.js:48:5)
    at ThemeProviderNoVars (ThemeProviderNoVars.js:8:10)
    at ThemeProvider (ThemeProvider.js:9:3)
    at AppRouterCacheProvider (appRouterV13.js:15:5)
    at body (<anonymous>)
    at html (<anonymous>)
    at RootLayout [Server] (<anonymous>)
    at RedirectErrorBoundary (redirect-boundary.tsx:48:5)
    at RedirectBoundary (redirect-boundary.tsx:79:9)
    at HTTPAccessFallbackErrorBoundary (http-access-fallback-boundary.tsx:49:5)
    at HTTPAccessFallbackBoundary (http-access-fallback-boundary.tsx:133:3)
    at DevRootHTTPAccessFallbackBoundary (dev-root-http-access…k-boundary.tsx:20:3)
    at ReactDevOverlay (ReactDevOverlay.tsx:91:3)
    at HotReload (hot-reloader-client.tsx:523:3)
    at Router (app-router.tsx:254:9)
    at ErrorBoundaryHandler (error-boundary.tsx:69:11)
    at ErrorBoundary (error-boundary.tsx:190:3)
    at AppRouter (app-router.tsx:660:3)
    at ServerRoot (app-index.tsx:184:32)
    at Root (app-index.tsx:212:17)

Current vs. Expected behavior

The error I'm getting is: "Accessing element.ref was removed in React 19." The error is due to the Link component using forwardRef.

The expected result is: Not seeing any error in the console.

Provide environment information

information about my environment:
Operating System:
  Platform: linux
  Arch: x64
  Version: #135~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Mon Oct 7 13:56:22 UTC 2024
  Available memory (MB): 15871
  Available CPU cores: 4
Binaries:
  Node: 20.9.0
  npm: 10.1.0
  Yarn: 1.22.22
  pnpm: N/A
Relevant Packages:
  next: 15.0.4-canary.13 // Latest available version is detected (15.0.4-canary.13).
  eslint-config-next: 15.0.3
  react: 19.0.0-rc.1
  react-dom: 19.0.0-rc.1
  typescript: 5.6.3
Next.js Config:
  output: N/A

Which area(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

Navigation

Which stage(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

next dev (local), next start (local)

Additional context

No response

[gabriez]

I'm getting the same error using ref

[samcx]

@gagzu It looks like this is still an active upstream issue → mui/mui-x#13072

[toitzi]

@samcx Is there an update to this? The upstream issue seems to be closed and merged, but when i add a ref to a nextjs Link component

<Link
  ref={linkRef}
  href={href}
>
  Test
</Link>

I still get this error:
Accessing element.ref was removed in React 19. ref is now a regular prop. It will be removed from the JSX Element type in a future release.

Running NextJS 15.4.2-canary.48