[Feedback wanted] Removing the "Perf" and "Network" tabs from the in-app Element Inspector

[huntie]

Motivation

As the React team focuses on the New Architecture and Debugging, we are reviewing the current development tooling we offer.

The in-app Element Inspector is a longstanding development feature in React Native, which helps developers visually understand the element hierarchy in their app via tap interaction and through its React DevTools integration. However, its UI also houses some adjacent features which are unrelated to this purpose, are ambiguous with other built-in tools, and have been little-maintained.

As we build out the New Architecture, we need to consider the usefulness of these features and the cost of newly adapting and maintaining these for Bridgeless. So, we are considering the removal of both the Perf and Network features under the Element Inspector overlay.

Legacy features to remove

1. Element Inspector > Perf

Provides textual logs of network requests with request duration. Non-interactive, no scrolling.

Note: A "Perf" tool here is ambiguous with the "Perf Monitor" feature we provide in the Dev Menu (which displays a standalone performance overlay), additionally motivating its removal.

2. Element Inspector > Network

A table view of HTTP requests made from the application. Non-interactive.

Replacing these features

The functionality and value of both of these tabs is limited, providing basic visibility into network events. We believe there is better tooling, both today and in our future Debugging plans, that encapsulate these offerings.

• Replacement tooling (today): Native network inspectors (e.g. Charles Proxy), Network panel (web), console logs.
• Replacement tooling (future): Fully functional Network panel in Chrome DevTools (available in Expo today).

[huntie]

Implemented (for New Arch only) and shipping in React Native 0.76:

• Remove Inspector Panel perf + network tabs under New Arch facebook/react-native#46307