react.dev/tips/12-initial-ajax.md

id	title	layout	permalink	prev	next
initial-ajax	Load Initial Data via AJAX	tips	initial-ajax.html	dom-event-listeners.html	false-in-jsx.html

Fetch data in componentDidMount. When the response arrives, store the data in state, triggering a render to update your UI.

This example fetches the desired Github user's latest gist:

/** @jsx React.DOM */

var UserGist = React.createClass({
  getInitialState: function() {
    return {
      username: '',
      lastGistUrl: ''
    };
  },

  componentDidMount: function() {
    $.get(this.props.source, function(result) {
      var lastGist = result[0];
      this.setState({
        username: lastGist.user.login,
        lastGistUrl: lastGist.html_url
      });
    }.bind(this));
  },

  render: function() {
    return (
      <div>
        {this.state.username}'s last gist is
        <a href={this.state.lastGistUrl}>here</a>.
      </div>
    );
  }
});

React.renderComponent(
  <UserGist source="https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists" />,
  mountNode
);