Strange behavior when not using Link component

[einarq]

I have a react router 7 app, where all navigation happens via the useNavigate hook, due to integration with in-house component library that renders all the links.

The strange thing is that if I reload the app on a sub-route, and then click the link that takes me to the root, then the loaders are not firing properly, so the page is never rendered.

But, if I simply include a Link component on the page, then everything works fine.

      <div style={{display: 'none'}}>
        <Link to={'/'}>Home</Link>
      </div>

Is the Link component doing something under the hood in framework mode? Some type of resolution going on that then hasn't been done if there are no Link components on the page?

The structure of the app is more or less just these two routes:

export default [
  index('routes/Home.tsx'),
  route('userSettings', 'routes/UserSettings.tsx'),
  ....

There is a loader and a clientLoader on the root component, and there are also clientLoaders on the index route, and on the userSettings route.

If I start on /userSettings, then navigating to Home just gives me an empty page, unless I include the hidden Link.

Any ideas? Should I try to create a repro?

[einarq]

Btw, forgot to mention that it only happens on production build. Trying to repro in stackblitz, but no luck so far.