Debugging the Google Maps Duplicate Loading Bug in React

Originally published on clintech.me If you've integrated Google Maps into a React app and seen Autocomplete randomly stop working, Directions silently fail, or the API throw google is not defined on second render — you've hit the duplicate loading bug. Here's exactly what caused it in my case and how I fixed it. The setup that broke things While building delivery address flows at POLOM — a production e-commerce platform — I integrated Google Places Autocomplete across 20+ screens. I had the Maps JavaScript API loading in two places: A provider.tsx for global script loading across the app A useLoadGoogleMaps hook inside a shared component This caused race conditions. The Autocomplete and Directions APIs were initialising before the script fully resolved in some renders, silently failing in others. The failure wasn't consistent, which made it harder to catch. The fix Step 1 — Remove the global load Delete the script tag or next/script call in provider.tsx . There should be exactly one place the Maps API loads. Step 2 — Centralise in a hook Move all loading logic into a single useLoadGoogleMaps hook using dynamic loading. If you're on Next.js, next/script with strategy="afterInteractive" inside the hook is the right approach. Step 3 — Guard before initialising if ( ! window . google ?. maps ) return ; Check that the API is fully available before attempting to attach Autocomplete or Directions . Don't assume the script load event means every namespace is ready. Step 4 — Scope your ref correctly Bind the autocomplete instance to inputRef.current explicitly. If the component remounts, re-initialise the binding — don't assume the previous instance is still attached. The result One load, one source of truth, no race conditions. Autocomplete and Directions worked consistently across all 20+ screens without reinitialising on every render. Security — the step most developers skip Restrict your API key at the Google Cloud Console level: HTTP referrers: whitelist your domain onl