[winstonewert]

I think we are talking about different things.

Yes, if you build a component based api that supports multiple modals, resuing backdrops, lifecycle hooks, that api would suck and be a real pain to build a service version on top of.

A React component should not be trying to do all that, but merely produce the appropriate HTML for a modal dialog. That produced HTML can equally be used to build one-off "are you sure?" dialogs, a modal service, or what have you.