State Management

State Management (pointer)

Library APIs, install steps and idiomatic code drift on each release and are canonical at:

• Zustand — docs.pmnd.rs/zustand (recommended default; 1.2kb, hooks-first)
• Redux Toolkit — redux-toolkit.js.org (enterprise scale, devtools)
• Jotai — jotai.org (atomic model, 2kb)
• TanStack Query — tanstack.com/query (server state, NOT global client state)
• React 19 built-ins — react.dev (useReducer, useOptimistic, use(Context), Actions)

Decision tree (version-agnostic)

Need shared state?
├── No → useState/useReducer
└── Yes →
    ├── Server state (fetch + cache + invalidate) → TanStack Query / SWR
    ├── Forms → React Hook Form
    ├── Small client state (<5 stores) → Zustand
    ├── Large client state (>5 stores) → Redux Toolkit
    └── Theme/Auth singletons → Context + useReducer

Foundation discipline (keep across releases)

• Client vs server state: never put server state in a client store (Zustand/Redux). Use TanStack Query for fetched data; Zustand/Redux for UI state, filters, drafts.
• Domain separation: one store per domain, not one global store. Easier to test and lazy-load.
• Granular selectors: subscribe to slices, not whole stores — see [[dev-react-perf]] for re-render audit when a store change cascades.

See also

• dev-react-perf skill — re-render diagnosis when selectors are too broad
• dev-tdd — store reducers/selectors test well in isolation (no DOM needed)