Developing Frontend Apps

Frontend Application Development Best Practices

Component Architecture

• One component, one job. If it fetches data AND renders a complex UI, split it.
• Composition over inheritance — use children, render props, and custom hooks.
• Presentational components receive data via props and emit events. Container components handle data fetching and state.
• Co-locate related files — component, styles, tests, types in the same directory.
• Define an explicit Props interface for every component:

  interface UserCardProps {
    user: User;
    onEdit: (id: string) => void;
    variant?: 'compact' | 'full';
  }
  
  function UserCard({ user, onEdit, variant = 'full' }: UserCardProps) {
    // ...
  }
  

• Avoid prop drilling beyond 2 levels — use context or composition (pass components, not data).
• Keep components under ~200 lines. Extract hooks when logic dominates the render.

State Management

• Local state first. useState or useReducer for component-scoped concerns.
• Lift state only when siblings share it. Move to the nearest common ancestor, no higher.
• Server state is not app state. Use a data-fetching library (TanStack Query, SWR) — it handles caching, refetching, optimistic updates.
• Minimal global state. Reserve for truly app-wide concerns: auth, theme, locale.
• Derive, don't duplicate. Compute values from source state:

  // Bad: syncing filtered list into separate state
  const [items, setItems] = useState<Item[]>([]);
  const [filtered, setFiltered] = useState<Item[]>([]);
  
  // Good: derive from source
  const filtered = useMemo(
    () => items.filter(i => i.status === activeFilter),
    [items, activeFilter]
  );
  

• Global state libraries (when context isn't enough):
  • Zustand — minimal API, great for simple global state (auth, UI toggles). No boilerplate.
  • Jotai — atomic state, bottom-up approach. Good for independent pieces of state that compose.
  • Redux Toolkit — full-featured, middleware, devtools. Use for complex state with many interdependent slices.
  • Pick Zustand by default. Reach for Redux Toolkit only when you need middleware, time-travel debugging, or complex normalized state.
• Forms: use React Hook Form or TanStack Form for multi-field forms with validation. Manual useState per field doesn't scale past 3-4 fields — validation, dirty tracking, and error display become unwieldy.
• Immutable updates. Spread or structuredClone — never mutate state directly.
• URL as state. Search params, filters, pagination belong in the URL for shareability and back-button support.

Performance

Bundle size

• Tree-shake — use ES modules, avoid barrel files that pull entire libraries.
• Code-split at route boundaries with lazy(). Lazy-load heavy components (editors, charts, maps).
• Run npx vite-bundle-visualizer or source-map-explorer to find bloat.
• Target: initial JS payload under 200KB gzipped.

Core Web Vitals

• LCP — preload hero image, inline critical CSS, avoid render-blocking scripts.
• INP — keep main thread free, defer non-critical work, use startTransition for expensive updates.
• CLS — set explicit dimensions on images/video, reserve space for dynamic content, avoid layout shifts from web fonts.

Rendering

• Virtualize long lists (TanStack Virtual, react-window) — never render 1000+ DOM nodes.
• Memoize expensive components with React.memo and stable callback references with useCallback. Profile first — premature memoization adds complexity without measurable gain.
• Lazy-load images with loading="lazy" and always set width/height attributes.

Accessibility

• Semantic HTML. Use <nav>, <main>, <aside>, <section>, <header>, <footer>. Native interactive elements over styled divs.
• Keyboard operable. Every interactive element reachable via Tab. Custom widgets need arrow key navigation.
• Alt text. Descriptive for informational images. Empty alt="" for decorative images.
• Form labels. Every input needs a <label>. Link error messages with aria-describedby:

  <label htmlFor="email">Email</label>
  <input id="email" aria-describedby="email-error" aria-invalid={!!error} />
  {error && <span id="email-error" role="alert">{error}</span>}
  

• ARIA only when HTML falls short. A <button> already has role="button" — don't add it again.
• Color contrast. 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text (18px+ bold or 24px+).
• Focus management. Trap focus in modals. Restore focus to the trigger element on close.
• Test with a screen reader. VoiceOver (macOS), NVDA (Windows). Run axe-core in CI.

CSS Architecture

• Scoped styles. CSS Modules (.module.css) or Tailwind utility classes. Avoid global stylesheets beyond reset/tokens.
• Design tokens. Define colors, spacing, typography as CSS custom properties on :root:

  :root {
    --color-primary: oklch(55% 0.25 260);
    --space-sm: 0.5rem;
    --space-md: 1rem;
    --radius-md: 0.5rem;
    --font-body: system-ui, sans-serif;
  }
  

• Mobile-first. Base styles for small screens, @media (min-width: ...) for larger.
• Logical properties. margin-inline, padding-block, inline-size instead of directional properties — supports RTL layouts.
• No magic numbers. Use tokens, em/rem, or calc(). Every value should have a reason.
• Prefer gap. gap on flex/grid replaces margin hacks and adjacent sibling selectors.
• Respect motion preferences. Wrap animations in @media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference). Provide a static alternative for users with vestibular disorders.

  @media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference) {
    .card { transition: transform 0.2s ease; }
    .card:hover { transform: scale(1.02); }
  }
  

• Performant animations. Animate only transform and opacity — they run on the compositor thread, avoiding layout/paint. Use will-change sparingly and remove after animation completes.
• CSS Nesting. Native nesting without preprocessors. Nest related selectors to co-locate styles:

  .card {
    padding: var(--space-md);
    & .title { font-weight: 700; }
    &:hover { box-shadow: 0 2px 8px oklch(0% 0 0 / 0.1); }
    @media (min-width: 768px) { padding: var(--space-lg); }
  }
  

• Container Queries. Size components based on their container, not the viewport — essential for reusable components:

  .card-container { container-type: inline-size; }
  @container (min-width: 400px) {
    .card { grid-template-columns: 1fr 2fr; }
  }
  

• Popover API. Declarative popovers without JavaScript — handles dismiss-on-outside-click, top-layer stacking, and focus management:

  <button popovertarget="menu">Open</button>
  <div id="menu" popover>Popover content</div>
  

• View Transitions API. Animated transitions between DOM states or pages with document.startViewTransition(). Pair with view-transition-name CSS property to animate specific elements between states.

TypeScript for Frontend

• Strict mode. Enable strict: true in tsconfig.json. No exceptions.
• Props and state interfaces. Define them explicitly — never inline complex types:

  interface SearchState {
    query: string;
    results: SearchResult[];
    status: 'idle' | 'loading' | 'error' | 'success';
  }
  

• Avoid any. Use unknown and narrow with type guards:

  function isApiError(err: unknown): err is ApiError {
    return typeof err === 'object' && err !== null && 'code' in err;
  }
  

• API response types. Generate from OpenAPI spec (openapi-typescript) or validate at the boundary with Zod. Never trust runtime data matches your types.
• Discriminated unions for state machines:

  type AsyncState<T> =
    | { status: 'idle' }
    | { status: 'loading' }
    | { status: 'error'; error: Error }
    | { status: 'success'; data: T };
  

• as const over enum. Enums emit runtime code and have quirky behavior:

  const ROLES = ['admin', 'editor', 'viewer'] as const;
  type Role = (typeof ROLES)[number]; // 'admin' | 'editor' | 'viewer'
  

React 19

React 19 is the current stable release. Key additions:

New hooks:

• useActionState(action, initialState) — manages async form action state (replaces useFormState). Returns [state, formAction, isPending].
• useFormStatus() — in a child of <form>, reads { pending, data, method, action } from the parent form. No prop drilling for loading state.
• useOptimistic(state, updateFn) — show optimistic UI immediately while an async action is pending. Reverts on error.
• use(promise | context) — read context or suspend on a promise inside render. Replaces some useContext / async data patterns.

function AddToCart({ productId }: { productId: string }) {
  const [state, formAction, isPending] = useActionState(addToCartAction, null);
  const [optimisticCart, addOptimistic] = useOptimistic(
    cart,
    (current, newItem: CartItem) => [...current, newItem],
  );

  return (
    <form action={async (formData) => {
      addOptimistic({ id: productId });
      await formAction(formData);
    }}>
      <button disabled={isPending}>Add to cart</button>
      {state?.error && <span role="alert">{state.error}</span>}
    </form>
  );
}

Ref as prop (no more forwardRef):

// React 19 — ref is a regular prop
function Input({ ref, ...props }: React.ComponentProps<'input'>) {
  return <input ref={ref} {...props} />;
}

Document metadata — render <title>, <meta>, and <link> anywhere in the tree; React hoists them to <head>:

function ProductPage({ product }: { product: Product }) {
  return (
    <>
      <title>{product.name} | Shop</title>
      <meta name="description" content={product.description} />
      <h1>{product.name}</h1>
    </>
  );
}

React Compiler — automatically memoizes components and callbacks. When enabled, manual useMemo, useCallback, and React.memo wrappers become largely unnecessary. Profile before adding manual memoization — the compiler may already handle it.

Server Components (RSC): in frameworks like Next.js App Router, components run on the server by default — no client JS, no hydration, direct DB/file access. Use "use client" to mark the client boundary. Server Actions ("use server" async functions) handle mutations from Server Components without a separate API layer.

Testing

Unit tests

• Test behavior, not implementation. Interact like a user — click, type, assert visible output.
• Query by role, label, text — not by class name or test ID (last resort).
• Mock external dependencies (API, router, storage), not internal modules.

Integration tests

• Render full pages with mocked API (MSW). Test routing between pages, multi-step form flows, error states.
• Use a custom render that wraps providers (router, query client, theme).

E2E tests

• Cover critical user paths: sign up, core workflow, payment. Keep the suite small (<50 tests) and fast (<5 minutes).
• Use Playwright. Page Object Model for reusable selectors.
• Run in CI against a staging environment or docker-compose stack.

Error Recovery

• Error boundaries. Wrap route segments with error boundaries. Show a fallback UI with a retry button — don't crash the entire page.
• Retry on failure. Configure TanStack Query with retry: 3 and exponential backoff. Show a manual retry button after automatic retries are exhausted.

  const queryClient = new QueryClient({
    defaultOptions: {
      queries: {
        retry: 3,
        retryDelay: (attempt) => Math.min(1000 * 2 ** attempt, 30000),
      },
    },
  });
  

• Error pages. Dedicated 404 and 500 components. If using a framework with file-based routing, use its conventions (not-found.tsx, error.tsx).
• Offline detection. Listen to online/offline events. Show a banner when offline. Warn users before actions that require network.
• Graceful degradation. If a non-critical feature fails (analytics, chat widget, recommendations), catch the error and hide the feature. Don't crash the page for optional UI.

Security

• XSS. Never use dangerouslySetInnerHTML with user input. Sanitize with DOMPurify if you must render HTML.
• CSP. Set Content-Security-Policy header. At minimum: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'.
• CORS. Configure on the server, not the client. Never use Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * with credentials.
• Tokens. Store in httpOnly cookies, not localStorage. localStorage is readable by any script on the page.
• Dependencies. Run npm audit regularly. Use npm audit --omit=dev for production deps. Automate with Dependabot or Renovate.
• SRI. Add integrity attribute to CDN <script> and <link> tags.
• Error monitoring. Use Sentry or Datadog RUM to capture client-side errors in production. Configure source maps for readable stack traces.

Build Tooling

• Vite for new projects. Fast dev server (native ESM), optimized production builds (Rollup).
• Biome as an alternative to ESLint + Prettier. Single Rust-based tool for linting and formatting — faster, zero config for most projects. Evaluate for new projects; existing ESLint configs with custom rules may not have Biome equivalents yet.
• Path aliases. "@/*": ["./src/*"] in tsconfig.json and vite.config.ts:

  // vite.config.ts
  resolve: {
    alias: { '@': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src') }
  }
  

• Env vars. .env files with VITE_ prefix for client-exposed variables. Never expose secrets — VITE_ vars are embedded in the bundle.
• Hashed filenames. Vite does this by default — enables aggressive caching.
• Source maps. Enable in production for error tracking (Sentry, Datadog). Upload maps privately, don't serve them publicly.
• CI pipeline: lint → type-check → test → build → lighthouse

SEO Basics

• SSR/SSG for content that needs indexing. SPAs with client-side rendering are invisible to most crawlers.
• Unique <title> and <meta name="description"> per page. Title under 60 chars, description under 155.
• Open Graph. og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url for social previews.
• Canonical URL. <link rel="canonical" href="..."> to avoid duplicate content.
• JSON-LD. Structured data for rich results:

  <script type="application/ld+json">
  { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "..." }
  </script>
  

• robots.txt + sitemap.xml. Sitemap lists all indexable URLs. Submit to Google Search Console.

New frontend app workflow

- [ ] Scaffold with Vite (React + TypeScript template)
- [ ] Configure strict tsconfig, path aliases, ESLint, Prettier
- [ ] Set up CSS strategy (CSS Modules or Tailwind)
- [ ] Define design tokens (CSS custom properties)
- [ ] Set up routing (React Router, TanStack Router)
- [ ] Configure data fetching (TanStack Query)
- [ ] Add testing stack (Vitest + Testing Library + MSW + Playwright)
- [ ] Add error boundary at app root and error pages (404, 500)
- [ ] Set up CI pipeline (lint → type-check → test → build → lighthouse)
- [ ] Configure env vars, source maps, bundle analysis
- [ ] Run validation loop (below)

Validation loop

1. npx eslint . — fix all warnings and errors
2. npx tsc --noEmit — fix type errors
3. npx vitest run — fix failing tests
4. npx playwright test — fix E2E failures
5. npx axe-core or jest-axe — fix accessibility violations
6. npx vite build && npx vite-bundle-visualizer — verify bundle under 200KB gzipped
7. Lighthouse CI — verify performance score ≥ 90, accessibility ≥ 95
8. Repeat until all checks pass clean

Deep-dive references

Component patterns: See patterns/component-patterns.md for directory structure, composition, forms, error boundaries, compound components Performance patterns: See patterns/performance-patterns.md for profiling, code splitting, images, fonts, caching, rendering optimization Testing patterns: See patterns/testing-patterns.md for Vitest setup, component tests, MSW mocking, Playwright E2E Accessibility: See accessibility-cheatsheet.md for WCAG checklist, semantic HTML, ARIA reference, keyboard patterns

Official references

• WCAG 2.2 — Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Level AA target
• web.dev — Core Web Vitals, performance, best practices
• Testing Library — query priorities, best practices, framework integrations
• Vite — configuration, plugins, build optimization