Angular Best Practices

Iron Law

LOAD angular-spa FIRST for TailwindCSS 4.x + daisyUI workspace conventions. This skill provides ranked best practices for review and optimization — not implementation templates.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Writing new Angular components or pages
• Implementing data fetching patterns
• Reviewing code for performance issues
• Refactoring existing Angular code
• Optimizing bundle size or load times
• Configuring SSR/hydration

Priority Matrix

1. Change Detection (CRITICAL)

Use OnPush Change Detection

// ✅ CORRECT - OnPush with Signals
@Component({
  changeDetection: ChangeDetectionStrategy.OnPush,
  template: `<div>{{ count() }}</div>`,
})
export class CounterComponent {
  count = signal(0);
}

// ❌ WRONG - Default change detection
@Component({
  template: `<div>{{ count }}</div>`, // Checked every cycle
})
export class CounterComponent {
  count = 0;
}

Prefer Signals Over Mutable Properties

// ✅ CORRECT - Signals trigger precise updates
@Component({
  template: `
    <h1>{{ title() }}</h1>
    <p>Count: {{ count() }}</p>
  `,
})
export class DashboardComponent {
  title = signal("Dashboard");
  count = signal(0);
}

// ❌ WRONG - Mutable properties require zone.js checks
@Component({
  template: `
    <h1>{{ title }}</h1>
    <p>Count: {{ count }}</p>
  `,
})
export class DashboardComponent {
  title = "Dashboard";
  count = 0;
}

Enable Zoneless for New Projects

// main.ts - Zoneless Angular (v20+)
bootstrapApplication(AppComponent, {
  providers: [provideZonelessChangeDetection()],
});

Benefits:

• No zone.js patches on async APIs
• Smaller bundle (~15KB savings)
• Clean stack traces for debugging
• Better micro-frontend compatibility

2. Async Operations & Waterfalls (CRITICAL)

Eliminate Sequential Data Fetching

// ❌ WRONG - Nested subscriptions create waterfalls
this.route.params.subscribe((params) => {
  // 1. Wait for params
  this.userService.getUser(params.id).subscribe((user) => {
    // 2. Wait for user
    this.postsService.getPosts(user.id).subscribe((posts) => {
      // 3. Wait for posts
    });
  });
});

// ✅ CORRECT - Parallel execution with forkJoin
forkJoin({
  user: this.userService.getUser(id),
  posts: this.postsService.getPosts(id),
}).subscribe((data) => {
  // Fetched in parallel
});

// ✅ CORRECT - Flatten dependent calls with switchMap
this.route.params
  .pipe(
    map((p) => p.id),
    switchMap((id) => this.userService.getUser(id)),
  )
  .subscribe();

Avoid Client-Side Waterfalls in SSR

// ✅ CORRECT - Use resolvers or blocking hydration for critical data
export const route: Route = {
  path: "profile/:id",
  resolve: { data: profileResolver }, // Fetched on server before navigation
  component: ProfileComponent,
};

// ❌ WRONG - Component fetches data on init
class ProfileComponent implements OnInit {
  ngOnInit() {
    // Starts ONLY after JS loads and component renders
    this.http.get("/api/profile").subscribe();
  }
}

3. Bundle Optimization (CRITICAL)

Lazy Load Routes

// ✅ CORRECT - Lazy load feature routes
export const routes: Routes = [
  {
    path: "admin",
    loadChildren: () =>
      import("./admin/admin.routes").then((m) => m.ADMIN_ROUTES),
  },
  {
    path: "dashboard",
    loadComponent: () =>
      import("./dashboard/dashboard.component").then(
        (m) => m.DashboardComponent,
      ),
  },
];

// ❌ WRONG - Eager loading everything
import { AdminModule } from "./admin/admin.module";
export const routes: Routes = [
  { path: "admin", component: AdminComponent }, // In main bundle
];

Use @defer for Heavy Components

<!-- ✅ CORRECT - Heavy component loads on demand -->
@defer (on viewport) {
<app-analytics-chart [data]="data()" />
} @placeholder {
<div class="chart-skeleton"></div>
}

<!-- ❌ WRONG - Heavy component in initial bundle -->
<app-analytics-chart [data]="data()" />

Avoid Barrel File Re-exports

// ❌ WRONG - Imports entire barrel, breaks tree-shaking
import { Button, Modal, Table } from "@shared/components";

// ✅ CORRECT - Direct imports
import { Button } from "@shared/components/button/button.component";
import { Modal } from "@shared/components/modal/modal.component";

Dynamic Import Third-Party Libraries

// ✅ CORRECT - Load heavy library on demand
async loadChart() {
  const { Chart } = await import('chart.js');
  this.chart = new Chart(this.canvas, config);
}

// ❌ WRONG - Bundle Chart.js in main chunk
import { Chart } from 'chart.js';

4. Rendering Performance (HIGH)

Always Use trackBy with @for

<!-- ✅ CORRECT - Efficient DOM updates -->
@for (item of items(); track item.id) {
<app-item-card [item]="item" />
}

<!-- ❌ WRONG - Entire list re-renders on any change -->
@for (item of items(); track $index) {
<app-item-card [item]="item" />
}

Use Virtual Scrolling for Large Lists

Use CdkVirtualScrollViewport with itemSize for lists >50 items. See references/extended-patterns.md for the full example.

Prefer Pure Pipes Over Methods

Use @Pipe({ pure: true }) — memoized and called only when inputs change. Never call methods in templates — they run every change detection cycle. See references/extended-patterns.md for examples.

Use computed() for Derived Data

Use computed() instead of getters — cached until signal dependencies change. See references/extended-patterns.md for before/after examples.

5. Server-Side Rendering (HIGH)

Configure Incremental Hydration

// app.config.ts
import {
  provideClientHydration,
  withIncrementalHydration,
} from "@angular/platform-browser";

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideClientHydration(withIncrementalHydration(), withEventReplay()),
  ],
};

Defer Non-Critical Content

<!-- Critical above-the-fold content -->
<app-header />
<app-hero />

<!-- Below-fold deferred with hydration triggers -->
@defer (hydrate on viewport) {
<app-product-grid />
} @defer (hydrate on interaction) {
<app-chat-widget />
}

Use TransferState for SSR Data

@Injectable({ providedIn: "root" })
export class DataService {
  private http = inject(HttpClient);
  private transferState = inject(TransferState);
  private platformId = inject(PLATFORM_ID);

  getData(key: string): Observable<Data> {
    const stateKey = makeStateKey<Data>(key);

    if (isPlatformBrowser(this.platformId)) {
      const cached = this.transferState.get(stateKey, null);
      if (cached) {
        this.transferState.remove(stateKey);
        return of(cached);
      }
    }

    return this.http.get<Data>(`/api/${key}`).pipe(
      tap((data) => {
        if (isPlatformServer(this.platformId)) {
          this.transferState.set(stateKey, data);
        }
      }),
    );
  }
}

6. Template Optimization (MEDIUM)

Use New Control Flow Syntax

<!-- ✅ CORRECT - New control flow (faster, smaller bundle) -->
@if (user()) {
<span>{{ user()!.name }}</span>
} @else {
<span>Guest</span>
} @for (item of items(); track item.id) {
<app-item [item]="item" />
} @empty {
<p>No items</p>
}

<!-- ❌ WRONG - Legacy structural directives -->
<span *ngIf="user; else guest">{{ user.name }}</span>
<ng-template #guest><span>Guest</span></ng-template>

Avoid Complex Template Expressions

// ✅ CORRECT - Precompute in component
class Component {
  items = signal<Item[]>([]);
  sortedItems = computed(() =>
    [...this.items()].sort((a, b) => a.name.localeCompare(b.name))
  );
}

// Template
@for (item of sortedItems(); track item.id) { ... }

// ❌ WRONG - Sorting in template on every render
@for (item of items() | sort:'name'; track item.id) { ... }

7. State Management (MEDIUM)

See references/extended-patterns.md for full examples (selectors, feature-scoped stores).

Key rules:

• Use store.selectSignal(selector) — subscribes only to the slice that changed, not entire state
• @Injectable() without providedIn: 'root' for feature-scoped stores provided at component level

8. Memory Management (LOW-MEDIUM)

See references/extended-patterns.md for full examples (takeUntilDestroyed, toSignal).

Key rules:

• Use takeUntilDestroyed(this.destroyRef) — auto-unsubscribes on component destroy, no manual ngOnDestroy
• Prefer toSignal(obs$) over manual subscribe/unsubscribe entirely

Quick Reference Checklists

See references/extended-patterns.md for the full New Component, Performance Review, and SSR checklists.

New component minimum:

• changeDetection: ChangeDetectionStrategy.OnPush
• standalone: true
• @for with track item.id (not $index)

Related Skills

• angular-spa — workspace skill: TailwindCSS 4.x, daisyUI 5.5.5, conventions
• angular — core API reference: signals, standalone, routing patterns
• angular-ui-patterns — UI state patterns: loading, error, empty states