Tanstack React Table Create Table Hook

This skill builds on @tanstack/table-core#core, getting-started, and table-state. Use a factory when multiple tables share real conventions; use standalone useTable for a one-off.

Setup

import {
  createTableHook,
  rowSelectionFeature,
  tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/react-table'

export const { createAppColumnHelper, useAppTable, useTableContext } =
  createTableHook({
    features: tableFeatures({ rowSelectionFeature }),
    getRowId: (row: { id: string }) => row.id,
  })

Keep this factory in an infrastructure module. It binds feature types and defaults once while each useAppTable call still supplies its own data, columns, state, and initial state.

Core Patterns

Infer columns through the bound helper

type Person = { id: string; name: string }
const helper = createAppColumnHelper<Person>()
const columns = helper.columns([helper.accessor('name', { header: 'Name' })])

function People({ data }: { data: Person[] }) {
  const table = useAppTable({ data, columns })
  return (
    <table.AppTable>
      <div>{table.getRowModel().rows.length}</div>
    </table.AppTable>
  )
}

AppTable takes ordinary JSX children when it has no selector. Function children are only valid with a selector:

<table.AppTable selector={(state) => state.rowSelection}>
  {(rowSelection) => <output>{Object.keys(rowSelection).length}</output>}
</table.AppTable>

Read registered context instead of drilling props

function RowCount() {
  const table = useTableContext()
  return <output>{table.getRowModel().rows.length}</output>
}

Register reusable table/cell/header components in the factory and consume them under their matching App* provider.

Isolate genuinely nested table setups

The default module-scoped contexts are HMR-stable, and normal provider scoping already isolates sibling tables. Separate createTableHook calls still use those shared default contexts, so nested providers can silently resolve a consumer to the inner table. Create scoped contexts only when different table setups are nested:

import {
  createTableHook,
  createTableHookContexts,
  rowSelectionFeature,
  tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/react-table'

const features = tableFeatures({ rowSelectionFeature })
const { tableContext, cellContext, headerContext } =
  createTableHookContexts<typeof features>()

export const app = createTableHook({
  features,
  tableContext,
  cellContext,
  headerContext,
})

Prefer context hooks returned by createTableHook; they include the registered component maps in their types. Hooks returned directly by createTableHookContexts know only TFeatures and are useful from modules that cannot import the completed factory.

Common Mistakes

MEDIUM Factory for a one-off table

Wrong:

const { useAppTable } = createTableHook({ features: tableFeatures({}) })

Correct:

const table = useTable({ features: tableFeatures({}), columns, data })

A factory adds an app-wide abstraction; standalone construction is clearer without shared conventions.

Source: docs/framework/react/guide/composable-tables.md

HIGH Creating the factory during render

Wrong:

function People() {
  const app = createTableHook({ features })
  const table = app.useAppTable({ data, columns })
  return (
    <table.AppTable>
      <div />
    </table.AppTable>
  )
}

Correct:

const app = createTableHook({ features })
function People() {
  const table = app.useAppTable({ data, columns })
  return (
    <table.AppTable>
      <div />
    </table.AppTable>
  )
}

Creating a new factory closure during render makes hook configuration and component registries unstable. Keep the factory and its bound hook identity at module scope.

Source: packages/react-table/src/createTableHook.tsx

HIGH Closing a circular HMR import

Wrong:

// table.ts imports RowCount; RowCount.tsx imports useTableContext from table.ts
export const app = createTableHook({ features, tableComponents: { RowCount } })

Correct:

// components.tsx receives the exported hook through a cycle-free module boundary
export const app = createTableHook({ features })

Keep the factory dependency graph acyclic or inject components from a separate composition root; circular registries can break Vite HMR.

Source: https://github.com/TanStack/table/issues/6348

API Discovery

Inspect node_modules/@tanstack/react-table/dist/createTableHook.d.ts and createTableHookContexts.d.ts for the exact returned helpers, component registries, wrapper props, and scoped context types.