React Spa Performance

React SPA Performance (Vite + React 19)

Dense performance reference for React 19 + Vite 7 SPAs. No SSR. No Next.js.

Target projects:

• peek-stash-browser client/ — React 19, Vite 7, Tailwind v3, Video.js, React Router v7 declarative, React Compiler
• stash-sense-trainer web/ — React 19, Vite 7, Tailwind v4, TanStack Query v5, React Router v7

1. Vite Build Optimization

manualChunks — group by update frequency, only node_modules:

rollupOptions: {
  output: {
    manualChunks: {
      'react-vendor': ['react', 'react-dom', 'react-router-dom'],
      'query-vendor': ['@tanstack/react-query'],
      'video-vendor': ['video.js'],  // isolate heavy libs used on few routes
    },
  },
}

Keep chunks under 200KB gzipped. Isolate heavy libs (video.js, recharts) so they load on demand.

optimizeDeps — pre-bundle CJS deps for faster dev startup:

optimizeDeps: {
  include: ['react', 'react-dom', 'video.js'], // CJS libs benefit most
  exclude: ['local-linked-packages'],
}

CSS code splitting — build.cssCodeSplit: true (default). Each lazy route gets its own CSS chunk automatically.

Asset inlining — build.assetsInlineLimit: 4096 (default 4KB). Raise to 8192 for many small icons.

Build target — build.target: 'es2022' unless supporting older browsers. Smaller output, no polyfills.

Tree shaking — rollupOptions.treeshake.moduleSideEffects: false (assume modules pure). Override per-module if needed.

Minification — esbuild is 10-100x faster than terser. Use terser only when the extra 1-3% matters:

build: { minify: 'terser', terserOptions: { compress: { drop_console: true, drop_debugger: true } } }

2. Code Splitting & Lazy Loading

Route-level splitting — every page component via React.lazy:

const Scenes = lazy(() => import('./pages/Scenes'));
// Single Suspense wrapping Routes for route transitions
<Suspense fallback={<PageSkeleton />}><Routes>...</Routes></Suspense>

Never lazy-load the shell/layout. Add nested <Suspense> for heavy sub-components within pages.

Dynamic imports for heavy libs — non-component imports:

async function exportData() {
  const { exportToCsv } = await import('./utils/export');
  exportToCsv(data);
}

Preload on hover/focus for perceived instant navigation:

const preload = () => { void import('./pages/Scenes'); };
<Link to="/scenes"

Barrel file avoidance — CRITICAL (200-800ms import cost):

// BAD: import { Check, X } from 'lucide-react';
// GOOD:
import Check from 'lucide-react/dist/esm/icons/check';

Affected: lucide-react, react-icons, @radix-ui/*, lodash, date-fns. For your own code: import from specific files, not components/index.js.

3. Re-render Prevention

React.memo — use when: component receives objects/arrays + parent re-renders frequently, or renders large subtree. Skip when: cheap component, primitive props, or React Compiler is enabled.

React 19 Compiler — when babel-plugin-react-compiler is active (peek-stash-browser), the compiler auto-memoizes components, hooks, and JSX. Remove manual memo(), useMemo, useCallback unless they serve a semantic purpose. Without compiler: apply manual memoization.

Hoist default non-primitive props:

const EMPTY = [];  // outside component
<TagList tags={EMPTY} />  // stable reference, doesn't break memo

Derived state over useEffect chains — never setState in effect to transform props:

// BAD: useEffect(() => setFull(first + ' ' + last), [first, last]);
// GOOD: const fullName = first + ' ' + last;
// GOOD (expensive): const sorted = useMemo(() => items.toSorted(compare), [items]);

Don't wrap simple primitives in useMemo — hook overhead > computation cost.

Functional setState for stable callbacks:

// BAD: useCallback(() => setCount(count + 1), [count]);
// GOOD: useCallback(() => setCount(c => c + 1), []);

startTransition for non-urgent updates (filtering lists, tab switches, sorting):

const [isPending, startTransition] = useTransition();
startTransition(() => onFilter(value));  // doesn't block typing

Lifting/pushing state — push state down to the child that owns it. Lift only to nearest common ancestor. Never store server data in React state when TanStack Query handles it.

4. Context Performance

Split state vs dispatch — components calling only dispatch never re-render on state changes:

const StateCtx = createContext();
const DispatchCtx = createContext();
// Provide dispatch in outer, state in inner

Context vs props vs TanStack Query:

Avoid provider cascades — compose with a utility if >4 providers deep.

useSyncExternalStore — subscribe to external stores (localStorage, URL params, window size) without tearing. Required getServerSnapshot arg can return null for SPAs.

5. List & Grid Performance

Virtualize lists >100 items — react-window (lightweight, fixed size) or react-virtuoso (dynamic heights, grouping, infinite scroll). Renders only visible items.

Keys — always stable unique IDs, never array index. For composite keys: key={`${id}-${instanceId}`}.

Avoid inline objects/functions in list iterations:

const CARD_STYLE = { margin: 8 };  // hoist outside
items.map(item => <Card key={item.id} style={CARD_STYLE} />)

Pagination vs infinite scroll — pagination for deep content with page jumping; infinite scroll for media browsing (combine with virtualization). Cursor-based for real-time data.

6. Image & Media Loading

Native lazy loading — <img loading="lazy" width={W} height={H} />. Always set dimensions to prevent layout shift.

srcset — provide multiple resolutions with sizes attribute for responsive images.

Placeholders — blurhash/LQIP, dominant color background, or CSS skeleton shimmer.

Video.js lazy init:

• Lazy-load the entire VideoPlayer component via React.lazy
• Separate into its own manualChunk: 'video-vendor': ['video.js']
• Always call player.dispose() on unmount (memory leak otherwise)
• Never re-create player on prop changes — use player.src() to update
• Initialize in useEffect with ref guard, dispose in cleanup

7. Bundle Analysis

vite-plugin-visualizer:

visualizer({ filename: 'dist/stats.html', gzipSize: true, brotliSize: true })

Run npm run build, open dist/stats.html.

Common offenders:

Dynamic import boundaries — draw at: route level, heavy feature components (video, charts, editors), admin-only features, modals with heavy content.

CI monitoring — track dist/assets/*.js sizes. Alert on >10% increase.

8. Data Fetching Performance (TanStack Query)

staleTime / gcTime defaults:

defaultOptions: { queries: { staleTime: 5 * 60_000, gcTime: 30 * 60_000, refetchOnWindowFocus: false } }

Static data (tags, studios): staleTime: Infinity. User data (ratings): 60_000. Real-time: 0.

Prefetch on hover:

const prefetch = () => queryClient.prefetchQuery({ queryKey: ['scene', id], queryFn: ... });
<Link

Query key factories — hierarchical keys for targeted invalidation:

export const sceneKeys = {
  all: ['scenes'], lists: () => [...sceneKeys.all, 'list'],
  list: (filters) => [...sceneKeys.lists(), filters],
  detail: (id) => [...sceneKeys.all, 'detail', id],
};

Parallel queries — useQueries for dynamic lists of queries. TanStack auto-deduplicates identical queryKeys across components.

Eliminate waterfalls — never chain dependent queries when you can combine in a single queryFn with Promise.all:

queryFn: async () => {
  const scene = await fetchScene(id);
  const [performers, tags] = await Promise.all([fetchPerformers(scene.pIds), fetchTags(scene.tIds)]);
  return { scene, performers, tags };
}

9. CSS Performance

Tailwind purge — v3: verify content covers all templates. v4: automatic detection, no manual config needed.

No runtime CSS-in-JS — never use styled-components/emotion in Tailwind projects. Tailwind is build-time static CSS.

CSS containment for independent sections:

.card-grid-item { contain: layout style paint; }
.below-fold { content-visibility: auto; contain-intrinsic-size: 0 500px; }

content-visibility: auto skips rendering off-screen elements — major win for long lists without virtualization.

will-change — only on elements that WILL animate, remove after animation. Never apply broadly.

Layout thrash — batch reads then batch writes. Prefer CSS classes over inline style manipulation. Use requestAnimationFrame for DOM mutations after measurement.

10. Dev Performance

HMR — keep fast by: avoiding top-level side effects, one component per file, separate context providers from consumers.

Pre-bundling — clear cache with rm -rf node_modules/.vite if HMR breaks. Add CJS deps to optimizeDeps.include.

Env variables — only VITE_ prefixed vars exposed to client. Never put secrets in VITE_ vars. Use import.meta.env.DEV / import.meta.env.PROD for conditional code (tree-shaken).

Docker watch — use usePolling only on Windows (WSL2). Linux native inotify works without polling.

Universal Rules (from Vercel React Best Practices, adapted for SPA)