React State Management

Comprehensive guide to modern React state management patterns, from local component state to global stores and server state synchronization.

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up global state management in a React app
• Choosing between Redux Toolkit, Zustand, or Jotai
• Managing server state with React Query or SWR
• Implementing optimistic updates
• Debugging state-related issues
• Migrating from legacy Redux to modern patterns

Core Concepts

1. State Categories

| Type | Description | Solutions | | ---------------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------- | | Local State | Component-specific, UI state | useState, useReducer | | Global State | Shared across components | Redux Toolkit, Zustand, Jotai | | Server State | Remote data, caching | React Query, SWR, RTK Query | | URL State | Route parameters, search | React Router, nuqs | | Form State | Input values, validation | React Hook Form, Formik |

2. Selection Criteria

Small app, simple state → Zustand or Jotai
Large app, complex state → Redux Toolkit
Heavy server interaction → React Query + light client state
Atomic/granular updates → Jotai

Quick Start

Zustand (Simplest)

// store/useStore.ts
import { create } from 'zustand'
import { devtools, persist } from 'zustand/middleware'

interface AppState {
  user: User | null
  theme: 'light' | 'dark'
  setUser: (user: User | null) => void
  toggleTheme: () => void
}

export const useStore = create<AppState>()(
  devtools(
    persist(
      (set) => ({
        user: null,
        theme: 'light',
        setUser: (user) => set({ user }),
        toggleTheme: () => set((state) => ({
          theme: state.theme === 'light' ? 'dark' : 'light'
        })),
      }),
      { name: 'app-storage' }
    )
  )
)

// Usage in component
function Header() {
  const { user, theme, toggleTheme } = useStore()
  return (
    <header className={theme}>
      {user?.name}
      <button onClick={toggleTheme}>Toggle Theme</button>
    </header>
  )
}

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Best Practices

Do's

• Colocate state - Keep state as close to where it's used as possible
• Use selectors - Prevent unnecessary re-renders with selective subscriptions
• Normalize data - Flatten nested structures for easier updates
• Type everything - Full TypeScript coverage prevents runtime errors
• Separate concerns - Server state (React Query) vs client state (Zustand)

Don'ts

• Don't over-globalize - Not everything needs to be in global state
• Don't duplicate server state - Let React Query manage it
• Don't mutate directly - Always use immutable updates
• Don't store derived data - Compute it instead
• Don't mix paradigms - Pick one primary solution per category

Migration Guides

From Legacy Redux to RTK

// Before (legacy Redux)
const ADD_TODO = "ADD_TODO";
const addTodo = (text) => ({ type: ADD_TODO, payload: text });
function todosReducer(state = [], action) {
  switch (action.type) {
    case ADD_TODO:
      return [...state, { text: action.payload, completed: false }];
    default:
      return state;
  }
}

// After (Redux Toolkit)
const todosSlice = createSlice({
  name: "todos",
  initialState: [],
  reducers: {
    addTodo: (state, action: PayloadAction<string>) => {
      // Immer allows "mutations"
      state.push({ text: action.payload, completed: false });
    },
  },
});