React Best Practices (TanStack Start Edition)

Comprehensive performance optimization guide for React and TanStack Start applications. Contains 45+ rules across 8 categories, prioritized by impact to guide automated refactoring and code generation. Customized for TanStack Start with server functions, Router SSR Query integration, and project-specific patterns.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Writing new React components or TanStack Start routes

• Implementing data fetching (server functions, Router SSR Query, TanStack Query)

• Reviewing code for performance issues (waterfalls, bundle size, re-renders)

• Refactoring existing React/TanStack code

• Optimizing bundle size, load times, or SSR performance

• Working with route loaders (createFileRoute , loader )

• Creating server functions (createServerFn )

Project-Specific Context

This project uses:

• TanStack Start: File-based routes with SSR/SSG support

• TanStack Router: Type-safe routing with loader patterns

• TanStack Query: Server state management with SSR hydration

• Router SSR Query Integration: dehydrate/hydrate for zero-refetch SSR

• Server Functions: Server-side logic with createServerFn

• Supabase: PostgreSQL with RLS for data layer

• Cloudflare Workers: Deployment target

Key Docs:

• 07-data-access-patterns.md - Router SSR Query patterns

• 01-architecture.md - Error handling, type safety

• 16-library-patterns.md - TanStack Query, Zustand, Zod

Rule Categories by Priority

Priority Category Impact Prefix

1 Eliminating Waterfalls CRITICAL async-

2 Bundle Size Optimization CRITICAL bundle-

3 Server-Side Performance HIGH server-

4 Client-Side Data Fetching MEDIUM-HIGH client-

5 Re-render Optimization MEDIUM rerender-

6 Rendering Performance MEDIUM rendering-

7 JavaScript Performance LOW-MEDIUM js-

8 Advanced Patterns LOW advanced-

Quick Reference

1. Eliminating Waterfalls (CRITICAL)

TanStack Start Specific:

• async-tanstack-loader-critical

• Use ensureQueryData (await) vs prefetchQuery (fire-and-forget)

• async-tanstack-query-options

• Create reusable queryOptions for zero-refetch SSR

General React:

• async-defer-await

• Move await into branches where actually used

• async-parallel

• Use Promise.all() for independent operations

• async-dependencies

• Use better-all for partial dependencies

• async-api-routes

• Start promises early, await late in API routes

• async-suspense-boundaries

• Use Suspense to stream content

2. Bundle Size Optimization (CRITICAL)

• bundle-barrel-imports

• Import directly, avoid barrel files

• bundle-dynamic-imports

• Use React.lazy() for heavy components

• bundle-defer-third-party

• Load analytics/logging after hydration

• bundle-conditional

• Load modules only when feature is activated

• bundle-preload

• Preload on hover/focus for perceived speed

3. Server-Side Performance (HIGH)

TanStack Start Specific:

• server-tanstack-router-dehydrate

• Configure dehydrate/hydrate for zero-refetch SSR

• server-tanstack-parallel-fetching

• Use Promise.all() in server functions

General React:

• server-cache-react

• Use React.cache() for per-request deduplication

• server-cache-lru

• Use LRU cache for cross-request caching

• server-serialization

• Minimize data passed to client components

• server-parallel-fetching

• Restructure components to parallelize fetches

• server-after-nonblocking

• Fire-and-forget for non-blocking side effects

4. Client-Side Data Fetching (MEDIUM-HIGH)

• client-swr-dedup

• Use TanStack Query for automatic request deduplication

• client-event-listeners

• Deduplicate global event listeners

5. Re-render Optimization (MEDIUM)

• rerender-defer-reads

• Don't subscribe to state only used in callbacks

• rerender-memo

• Extract expensive work into memoized components

• rerender-dependencies

• Use primitive dependencies in effects

• rerender-derived-state

• Subscribe to derived booleans, not raw values

• rerender-functional-setstate

• Use functional setState for stable callbacks

• rerender-lazy-state-init

• Pass function to useState for expensive values

• rerender-transitions

• Use startTransition for non-urgent updates

6. Rendering Performance (MEDIUM)

• rendering-animate-svg-wrapper

• Animate div wrapper, not SVG element

• rendering-content-visibility

• Use content-visibility for long lists

• rendering-hoist-jsx

• Extract static JSX outside components

• rendering-svg-precision

• Reduce SVG coordinate precision

• rendering-hydration-no-flicker

• Use inline script for client-only data

• rendering-activity

• Use Activity component for show/hide

• rendering-conditional-render

• Use ternary, not && for conditionals

7. JavaScript Performance (LOW-MEDIUM)

• js-batch-dom-css

• Group CSS changes via classes or cssText

• js-index-maps

• Build Map for repeated lookups

• js-cache-property-access

• Cache object properties in loops

• js-cache-function-results

• Cache function results in module-level Map

• js-cache-storage

• Cache localStorage/sessionStorage reads

• js-combine-iterations

• Combine multiple filter/map into one loop

• js-length-check-first

• Check array length before expensive comparison

• js-early-exit

• Return early from functions

• js-hoist-regexp

• Hoist RegExp creation outside loops

• js-min-max-loop

• Use loop for min/max instead of sort

• js-set-map-lookups

• Use Set/Map for O(1) lookups

• js-tosorted-immutable

• Use toSorted() for immutability

8. Advanced Patterns (LOW)

• advanced-event-handler-refs

• Store event handlers in refs

• advanced-use-latest

• useLatest for stable callback refs

How to Use

Read individual rule files for detailed explanations and code examples:

rules/async-parallel.md rules/bundle-barrel-imports.md rules/_sections.md

Each rule file contains:

• Brief explanation of why it matters

• Incorrect code example with explanation

• Correct code example with explanation

• Additional context and references

Full Compiled Document

For the complete guide with all rules expanded: AGENTS.md