React Render Performance

Patterns for minimizing unnecessary React re-renders when consuming external state. Prefer selector-based subscriptions over useState(wholeObject) — subscribe only to the slice each component needs.

Core idea

Storing a full state object in React state (e.g. useState(snapshot) and subscribing to every change) forces re-renders on any update. A component that only needs phase will still re-render when quiz.selectedWrong changes if both live in the same object.

Avoid: subscribe → setState(fullObject) → read a field in render.
Prefer: subscribe to a selector or slice so the component re-renders only when that value changes. Every library below supports this; use it.

Tree position matters. The higher a component is in the tree, the more expensive a re-render becomes, because React re-renders it and all descendants. Subscribing to the whole store in App.tsx is especially bad — every store change re-renders the entire app. Push subscriptions down to the leaf or route-level components that actually need the data, or use selectors so high-level components only re-render when their slice changes.

Library patterns

XState (actors) — @xstate/react

Use useSelector(actor, selector) so the component re-renders only when the selected value changes.

// GOOD: stable selector — re-renders only when phase changes
import { useSelector } from "@xstate/react";
import { selectPhase } from "./selectors";

function PhaseIndicator({ actor }) {
  const phase = useSelector(actor, selectPhase);
  return <Text>{phase}</Text>;
}

// BAD: full snapshot in React state — re-renders on every actor change
const [snapshot, setSnapshot] = useState(null);
useEffect(() => {
  const sub = actor.subscribe((snap) => setSnapshot(snap));
  return () => sub.unsubscribe();
}, [actor]);
const phase = snapshot?.value?.sessionFlow; // unnecessary re-renders

Actor + ref for callbacks: Keep the actor in useState (so useSelector re-subscribes if the actor is replaced) and in a useRef for synchronous access in event handlers:

const [actor, setActor] = useState(() => {
  const a = createActor(machine);
  a.start();
  return a;
});
const actorRef = useRef(actor);
actorRef.current = actor;

function send(event) {
  actorRef.current.send(event);
}

@xstate/store — @xstate/store-react

Use useSelector(store, selector) to subscribe to a slice of store context. Re-renders only when the selected value changes (strict equality by default; optional custom compare).

// GOOD: select one field — re-renders only when count changes
import { createStore, useSelector } from "@xstate/store-react";

const store = createStore({
  context: { count: 0, name: "" },
  on: { inc: (ctx) => ({ ...ctx, count: ctx.count + 1 }) },
});

function CountDisplay() {
  const count = useSelector(store, (state) => state.context.count);
  return <span>{count}</span>;
}

// BAD: selecting whole context — re-renders on any context change
const context = useSelector(store, (state) => state.context);
return <span>{context.count}</span>;

Custom comparison when the selector returns an object:

const user = useSelector(
  store,
  (state) => state.context.user,
  (prev, next) => prev.id === next.id
);

Zustand

Use the store with a selector as the first argument. The component re-renders only when the selected value changes (referential equality).

// GOOD: selector — re-renders only when count changes
const count = useStore((state) => state.count);

// GOOD: primitive or stable ref — minimal re-renders
const phase = useStore((state) => state.session.phase);

// BAD: no selector — re-renders on every store change
const state = useStore();
return <span>{state.count}</span>;

// BAD: selecting a new object every time — re-renders every time
const { count, name } = useStore((state) => ({ count: state.count, name: state.name }));
// Use two selectors or useShallow instead

Use a module-level selector so the function reference is stable (see Selector rules below). For multiple fields, use useShallow or pick primitives:

import { useShallow } from "zustand/react/shallow";
const { count, name } = useStore(useShallow((state) => ({ count: state.count, name: state.name })));

Redux — react-redux

Use useSelector(selector) and select the smallest slice needed. Redux uses referential equality; selecting a new object every time forces re-renders.

// GOOD: select a primitive or stable reference
const phase = useSelector((state) => state.session.phase);
const count = useSelector((state) => state.counter);

// BAD: selecting whole slice — new object ref when any part of session updates
const session = useSelector((state) => state.session);
return <span>{session.phase}</span>;

For object slices use shallowEqual or a memoized selector:

import { shallowEqual, useSelector } from "react-redux";

const { phase, step } = useSelector(
  (state) => ({ phase: state.session.phase, step: state.session.step }),
  shallowEqual
);

Nanostores — @nanostores/react

Nanostores doesn’t take a selector in the hook; shape your stores so each consumer subscribes to a small store. Use computed stores to derive slices, or split state into multiple atoms.

// GOOD: one atom per logical slice, or computed for a derived slice
import { atom, computed } from "nanostores";
import { useStore } from "@nanostores/react";

const $session = atom({ phase: "idle", step: 0 });
const $phase = computed($session, (s) => s.phase);

function PhaseIndicator() {
  const phase = useStore($phase); // re-renders only when phase changes
  return <Text>{phase}</Text>;
}

// BAD: one big store, useStore on the whole thing — re-renders on any change
const $app = atom({ session: {...}, quiz: {...}, ui: {...} });
function PhaseIndicator() {
  const app = useStore($app);
  return <Text>{app.session.phase}</Text>;
}

Use map or atoms for granular updates and computed for derived values; then each component useStores only the store it needs.

React context

Context re-renders all consumers when the value reference changes. Prefer splitting by update frequency or exposing a subscribable store and selecting in the consumer.

// GOOD: split by update frequency
<FrequentContext.Provider value={frequentData}>
  <RareContext.Provider value={rareData}>
    {children}
  </RareContext.Provider>
</RareContext.Provider>

// GOOD: store in context, select in consumer (e.g. Zustand store, XState actor)
function useSessionPhase() {
  const store = useContext(StoreContext);
  return useSelector(store, (s) => s.phase);
}

// BAD: one context with everything — any change re-renders all consumers
<AppContext.Provider value={{ user, session, theme, settings, ... }}>

useSyncExternalStore (custom stores)

For stores that aren’t one of the above, use React’s useSyncExternalStore and subscribe to a slice in getSnapshot so the component only re-renders when that slice changes.

// GOOD: getSnapshot returns only the slice this component needs
const phase = useSyncExternalStore(
  store.subscribe,
  () => store.getSnapshot().session.phase,
  () => store.getSnapshot().session.phase
);

// BAD: getSnapshot returns full state — re-renders on every store change
const state = useSyncExternalStore(store.subscribe, store.getSnapshot, store.getSnapshot);
return <span>{state.session.phase}</span>;

Selector rules

1. Keep selectors at module level — not inline in the component. Inline arrow functions create new references each render and can defeat equality checks.

// GOOD
const selectPhase = (snap) => snap.value?.sessionFlow;
function MyComponent({ actor }) {
  const phase = useSelector(actor, selectPhase);
}

// BAD — new function ref every render
function MyComponent({ actor }) {
  const phase = useSelector(actor, (snap) => snap.value?.sessionFlow);
}

2. Return primitives or stable references. If the selector returns a new object/array every time, the component will re-render on every update. Prefer primitives or use a custom comparison when you must return an object.

3. Don’t put expensive derivation in selectors. Heavy work belongs in useMemo in the component, not in the selector (selectors run often).

Anti-patterns

When to use selectors

Use a selector / slice when:

• The component needs 1–2 fields from a larger state
• Different fields update at different rates (e.g. phase rarely, quiz state often)
• Several components each need different parts of the same store
• The component is high in the tree (e.g. App.tsx, layout, root route) — re-renders there cascade down the whole tree, so avoid subscribing to the whole store at that level

A single subscription is OK when:

• The component needs most or all of the state
• Updates are rare (e.g. user profile)
• There’s only one consumer or it’s a leaf with no children

Rule of thumb: If a component re-renders more often than its visible output changes, add a selector (or a computed/small store). Use React DevTools Profiler to confirm.