React Query

What it does

This skill provides expertise in using React Query (now TanStack Query) for managing data fetching, caching, and state within React applications. It guides users to leverage React Query's built-in features like background updates, stale data management, and error handling to simplify frontend development workflows. The skill emphasizes best practices for integrating React Query into a project structure and configuring its default options.

When to use it

• When building complex user interfaces that require fetching and caching data from APIs.
• To replace useState with React Query's built-in state management for server data.
• For projects needing robust error handling and loading state management during API calls.
• When aiming to optimize performance by implementing effective caching strategies and reducing unnecessary API requests.
• In situations where you want to centralize your data fetching logic and improve code maintainability.

Key capabilities

• Expertise in React Query (TanStack Query) principles and best practices.
• Guidance on using built-in caching, background updates, and stale data management.
• Recommendations for handling loading states and errors gracefully.
• Advice on configuring QueryClient with custom options like staleTime, cacheTime, and retry behavior.
• Examples of creating query hooks (useQuery) and mutation hooks.

Example prompts

• "How do I implement caching for user data using React Query?"
• "What's the best way to handle errors when fetching data with React Query?"
• "Can you show me an example of a dependent query in React Query?"

Tips & gotchas

• This skill assumes familiarity with React and TypeScript.
• The skill focuses on using React Query for data fetching; it does not cover all aspects of frontend development or general API integrations.
• Pay close attention to configuring the QueryClient's default options to optimize caching behavior based on your application’s needs.