React Best Practices

Comprehensive performance optimization guide for React applications. Contains rules across multiple categories, prioritized by impact to guide automated refactoring and code generation.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Writing new React components
• Implementing data fetching
• Reviewing code for performance issues
• Refactoring existing React code
• Optimizing bundle size or load times

Rule Categories by Priority

Quick Reference

1. Eliminating Waterfalls (CRITICAL)

• 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-suspense-boundaries – Use Suspense to stream or boundary content

2. Bundle Size Optimization (CRITICAL)

• bundle-barrel-imports – Import directly, avoid barrel files
• bundle-defer-third-party – Load analytics/logging after initial render
• bundle-conditional – Load modules only when feature is activated
• bundle-preload – Preload on hover/focus for perceived speed

3. 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

4. Rendering Performance (MEDIUM)

• rendering-animate-svg-wrapper – Animate div wrapper, not SVG element
• rendering-hoist-jsx – Extract static JSX outside components
• rendering-svg-precision – Reduce SVG coordinate precision
• rendering-activity – Use Activity component for show/hide
• rendering-conditional-render – Use ternary, not && for conditionals

5. 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-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

6. 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