advanced-react

Advanced React

Apply Advanced React (Nadia Makarevich, 2023) to a React change. The result is a named composition shape, code that matches it, or a review that cites book rules — not a generic React style pass and not a React 19 Compiler setup.

Next consumer: the implementer of the plan, the reviewer of the diff, or the user reading findings.

Done when the acceptance contract for the active mode is met and every claim that depends on a chapter was checked against that chapter's reference, not restated from memory.

Non-obvious intent: the book inverts the usual "wrap it in memo" reflex. State the composition-first choice out loud as you work — this is composition-first: the hot state moves down before any memo is added.

Detect the target

Read the repo's package.json (and the lockfile if the react range is loose). Record four facts before choosing a pattern:

1. React major (react / react-dom).
2. Compiler — present if babel-plugin-react-compiler (or the equivalent Vite/Next plugin) is a dependency or the eslint compiler rule is on.
3. Server-state / store — TanStack Query, SWR, Apollo, RTK Query, Zustand, Jotai, Redux Toolkit, or none.
4. UI library — MUI, Radix, Headless UI, shadcn/ui, Chakra, Ant, or hand-rolled.

The book matches React 17/18. Where the detected version or compiler disagrees with a 2023 rule, prefer the detected framework's documented behavior and say so: "on the detected React 19, ref is a prop."

Compiler present: still apply composition-first (structure, not memo). Do not add useMemo / useCallback / memo the compiler already covers — that decision belongs to react. Still own state placement, keys, stale closures, races, waterfalls, portals, flicker, and error boundaries.

The two anchors

Re-renders myth. A state update re-renders the owner and every nested component, props or not. Props are consulted only when React.memo is in play. Changing a local variable never updates the screen.

Composition-first. Structural isolation beats memoization. React.memo is the last resort after the composition ladder has failed, because one non-primitive prop (including children) silently defeats it.

Custom hooks do not move state. A hook is a pocket: useState / useEffect inside it still re-renders the component that called the hook, even if the value is never returned.

Select the mode

A design-gate or implement-and-review frontend invocation uses read-only review mode. Weight the re-render lens higher for a styled-component-heavy UI library. A standalone implementation request permits the scoped component edits.

Gate output

When a caller asks for a proceed-or-revise verdict (a design gate or equivalent), return exactly: verdict (proceed|revise), blocking_findings, advisory_findings, required_changes. Block on a load-bearing composition or correctness miss (hot state in a layout, defeated memo treated as real, fetch race, missing boundary on a render path). Do not block on an unmeasured "expensive" calculation.

Shared constraints

1. Do not optimize a component that renders cheaply and rarely.
2. Do not treat a custom hook as having moved state. Name hook-hides-state when the caller is still a heavy owner.
3. cloneElement to inject defaults onto an element-prop is fragile — only for the simplest defaults.
4. forwardRef is required before React 19 and unnecessary from React 19. Check the detected major before flagging either shape.
5. Context can prevent re-renders (data skips the middle tree) and force them (every consumer updates when value changes). Both are in chapter 8.
6. The book does not replace react. Compiler bailouts, Actions, use(), and the Rules of React stay there.

Focused references

Load these only for the concern selected by the method:

• references/composition.md: composition ladder.
• references/memo-recon.md: keys, inner components, HOCs, and justified memoization.
• references/context-async.md: context, refs, overlays, async work, and errors.
• references/lenses.md: detailed review checks for affected chapters.
• references/cheatsheet.md: decision tables and code examples when needed.