Styling is the most argued-about, least reasoned-about decision in a React app. The real question isn't which library looks nicest in a demo — it's which one survives a growing codebase. Here's how I weigh Tailwind, CSS Modules, CSS-in-JS, and zero-runtime options, and where each one earns its place.
A module I was told not to over-engineer grew into an entire application. Most of what let it survive was boring — and one of the most boring rules was never mutating state in place. Here's how immutability actually works in React, when I reach for Immer, and why I skip Immutable.js.
A simple file-based memory system that turns AI agents from forgetful interns into reliable collaborators. Works for engineers, designers, writers, and anyone who uses AI tools daily.
Most React state doesn't need a library. Then one workflow grows into drafts, derived values, undo, optimistic steps, and cross-component coordination. This is where I reach for Reatom instead of turning TanStack Query into a client-state store.
The condensed version: why conversational interviews beat trivia quizzes for senior roles, with practical examples and actionable advice.
Why conversational interviews produce better hiring signal than algorithmic puzzles and API trivia — and how one interview with a guy named John changed how I think about hiring.
Routing is not just rendering a page for a path. In serious React apps, the URL carries product state: filters, tabs, pagination, selected records, redirects, and preload decisions. TanStack Router makes that state typed instead of hopeful.
TanStack Query is not just a better useEffect. It is the server-state layer of your React app. The hard part is not fetching data — it is designing keys, freshness, invalidation, pagination, and prefetching so the UI stays predictable.
Error handling is not a catch block sprinkled at the end. In a React + TanStack app, it is a product decision: what fails locally, what fails at the route level, what can retry, and what the user needs to do next.
Flat folders are fine until every feature starts touching routes, queries, forms, permissions, and UI state. Here's the React structure I use when a TanStack app grows past the simple stage without turning FSD into folder theater.