10 Redux Toolkit Best Practices

Redux Toolkit is a popular library for managing state in React applications. It provides a set of tools that make it easier to write Redux logic, including reducers, action creators, and selectors.

However, Redux Toolkit is not a silver bullet. It’s important to understand the best practices for using Redux Toolkit in order to get the most out of it. In this article, we’ll discuss 10 best practices for using Redux Toolkit in your React applications.

1. Use createSlice to define reducers

createSlice is a Redux Toolkit utility that allows you to quickly create reducers and action creators for your application. It provides an easy way to define the state shape, actions, and reducer logic in one place. This makes it easier to maintain and debug your code since all of the related pieces are together.

It also helps keep your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) by allowing you to reuse reducer logic across multiple slices. This means less time spent writing boilerplate code and more time focusing on the features that make your app unique.

2. Use immer to simplify immutable updates

Immer is a library that allows you to write simple mutable code while still producing immutable updates. This means that instead of writing complex, nested update logic with the spread operator or Object.assign(), you can simply write your updates as if they were mutable and immer will take care of the rest.

This makes it much easier to read and understand your code, since you don’t have to worry about all the details of immutability. It also helps reduce bugs, since you don’t have to worry about forgetting to deep copy an object before making changes. Finally, it’s faster than manually creating immutable updates, since immer does the work for you.

3. Use configureStore for setting up the store

configureStore is a pre-built function that allows you to quickly and easily set up the store with all of the necessary configuration options. It also provides an easy way to add middleware, enhancers, and other customizations. This makes it much easier to get started with Redux Toolkit than manually setting up the store from scratch.

Using configureStore also helps ensure consistency across projects, as everyone on your team will be using the same setup for their stores. This can help reduce errors and make debugging easier.

4. Use useDispatch and useSelector hooks in components

The useDispatch hook allows you to access the store’s dispatch function from within a component, which makes it easier to update state without having to write out an action creator. The useSelector hook lets you select data from the store and subscribe to changes in that data, so your components will always be up-to-date with the latest state.

Using these hooks helps keep your code clean and organized, as well as making it easier to test and debug. It also ensures that all of your components are using the same store instance, which is important for ensuring consistency across your application.

5. Use Typescript with Redux Toolkit

Typescript is a strongly typed language, which means that it can detect errors in your code before you even run it. This helps to ensure that your Redux Toolkit code is bug-free and runs smoothly.

Typescript also provides better autocompletion support for Redux Toolkit, making it easier to write code quickly and accurately. Additionally, Typescript’s type safety ensures that the data being passed between components is always valid and consistent.

Finally, using Typescript with Redux Toolkit makes refactoring much simpler since all of the types are already defined. This reduces the amount of time spent debugging and allows developers to focus on writing clean, maintainable code.

6. Use React-Redux v7.1+

React-Redux v7.1+ provides a new API called useSelector and useDispatch, which are optimized for performance and make it easier to write Redux logic in React components. The Redux Toolkit is designed to work with these APIs, so using the latest version of React-Redux will ensure that your code runs as efficiently as possible.

Additionally, React-Redux v7.1+ also includes hooks for connecting multiple slices of state to a single component, making it easier to manage complex data structures. This makes it much simpler to create reusable components that can be used across different parts of an application.

7. Use Thunk middleware for async logic

Thunk middleware allows you to write asynchronous logic that interacts with the Redux store, and it’s a great way to keep your code organized.

Thunk middleware also makes it easier to test your async logic since you can mock out the thunks and verify that they are called correctly. This helps ensure that your application is working as expected and reduces the amount of time spent debugging.

Finally, Thunk middleware provides a consistent API for interacting with the Redux store, which makes it easier to maintain and refactor your code over time.

8. Use Reselect for memoized selectors

Reselect is a library that allows you to create memoized selectors, which are functions that take in the state and return a value. The benefit of using Reselect is that it will cache the result of the selector so that if the same input is passed in again, it won’t have to recalculate the result. This can be especially useful when dealing with large datasets or complex calculations.

Using Reselect also helps keep your code clean and organized by separating out the logic for selecting data from the reducer itself. This makes it easier to read and maintain your code over time.

9. Use Immer’s produce function as a default argument value

The produce function allows you to make immutable changes to a state object without having to create a new copy of the entire object. This is especially useful when dealing with large, complex objects that would be expensive to clone and modify. By using Immer’s produce function as a default argument value, you can ensure that your reducers are always making immutable changes to the state object while still allowing for easy customization if needed.

10. Use action creators from Slice files directly

Action creators are functions that return an action object. When using the Redux Toolkit, you can create Slice files which contain action creators and reducers for a specific slice of state. By using these action creators directly from the Slice file, you ensure that all related logic is kept together in one place. This makes it easier to maintain your codebase and reduces the risk of introducing bugs due to incorrect usage of action creators. Additionally, this practice helps keep your code more organized and readable.