react-query-best-practices

A practical guide to using React Query v4 (also called TanStack Query), a React library for loading and caching data from servers.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when adding or debugging queries and mutations, setting cache invalidation, connecting WebSockets, improving rendering, writing tests, or checking TypeScript patterns.
Why use it?
It helps avoid inconsistent query keys, stale cached data, update bugs, and common React Query mistakes.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/arraydude/agent-skills/react-query-best-practices
Any agent
npx skills add arraydude/agent-skills --skill react-query-best-practices
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/arraydude/agent-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 62 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,309 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00062 $0.01309
Opus 5 $0.00031 $0.00655
Sonnet 5 $0.00012 $0.00262
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00131

Measured yesterday against content hash 82bcaf5477d3, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

react-query-best-practices scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/react-query-best-practices/SKILL.md · 129 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 129 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

React Query Best Practices

Important: This guide targets React Query v4. Some patterns may differ in v5.

Comprehensive guide for React Query v4 (TanStack Query) based on TkDodo's authoritative blog series. Contains 24 rules across 7 categories, prioritized by impact.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

  • Implementing new queries or mutations
  • Integrating WebSockets with React Query
  • Setting up query invalidation patterns
  • Debugging React Query behavior
  • Optimizing render performance
  • TypeScript integration questions

Rule Categories by Priority

Priority Category Impact Prefix
1 Query Keys & Patterns CRITICAL query-
2 Mutations & Updates CRITICAL mutation-
3 Caching Strategy HIGH cache-
4 WebSocket Integration HIGH websocket-
5 TypeScript Integration MEDIUM typescript-
6 Testing Patterns MEDIUM testing-
7 Common Pitfalls MEDIUM troubleshoot-
8 Migration to v5 HIGH migration-

Quick Reference

1. Query Keys & Patterns (CRITICAL)

  • query-keys-as-dependencies - Include all queryFn params in queryKey
  • query-key-factory - Use factory pattern for consistent key generation
  • query-select-transforms - Use select option for data transformations
  • query-status-check-order - Check data first, then error, then loading
  • query-tracked-properties - Only destructure properties you use
  • query-placeholder-vs-initial - Know when to use each approach
  • query-dependent-enabled - Use enabled option for dependent queries

2. Mutations & Updates (CRITICAL)

  • mutation-prefer-mutate - Use mutate() with callbacks over mutateAsync()
  • mutation-invalidation - Invalidate queries after mutations
  • mutation-direct-cache-update - Update cache directly when appropriate
  • mutation-optimistic-updates - Show success immediately, rollback on failure
  • mutation-callback-separation - Query logic in hook, UI effects in component

Read the full file on GitHub · 129 lines

Files

What ships with it

39 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 129 lines · 62 tokens per session scan A 82bcaf5477d3

Subscribe to this mod's changes

react-query-best-practices is a skill published in the GitHub repository arraydude/agent-skills (2 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 62 tokens to every session and 1,309 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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