convex-best-practices

Convex Best Practices

Build production-ready Convex applications by following established patterns for function organization, query optimization, validation, TypeScript usage, and error handling.

Code Quality

All patterns in this skill comply with @convex-dev/eslint-plugin. Install it for build-time validation:

npm i @convex-dev/eslint-plugin --save-dev

// eslint.config.js
import { defineConfig } from "eslint/config";
import convexPlugin from "@convex-dev/eslint-plugin";

export default defineConfig([
  ...convexPlugin.configs.recommended,
]);

The plugin enforces four rules:

Rule	What it enforces
no-old-registered-function-syntax	Object syntax with handler
require-argument-validators	args: {} on all functions
explicit-table-ids	Table name in db operations
import-wrong-runtime	No Node imports in Convex runtime

Docs: https://docs.convex.dev/eslint

Documentation Sources

Before implementing, do not assume; fetch the latest documentation:

• Primary: https://docs.convex.dev/understanding/best-practices/
• Error Handling: https://docs.convex.dev/functions/error-handling
• Write Conflicts: https://docs.convex.dev/error#1
• For broader context: https://docs.convex.dev/llms.txt

Instructions

The Zen of Convex

1. Convex manages the hard parts - Let Convex handle caching, real-time sync, and consistency
2. Functions are the API - Design your functions as your application's interface
3. Schema is truth - Define your data model explicitly in schema.ts
4. TypeScript everywhere - Leverage end-to-end type safety
5. Queries are reactive - Think in terms of subscriptions, not requests

Function Organization

Organize your Convex functions by domain:

// convex/users.ts - User-related functions
import { query, mutation } from "./_generated/server";
import { v } from "convex/values";

export const get = query({
  args: { userId: v.id("users") },
  returns: v.union(
    v.object({
      _id: v.id("users"),
      _creationTime: v.number(),
      name: v.string(),
      email: v.string(),
    }),
    v.null(),
  ),
  handler: async (ctx, args) => {
    return await ctx.db.get("users", args.userId);
  },
});