frontend-architecture

Frontend Architecture

Design the technical structure of frontend applications — component hierarchy, state management, data fetching, and code organization. Good frontend architecture makes features easy to build, bugs easy to find, and the codebase easy to onboard into.

Core Principle

Colocation over separation. Keep related things together. A component's styles, tests, types, and stories should live next to the component, not in separate /styles, /tests, /types directories. Separation by file type creates coupling across the filesystem; separation by feature creates independence.

Workflow

Step 0: Inventory What Already Exists

In an existing codebase, establish what the app already provides before adding a new component, hook, store, or token. Search the shared surfaces directly — components/, hooks/, lib/, the token file, and each feature's public index.ts — rather than inferring from the design or from memory.

Cover both:

• Artifacts — existing components, hooks, stores, and tokens that already cover, or nearly cover, the need. Search by behavior, not just by name: the component you want often exists under a different label.
• Written decisions — established conventions, the design system's rules, and prior audit findings.

Exit condition — one line, then keep going in the same response: "<existing component/hook> already covers <behavior>; it does / does not serve this because <reason>."

This step is not a gate on delivering. Greenfield — a new app, or a codebase you can't reach — closes it in one line: say so and go straight to Step 1. When you can't inspect, name what you would check and continue under stated assumptions. Never answer with inventory and questions alone; produce the architecture in the same reply.

This constrains the input, not the choice. A new component is a fine outcome; an unexamined one isn't — a near-duplicate of an existing one is how design systems rot.

Step 1: Design the Component Hierarchy

Start from the UI design (or the screen spec from ui-ux-design) and decompose into components:

1. Identify the visual boundaries — Draw boxes around distinct UI regions
2. Apply the single-responsibility principle — Each component does one thing
3. Identify reusability — Which components appear in multiple places?
4. Define the tree — Parent → child relationships

Component classification:

• Page components: Route-level, fetch data, compose layout
• Feature components: Implement a business feature (UserProfile, OrderSummary)
• UI components: Reusable, no business logic (Button, Card, Modal, Input)
• Layout components: Structure only (Sidebar, Grid, Stack, Container)

See references/component-patterns.md for design patterns.

Step 2: Plan State Management

State management is the most impactful architectural decision in a React app. Apply the state placement ladder — use the simplest option that works:

1. Local state (useState)           → Simplest. Use for UI state within a component.
2. Lifted state (parent useState)   → Share between siblings via parent.
3. Composition (children prop)      → Avoid prop drilling with component composition.
4. Context                          → Share across distant components (theme, auth, locale).
5. URL state (query params)         → Shareable, bookmarkable state (filters, pagination).
6. Server state (React Query / SWR) → Data from API with caching + refetching.
7. Global store (Zustand / Redux)   → Client state shared across many unrelated components.

Decision rules:

• If it's only used in one component → useState
• If shared between parent/child → lift state up
• If shared across distant components but rarely changes → Context
• If it comes from the server → React Query / SWR / TanStack Query (NOT global store)
• If it's complex client state updated from many places → Zustand or Redux Toolkit
• If it should survive a page refresh → URL params or localStorage

See references/component-patterns.md for detailed guidance.

Step 3: Define Design Tokens

Design tokens are the foundation of visual consistency. Define tokens before building components:

// tokens.ts
export const tokens = {
  color: {
    primary: { 50: '#eff6ff', 500: '#3b82f6', 700: '#1d4ed8' },
    neutral: { 50: '#f9fafb', 200: '#e5e7eb', 800: '#1f2937' },
    success: '#10b981',
    warning: '#f59e0b',
    error: '#ef4444',
  },
  spacing: { xs: '0.25rem', sm: '0.5rem', md: '1rem', lg: '1.5rem', xl: '2rem' },
  radius: { sm: '0.25rem', md: '0.5rem', lg: '1rem', full: '9999px' },
  fontSize: { sm: '0.875rem', base: '1rem', lg: '1.125rem', xl: '1.25rem' },
  shadow: {
    sm: '0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.05)',
    md: '0 4px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1)',
  },
};

Use tokens everywhere — never hardcode #3b82f6 or 16px in a component.

Step 4: Design the Data Fetching Strategy

Choose patterns based on the data's nature:

Data Pattern	Approach	When
Server data (read)	TanStack Query / SWR	Lists, details, dashboards
Server data (mutate)	TanStack Query mutations	Create, update, delete
Real-time data	WebSocket + state sync	Chat, notifications, live dashboards
Form data	React Hook Form / Formik	Any form
Static data	Build-time fetch (SSG)	Blog posts, docs, marketing pages

Key rules:

• Separate server state from client state. Server state lives in the query cache, not in Redux.
• Fetch at the route level when possible. Components receive data as props, not fetch their own.
• Handle loading, error, and empty at every fetch boundary. Use error boundaries for unexpected errors.

Step 5: Organize the Codebase

Recommended structure — feature-based with shared library:

src/
├── app/                    # App-level: providers, routing, global config
│   ├── providers.tsx       # All context providers composed
│   ├── router.tsx          # Route definitions
│   └── layout.tsx          # Root layout
├── features/               # Feature modules (the meat of the app)
│   ├── auth/
│   │   ├── components/     # Feature-specific components
│   │   ├── hooks/          # Feature-specific hooks
│   │   ├── api.ts          # API calls for this feature
│   │   ├── types.ts        # Types for this feature
│   │   └── index.ts        # Public API (barrel file)
│   ├── projects/
│   └── settings/
├── components/             # Shared UI components (Button, Modal, etc.)
│   ├── ui/                 # Atomic UI primitives
│   └── layout/             # Layout components (Sidebar, Stack)
├── hooks/                  # Shared hooks (useDebounce, useMediaQuery)
├── lib/                    # Shared utilities, API client, tokens
│   ├── api-client.ts
│   ├── tokens.ts
│   └── utils.ts
└── types/                  # Shared types

Rules:

• Features import from components/ and lib/, never from other features
• Features export a clean public API through their index.ts
• Circular imports between features means a responsibility boundary is wrong

Use templates/folder-structure.md as a starting point — includes the full src/ layout, a co-located component template, design tokens, and a custom hook pattern.

Step 6: Validate the Architecture

• [ ] Can a new engineer understand where to add a new feature?
• [ ] Can you delete a feature directory without breaking unrelated features?
• [ ] Is server state separate from client state?
• [ ] Are components reusable without bringing business logic along?
• [ ] Is there one clear way to do common tasks (fetching, forms, navigation)?
• [ ] Are design tokens used consistently (no hardcoded values)?
• [ ] Does every library this design adds (state, fetching, routing, UI kit) carry dependency-management's Step 1 verdict: own module, adopt, or ask the user?

Principles Applied

• KISS: Use useState until you need something more. Don't reach for Redux on day one.
• DRY: Shared UI components in components/, shared hooks in hooks/. Feature-specific code in features.
• Functional Independence: Features don't know about each other. Shared dependencies go in lib/ or components/.
• YAGNI: Don't abstract until you have 2+ consumers. A single-use component doesn't need to be in the shared library.
• Separation of Concerns: Components render UI. Hooks manage state and side effects. API modules handle HTTP. Types define shapes. Keep them apart.