name: tanstack-query description: TanStack Query v5 data fetching patterns including useSuspenseQuery, useQuery, mutations, cache management, and API service integration. Use when fetching data, managing server state, or working with TanStack Query hooks.

TanStack Query Patterns

Purpose

Modern data fetching with TanStack Query v5 (latest: 5.90.5, November 2025), emphasizing Suspense-based queries, cache-first strategies, and centralized API services.

Note: v5 (released October 2023) has breaking changes from v4:

isLoading → isPending for status
cacheTime → gcTime (garbage collection time)
React 18.0+ required
Callbacks removed from useQuery (onError, onSuccess, onSettled)
keepPreviousData replaced with placeholderData function

When to Use This Skill

Fetching data with TanStack Query
Using useSuspenseQuery or useQuery
Managing mutations
Cache invalidation and updates
API service patterns

Quick Start

Primary Pattern: useSuspenseQuery

For all new components, use useSuspenseQuery:

import { useSuspenseQuery } from '@tanstack/react-query';
import { postsApi } from '~/features/posts/api/postsApi';

function PostList() {
  const { data: posts } = useSuspenseQuery({
    queryKey: ['posts'],
    queryFn: postsApi.getAll,
  });

  return (
    <div>
      {posts.map(post => (
        <PostCard key={post.id} post={post} />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

// Wrap with Suspense
<Suspense fallback={<PostsSkeleton />}>
  <PostList />
</Suspense>

Benefits:

No isLoading checks needed
Integrates with Suspense boundaries
Cleaner component code
Consistent loading UX

useSuspenseQuery Patterns

Basic Usage

const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: ['user', userId],
  queryFn: () => userApi.get(userId),
});

// data is never undefined - guaranteed by Suspense
return <div>{data.name}</div>;

With Parameters

function UserPosts({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  const { data: posts } = useSuspenseQuery({
    queryKey: ['users', userId, 'posts'],
    queryFn: () => postsApi.getByUser(userId),
  });

  return <div>{posts.length} posts</div>;
}

Dependent Queries

function PostDetails({ postId }: { postId: string }) {
  // First query
  const { data: post } = useSuspenseQuery({
    queryKey: ['posts', postId],
    queryFn: () => postsApi.get(postId),
  });

  // Second query depends on first
  const { data: author } = useSuspenseQuery({
    queryKey: ['users', post.authorId],
    queryFn: () => userApi.get(post.authorId),
  });

  return <div>{author.name} wrote {post.title}</div>;
}

useQuery (Legacy Pattern)

Use useQuery only when you need loading/error states in the component:

import { useQuery } from '@tanstack/react-query';

function Component() {
  const { data, isPending, error } = useQuery({
    queryKey: ['posts'],
    queryFn: postsApi.getAll,
  });

  if (isPending) return <Spinner />;
  if (error) return <Error error={error} />;

  return <div>{data.map(...)}</div>;
}

When to use useQuery vs useSuspenseQuery:

Use useSuspenseQuery by default (preferred)
Use useQuery only when you need component-level loading states
Most cases should use useSuspenseQuery + Suspense boundaries

Mutations

Basic Mutation

import { useMutation, useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query';

function CreatePostButton() {
  const queryClient = useQueryClient();

  const mutation = useMutation({
    mutationFn: postsApi.create,
    onSuccess: () => {
      // Invalidate and refetch
      queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['posts'] });
    },
  });

  const handleCreate = () => {
    mutation.mutate({
      title: 'New Post',
      content: 'Content here',
    });
  };

  return (
    <button onClick={handleCreate} disabled={mutation.isPending}>
      {mutation.isPending ? 'Creating...' : 'Create Post'}
    </button>
  );
}

Optimistic Updates

const mutation = useMutation({
  mutationFn: postsApi.update,
  onMutate: async (updatedPost) => {
    // Cancel outgoing refetches
    await queryClient.cancelQueries({ queryKey: ['posts', updatedPost.id] });

    // Snapshot previous value
    const previousPost = queryClient.getQueryData(['posts', updatedPost.id]);

    // Optimistically update
    queryClient.setQueryData(['posts', updatedPost.id], updatedPost);

    // Return context with snapshot
    return { previousPost };
  },
  onError: (err, updatedPost, context) => {
    // Rollback on error
    queryClient.setQueryData(
      ['posts', updatedPost.id],
      context.previousPost
    );
  },
  onSettled: (data, error, variables) => {
    // Refetch after mutation
    queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['posts', variables.id] });
  },
});

Cache Management

Invalidation

import { useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query';

const queryClient = useQueryClient();

// Invalidate all posts queries
queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['posts'] });

// Invalidate specific post
queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: ['posts', postId] });

// Invalidate all queries
queryClient.invalidateQueries();

Manual Updates

// Update cache directly
queryClient.setQueryData(['posts', postId], newPost);

// Update with function
queryClient.setQueryData(['posts'], (oldPosts) => [
  ...oldPosts,
  newPost,
]);

Prefetching

// Prefetch data
await queryClient.prefetchQuery({
  queryKey: ['posts', postId],
  queryFn: () => postsApi.get(postId),
});

// In a component
const prefetchPost = (postId: string) => {
  queryClient.prefetchQuery({
    queryKey: ['posts', postId],
    queryFn: () => postsApi.get(postId),
  });
};

<Link
  to={`/posts/${post.id}`}
  onMouseEnter={() => prefetchPost(post.id)}
>
  {post.title}
</Link>

API Service Pattern

Centralized API Service

// features/posts/api/postsApi.ts
import { apiClient } from '@/lib/apiClient';
import type { Post, CreatePostDto, UpdatePostDto } from '~/types/post';

export const postsApi = {
  getAll: async (): Promise<Post[]> => {
    const response = await apiClient.get('/posts');
    return response.data;
  },

  get: async (id: string): Promise<Post> => {
    const response = await apiClient.get(`/posts/${id}`);
    return response.data;
  },

  create: async (data: CreatePostDto): Promise<Post> => {
    const response = await apiClient.post('/posts', data);
    return response.data;
  },

  update: async (id: string, data: UpdatePostDto): Promise<Post> => {
    const response = await apiClient.put(`/posts/${id}`, data);
    return response.data;
  },

  delete: async (id: string): Promise<void> => {
    await apiClient.delete(`/posts/${id}`);
  },

  getByUser: async (userId: string): Promise<Post[]> => {
    const response = await apiClient.get(`/users/${userId}/posts`);
    return response.data;
  },
};

Usage in Components

import { postsApi } from '~/features/posts/api/postsApi';

// In query
const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: ['posts'],
  queryFn: postsApi.getAll,
});

// In mutation
const mutation = useMutation({
  mutationFn: postsApi.create,
});

Query Keys

Key Structure

// List queries
['posts']                          // All posts
['posts', { status: 'published' }] // Filtered posts

// Detail queries
['posts', postId]                  // Single post
['posts', postId, 'comments']      // Post comments

// Nested resources
['users', userId, 'posts']         // User's posts
['users', userId, 'posts', postId] // Specific user post

Key Factories

// features/posts/api/postKeys.ts
export const postKeys = {
  all: ['posts'] as const,
  lists: () => [...postKeys.all, 'list'] as const,
  list: (filters: string) => [...postKeys.lists(), { filters }] as const,
  details: () => [...postKeys.all, 'detail'] as const,
  detail: (id: string) => [...postKeys.details(), id] as const,
  comments: (id: string) => [...postKeys.detail(id), 'comments'] as const,
};

// Usage
const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: postKeys.detail(postId),
  queryFn: () => postsApi.get(postId),
});

// Invalidate all post lists
queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: postKeys.lists() });

Error Handling

With Error Boundaries

import { ErrorBoundary } from 'react-error-boundary';

<ErrorBoundary fallback={<ErrorFallback />}>
  <Suspense fallback={<Loading />}>
    <DataComponent />
  </Suspense>
</ErrorBoundary>

// In component
function DataComponent() {
  const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
    queryKey: ['data'],
    queryFn: fetchData,
    // Errors automatically caught by ErrorBoundary
  });

  return <div>{data}</div>;
}

Retry and Cache Configuration

const { data } = useQuery({
  queryKey: ['posts'],
  queryFn: postsApi.getAll,
  retry: 3,              // Retry 3 times
  retryDelay: 1000,      // Wait 1s between retries
  gcTime: 5 * 60 * 1000, // Garbage collection time: 5 minutes (v5: was 'cacheTime')
});

Best Practices

1. Use Suspense by Default

// ✅ Good: useSuspenseQuery + Suspense
<Suspense fallback={<Skeleton />}>
  <DataComponent />
</Suspense>

function DataComponent() {
  const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({...});
  return <div>{data}</div>;
}

// ❌ Avoid: useQuery with manual loading
function DataComponent() {
  const { data, isPending } = useQuery({...});
  if (isPending) return <Spinner />;
  return <div>{data}</div>;
}

2. Consistent Query Keys

// ✅ Good: Use key factories
const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: postKeys.detail(id),
  queryFn: () => postsApi.get(id),
});

// ❌ Avoid: Inconsistent keys
const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: ['post', id], // Different format
  queryFn: () => postsApi.get(id),
});

3. Centralized API Services

// ✅ Good: API service
const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: ['posts'],
  queryFn: postsApi.getAll,
});

// ❌ Avoid: Inline fetching
const { data } = useSuspenseQuery({
  queryKey: ['posts'],
  queryFn: async () => {
    const res = await fetch('/api/posts');
    return res.json();
  },
});

Additional Resources

For more patterns, see:

data-fetching.md - Advanced patterns
cache-strategies.md - Cache management
mutation-patterns.md - Complex mutations

tanstack-query

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