Consider redux alternatives (or not)

We originally went with Redux due to it’s ubiquity, however it is certainly a bit cumbersome, although redux-toolkit helps a lot.

Here are some of the issues (please add):

1. Doesn’t handle async natively very cleanly (requires thunks)
2. The store is global, and when to use component state vs the store is not always clear-cut
3. It has it’s own code-feel/style that feels slightly alien to react (maybe that’s more my opinion)
4. Difficult to learn

Possibilities

Keep redux

• This would avoid refactoring time (though perhaps now would be a good time anyway)
• Any new volunteers are more likely to have used redux than any other form of state management

mobx-state-tree

• It deals with async much better
• It keeps redux benefits like time-travel
• Much cleaner/less-boilerplate
• It is also somewhat difficult to learn, with the added drawback that far fewer people will have already used it compared to redux
• It also has the same problem 2 as redux.

useReducers

• AFAIK this is basically redux, but scoped. Not so sure about this.
• Would probably introduce more boilerplate than redux-toolkit
• This is the only option I am personally against

Recoil

• I want to add this one in, I experimented a little with it a while ago and I think it addresses all the above issues.
• It’s really easy to learn, and while all the state does technically live globally, it’s totally opaque so seems scoped. Switching from local state to recoil state is (nearly) as simple as useState -> useRecoilState
• It feels very react-y
• However, it requires using experimental version of react and some of the api is subject to change. Personally I have no problem with this - version pinning would still work and facebook is using it in production.
• We would get other benefits from the experimental react features such as useTransition if we wanted
• No one anywhere has much experience with this and there is presumably less resources on how to use it (stackexchange questions, etc.)

useContext

• 100% scoped state, pretty easy to use
• Lose some features such as time travel and easy persistence
• Has a bigger potential for performance issues than other options

[lucaslcode]

No, everything is fetched with IDs and is referred to by id. Which was annoying before, but looks like it could end up being a benefit.

[darrenvong]

I guess we resolved this now with React Query with the final refactor @lucaslcode did 🎉