React Hooks Best Practices Every Developer Should Know

Struggling to write clean and reusable React code?

React Hooks make it easy to manage state and side effects in functional components. But without the right approach, things can get messy fast. Using the right React Hooks best practices helps keep your code simple, readable, and maintainable.

This blog covers practical tips for using built-in hooks, creating custom hooks, and handling complex logic with ease. Whether you're working with event listeners, form validation, or API calls, these best practices will help you write better React applications.

Let’s get started!

What are React Hooks and Why Use Them?

React Hooks were introduced in React 16.8 to allow functional components to manage state and side effects without using class components. Hooks in React simplify state management and encourage writing cleaner, reusable functions.

Key Benefits of Using React Hooks:

• Improve code readability and maintainability.

• Enable reusability by allowing you to create custom hooks.

• Reduce unnecessary re-renders and improve performance.

• Facilitate better organization of component logic.

There are several built-in hooks in React, including:

• useState for managing state variables.

• useEffect for handling side effects.

• useContext for accessing context values.

• useRef for interacting with the DOM.

While these built-in hooks are powerful, creating custom hooks helps extract complex logic and reuse it across multiple components efficiently.

Creating Custom Hooks for Reusability

Custom hooks offer a powerful way to reuse logic across different parts of your application. Instead of duplicating logic in multiple components, you can create custom hooks that encapsulate functionality and improve maintainability.

How to Create Custom Hooks?

A custom hook is simply a JavaScript function that uses other hooks inside. It must follow the naming convention useSomething to indicate that it is a hook.

Example: useCounter Hook

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1import { useState } from "react";
2
3function useCounter(initialValue = 0) {
4  const [count, setCount] = useState(initialValue);
5
6  const increment = () => setCount(count + 1);
7  const decrement = () => setCount(count - 1);
8  const reset = () => setCount(initialValue);
9
10  return { count, increment, decrement, reset };
11}
12
13export default useCounter;

This useCounter hook allows you to manage a counter state variable without rewriting logic in multiple components.

Using useCounter Hook in a Component

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1import React from "react";
2import useCounter from "./useCounter";
3
4function CounterComponent() {
5  const { count, increment, decrement, reset } = useCounter(0);
6
7  return (
8    <div>
9      <h2>Count: {count}</h2>
10      <button onClick={increment}>Increase</button>
11      <button onClick={decrement}>Decrease</button>
12      <button onClick={reset}>Reset</button>
13    </div>
14  );
15}
16
17export default CounterComponent;

By using a custom hook, you avoid repetitive logic and keep your functional component clean.

Best Practices for Using React Hooks Efficiently

1. Keep Custom Hooks Focused on a Single Responsibility

A good practice is to create custom hooks that serve a single purpose. For example, a custom hook handling API requests should not include state management for UI elements.

2. Use Dependency Arrays Correctly

When using the useEffect hook, managing the dependency array properly prevents unnecessary re-renders and ensures consistent behavior.

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1useEffect(() => {
2  console.log("Component Mounted");
3}, []); // Runs only once when the component mounts

3. Extract Component Logic Into Reusable Hooks

If you notice similar logic across multiple components, extract component logic into custom hooks. This improves code readability and makes testing easier.

4. Optimize Performance with useCallback and useMemo

Avoid unnecessary re-renders in React components by using useCallback for functions and useMemo for expensive calculations.

Copy
1import { useCallback } from "react";
2
3const handleClick = useCallback(() => {
4  console.log("Button clicked");
5}, []);

Copy
1import { useMemo } from "react";
2
3const expensiveCalculation = useMemo(() => {
4  return computeHeavyTask();
5}, [dependencies]);

5. Manage Event Listeners Properly in Custom Hooks

When working with event listeners, ensure they are added and removed efficiently to prevent memory leaks.

Copy
1import { useEffect } from "react";
2
3function useDocumentTitle(title) {
4  useEffect(() => {
5    document.title = title;
6    return () => {
7      document.title = "React App"; // Cleanup on unmount
8    };
9  }, [title]);
10}

6. Reuse Stateful Logic with Custom Hooks

To keep your components clean and reusable, extract stateful logic into custom hooks. This prevents unnecessary re-renders and promotes code modularity.

Advanced Use Cases for Custom Hooks

Handling Form Validation with a Custom Hook

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1import { useState } from "react";
2
3function useFormValidation(initialValues) {
4  const [values, setValues] = useState(initialValues);
5
6  const handleChange = (e) => {
7    setValues({
8      ...values,
9      [e.target.name]: e.target.value,
10    });
11  };
12
13  return { values, handleChange };
14}

Using the Custom Hook in a Component

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1import React from "react";
2import useFormValidation from "./useFormValidation";
3
4function LoginForm() {
5  const { values, handleChange } = useFormValidation({ email: "", password: "" });
6
7  return (
8    <form>
9      <input type="email" name="email" value={values.email} onChange={handleChange} />
10      <input type="password" name="password" value={values.password} onChange={handleChange} />
11      <button type="submit">Login</button>
12    </form>
13  );
14}

This custom hook simplifies form validation logic across multiple components.

Testing Custom Hooks for Reliability

1. Write Unit Tests for Custom Hooks

To ensure your custom hooks work as expected, use Jest and React Testing Library to write unit tests.

Copy
1import { renderHook, act } from "@testing-library/react-hooks";
2import useCounter from "./useCounter";
3
4test("should increment counter", () => {
5  const { result } = renderHook(() => useCounter(0));
6  act(() => {
7    result.current.increment();
8  });
9  expect(result.current.count).toBe(1);
10});

2. Ensure Hooks are Completely Independent

When you create custom hooks, ensure they do not depend on external variables that might change unpredictably.

The Bottom Line!

Mastering React Hooks Best Practices is crucial for building scalable and maintainable React applications. By creating custom hooks, handling event listeners efficiently, and managing dependency arrays properly, you can significantly improve your React development workflow.

By following these best practices, you can extract component logic into reusable functions, optimize performance, and write cleaner, more maintainable code.

Start using these best practices today to build efficient, high-performance React components!