tanstack-start-guide

Installation

SKILL.md

TanStack Start Guide

TanStack Start is a full-stack React framework powered by TanStack Router and Vite. It provides SSR, streaming, server functions, server routes, middleware, and universal deployment. If you only need client-side routing without SSR, streaming, server functions, or middleware, use TanStack Router directly instead of Start. Not for Next.js, Remix, or React Router.

Key differentiators: End-to-end type safety, composable middleware (client + server), selective SSR per route, deployment-agnostic (any Vite-compatible host), explicit over implicit patterns.

RSC support: Available via Composite Components — server-produced React components that the client fetches, caches, and streams. See references/migration.md for details.

Quick Start

pnpm create @tanstack/start@latest
# or
npm create @tanstack/start@latest

Or clone an official example:

npx gitpick TanStack/router/tree/main/examples/react/EXAMPLE_SLUG my-project

Official examples: start-basic, start-basic-auth, start-counter, start-basic-react-query, start-clerk-basic, start-convex-trellaux, start-supabase-basic, start-trellaux, start-workos, start-material-ui.

Manual Setup

Install dependencies:

npm i @tanstack/react-start @tanstack/react-router react react-dom
npm i -D vite @vitejs/plugin-react typescript vite-tsconfig-paths @types/node @types/react @types/react-dom

Required Files

vite.config.ts — Vite plugin configuration:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import tsConfigPaths from 'vite-tsconfig-paths'
import { tanstackStart } from '@tanstack/react-start/plugin/vite'
import viteReact from '@vitejs/plugin-react'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    tsConfigPaths(),
    tanstackStart(),
    viteReact(), // MUST come after tanstackStart()
  ],
})

Alternative React plugins: @vitejs/plugin-react-swc or @vitejs/plugin-react-oxc can replace @vitejs/plugin-react.

src/router.tsx — Router configuration:

import { createRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { routeTree } from './routeTree.gen'

export function getRouter() {
  return createRouter({ routeTree, scrollRestoration: true })
}

src/routes/__root.tsx — Root route (HTML shell):

/// <reference types="vite/client" />
import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
import { Outlet, createRootRoute, HeadContent, Scripts } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const Route = createRootRoute({
  head: () => ({
    meta: [
      { charSet: 'utf-8' },
      { name: 'viewport', content: 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1' },
      { title: 'My App' },
    ],
  }),
  component: () => (
    <html><head><HeadContent /></head>
      <body><Outlet /><Scripts /></body>
    </html>
  ),
})

package.json scripts:

{ "type": "module", "scripts": { "dev": "vite dev", "build": "vite build" } }

Core Workflow

1. File-Based Routing

Routes live in src/routes/. The routeTree.gen.ts is auto-generated on dev/build.

Path	Filename	Type
`/`	`index.tsx`	Index
`/about`	`about.tsx`	Static
`/posts/:id`	`posts/$postId.tsx`	Dynamic
`/rest/*`	`rest/$.tsx`	Wildcard
Layout wrapper	`_layout.tsx`	Pathless layout
Grouped dir	`(group)/route.tsx`	Organization only

import { createFileRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/posts/$postId')({
  loader: async ({ params }) => fetchPost(params.postId),
  component: PostComponent,
})

function PostComponent() {
  const post = Route.useLoaderData()
  return <h1>{post.title}</h1>
}

2. Server Functions

Server-only logic callable from anywhere. Created with createServerFn():

import { createServerFn } from '@tanstack/react-start'

export const getUser = createServerFn({ method: 'GET' })
  .inputValidator((data: { id: string }) => data)
  .handler(async ({ data }) => {
    return await db.users.find(data.id) // Runs only on server
  })

// Call from loader, component, or other server function
const user = await getUser({ data: { id: '123' } })

Validation with Zod:

import { z } from 'zod'

export const createPost = createServerFn({ method: 'POST' })
  .inputValidator(z.object({ title: z.string().min(1), body: z.string() }))
  .handler(async ({ data }) => db.posts.create(data))

Redirects & errors:

import { redirect, notFound } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const requireAuth = createServerFn().handler(async () => {
  const user = await getSession()
  if (!user) throw redirect({ to: '/login' })
  return user
})

Progressive enhancement (no JS):

// Server functions have a .url property for HTML forms
<form method="POST" action={createPost.url}>
  <input name="title" />
  <button type="submit">Create</button>
</form>

3. Middleware

Two types: request middleware (all requests) and server function middleware (server functions only).

import { createMiddleware } from '@tanstack/react-start'

// Request middleware (server only)
const logger = createMiddleware().server(async ({ next, request }) => {
  console.log(request.url)
  return next()
})

// Server function middleware (client + server)
const auth = createMiddleware({ type: 'function' })
  .client(async ({ next }) => next({ headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${getToken()}` } }))
  .server(async ({ next }) => next({ context: { user: await getUser() } }))

Global middleware via src/start.ts:

import { createStart } from '@tanstack/react-start'

export const startInstance = createStart(() => ({
  requestMiddleware: [loggerMiddleware],
  functionMiddleware: [authMiddleware],
}))

4. Server Routes (API Endpoints)

export const Route = createFileRoute('/api/hello')({
  server: {
    handlers: {
      GET: async ({ request }) => Response.json({ message: 'Hello!' }),
      POST: async ({ request }) => {
        const body = await request.json()
        return Response.json({ received: body })
      },
    },
  },
})

5. Sessions

import { useSession } from '@tanstack/react-start/server'

function useAppSession() {
  return useSession<{ userId?: string }>({
    password: process.env.SESSION_SECRET!,
    cookie: { secure: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production', httpOnly: true, sameSite: 'lax' },
  })
}

Key Rules & Constraints

Loaders are ISOMORPHIC — they run on server during SSR AND on client during navigation. Never access process.env secrets directly in loaders. Use createServerFn() instead.
Environment variables — Server: process.env.ANY_VAR. Client: only import.meta.env.VITE_* prefixed. Never prefix secrets with VITE_.
Plugin order — tanstackStart() MUST come before viteReact() in vite.config.ts.
TypeScript — Do NOT enable verbatimModuleSyntax (causes server bundle leaking into client). Required settings: jsx: "react-jsx", moduleResolution: "Bundler", module: "ESNext".
Server function imports — Safe to statically import anywhere. Avoid dynamic imports for server functions.
Execution boundaries — Use createServerOnlyFn() for server-only utilities that throw on client. Use createClientOnlyFn() for browser-only utilities. Use createIsomorphicFn() for environment-specific implementations.
Head management — <HeadContent /> in <head>, <Scripts /> at end of <body>. Both required in root route.
Raw Response — Server functions can return Response objects directly for binary data or custom content types.

Error Boundaries

Route-level error boundaries with default + per-route override:

// src/router.tsx — default for all routes
export function getRouter() {
  return createRouter({
    routeTree,
    defaultErrorComponent: ({ error, reset }) => <ErrorComponent error={error} />,
  })
}

// Per-route override
export const Route = createFileRoute('/posts/$postId')({
  errorComponent: ({ error, reset }: ErrorComponentProps) => (
    <div><p>Error: {error.message}</p><button onClick={reset}>Retry</button></div>
  ),
})

Common Errors

Hydration mismatch: Caused by Date.now(), Math.random(), locale-dependent APIs in SSR. Fix: use <ClientOnly>, useHydrated(), or suppressHydrationWarning.
Env var undefined on client: Missing VITE_ prefix. Restart dev server after adding new vars.
Secret exposed to client: Used process.env in loader (isomorphic!). Move to createServerFn().
Bundle includes server code: Check for accidental dynamic imports of server functions.

Reference Files

references/api-routing.md — Routing, createFileRoute, createRootRoute, route hooks, components, error boundaries, navigation
references/api-server-functions.md — createServerFn, validation, streaming, server context utilities, useSession, environment functions, useServerFn
references/api-middleware.md — createMiddleware, createStart, custom fetch, header merging, fetch override, createHandlers
references/server-entry.md — Custom server/client entry, request context, handler callbacks, Cloudflare Workers extensions
references/configuration.md — Vite config options, TypeScript, environment variables, path aliases, Tailwind CSS, server build config
references/auth-sessions.md — Authentication (DIY + partners), sessions, route protection, RBAC, OAuth, password reset, rate limiting
references/data-streaming.md — Data loading patterns, streaming (async generators, ReadableStream), cache control, TanStack Query integration
references/seo-llmo.md — SEO meta tags, JSON-LD structured data, LLMO/AIO optimization, sitemaps, robots.txt, llms.txt
references/server-routes.md — API endpoints, dynamic params, wildcard routes, request bodies, per-handler middleware, escaped file names
references/patterns.md — Markdown rendering, database integration (Neon/Convex/Prisma), file organization, progressive enhancement, execution model, tutorials
references/deployment.md — Cloudflare Workers, Netlify, Railway, Vercel, Node.js/Docker, Bun, Appwrite Sites, Nitro
references/prerendering-caching.md — Static prerendering (SSG), ISR, selective SSR, SPA mode, CDN asset URLs
references/observability.md — Sentry, New Relic, OpenTelemetry, health checks, metrics collection, logging
references/migration.md — Next.js migration guide, framework comparison (Start vs Next.js vs React Router)
references/troubleshooting.md — Hydration errors, env variable issues, loader mistakes, middleware problems, production checklist

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