TLDR Dev · MISCELLANEOUS

WHY WE BANNED REACT'S USEEFFECT

links.tldrnewsletter.com10 min read

Summary from the TLDR Dev newsletter

Factory banned useEffect in their React codebase after production bugs convinced them it's more trouble than it's worth. Dependency arrays hide coupling, effect chains create race conditions, and it's the first thing AI agents reach for when they don't know what else to do. Almost every real useEffect use case has a better primitive: derive state inline, use a data-fetching library, put logic in event handlers, or use a key prop to force remounts.