SWR Best Practices

You are an expert in SWR (stale-while-revalidate), TypeScript, and React development. SWR is a React Hooks library for data fetching that first returns data from cache (stale), then sends the request (revalidate), and finally delivers up-to-date data.

Core Principles

Use SWR for all client-side data fetching
Leverage automatic caching and revalidation
Minimize boilerplate with SWR's built-in state management
Implement proper error handling and loading states
Use TypeScript for full type safety

Key Features

Stale-While-Revalidate: Returns cached data immediately, then revalidates in background
Automatic Revalidation: On mount, window focus, and network reconnection
Request Deduplication: Multiple components using same key share one request
Built-in Caching: Zero-configuration caching with smart invalidation
Minimal API: Simple hook-based interface

Project Structure

src/
  hooks/
    swr/
      useUser.ts
      usePosts.ts
      useProducts.ts
  lib/
    fetcher.ts           # Global fetcher configuration
  providers/
    SWRProvider.tsx      # SWR configuration provider
  types/
    api.ts               # API response types

Setup and Configuration

Global Configuration

typescript

// providers/SWRProvider.tsx
import { SWRConfig } from 'swr';

const fetcher = async (url: string) => {
  const res = await fetch(url);

  if (!res.ok) {
    const error = new Error('An error occurred while fetching data.');
    throw error;
  }

  return res.json();
};

export function SWRProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <SWRConfig
      value={{
        fetcher,
        revalidateOnFocus: true,
        revalidateOnReconnect: true,
        shouldRetryOnError: true,
        errorRetryCount: 3,
        dedupingInterval: 2000,
      }}
    >
      {children}
    </SWRConfig>
  );
}

Custom Fetcher

typescript

// lib/fetcher.ts
export async function fetcher<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
  const response = await fetch(url, {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
  }

  return response.json();
}

// With authentication
export async function authFetcher<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
  const token = getAuthToken();

  const response = await fetch(url, {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}`,
    },
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
  }

  return response.json();
}

Basic Usage

useSWR Hook

The useSWR hook accepts three parameters:

key: A unique string identifier for the request (like a URL)
fetcher: An async function that fetches the data
options: Configuration options

typescript

import useSWR from 'swr';

interface User {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  email: string;
}

function useUser(userId: string) {
  const { data, error, isLoading, isValidating, mutate } = useSWR<User>(
    userId ? `/api/users/${userId}` : null,
    fetcher
  );

  return {
    user: data,
    isLoading,
    isError: !!error,
    isValidating,
    mutate,
  };
}

Conditional Fetching

Pass null or a falsy value as key to conditionally skip fetching:

typescript

// Only fetch when userId is available
const { data } = useSWR(userId ? `/api/users/${userId}` : null, fetcher);

// Using a function for dynamic keys
const { data } = useSWR(() => `/api/users/${userId}`, fetcher);

Revalidation Strategies

Automatic Revalidation

SWR automatically revalidates data in three cases:

Component is mounted (even with cached data)
Window gains focus
Browser regains network connection

typescript

// Disable specific revalidation behaviors
const { data } = useSWR('/api/data', fetcher, {
  revalidateOnFocus: false,
  revalidateOnReconnect: false,
  revalidateOnMount: true,
});

Manual Revalidation

typescript

import { useSWRConfig } from 'swr';

function UpdateButton() {
  const { mutate } = useSWRConfig();

  const handleUpdate = async () => {
    // Revalidate specific key
    await mutate('/api/users');

    // Revalidate all keys matching a filter
    await mutate(
      (key) => typeof key === 'string' && key.startsWith('/api/users'),
      undefined,
      { revalidate: true }
    );
  };

  return <button onClick={handleUpdate}>Refresh</button>;
}

Polling / Interval Refresh

typescript

// Refresh every 3 seconds
const { data } = useSWR('/api/realtime', fetcher, {
  refreshInterval: 3000,
});

// Conditional polling
const { data } = useSWR('/api/realtime', fetcher, {
  refreshInterval: isVisible ? 1000 : 0,
});

Mutation Patterns

Optimistic Updates

typescript

import useSWR, { useSWRConfig } from 'swr';

function useUpdateUser() {
  const { mutate } = useSWRConfig();

  const updateUser = async (userId: string, newData: Partial<User>) => {
    // Optimistic update
    await mutate(
      `/api/users/${userId}`,
      async (currentData: User | undefined) => {
        // Update API
        const updated = await fetch(`/api/users/${userId}`, {
          method: 'PATCH',
          body: JSON.stringify(newData),
        }).then(r => r.json());

        return updated;
      },
      {
        optimisticData: (current) => ({ ...current, ...newData } as User),
        rollbackOnError: true,
        populateCache: true,
        revalidate: false,
      }
    );
  };

  return { updateUser };
}

Bound Mutate

typescript

function UserProfile({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  const { data: user, mutate } = useSWR(`/api/users/${userId}`, fetcher);

  const handleUpdate = async (newName: string) => {
    // Update local data immediately
    mutate({ ...user, name: newName }, false);

    // Send update to server
    await updateUserName(userId, newName);

    // Revalidate to ensure consistency
    mutate();
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <p>{user?.name}</p>
      <button onClick={() => handleUpdate('New Name')}>Update</button>
    </div>
  );
}

Pagination

Basic Pagination

typescript

function usePaginatedUsers(page: number) {
  return useSWR(`/api/users?page=${page}`, fetcher, {
    keepPreviousData: true,
  });
}

Infinite Loading with useSWRInfinite

typescript

import useSWRInfinite from 'swr/infinite';

function useInfiniteUsers() {
  const getKey = (pageIndex: number, previousPageData: User[] | null) => {
    // Return null to stop fetching
    if (previousPageData && previousPageData.length === 0) return null;

    // Return key for next page
    return `/api/users?page=${pageIndex + 1}`;
  };

  const { data, error, size, setSize, isValidating } = useSWRInfinite(
    getKey,
    fetcher
  );

  const users = data ? data.flat() : [];
  const isLoadingMore = size > 0 && data && typeof data[size - 1] === 'undefined';
  const isEmpty = data?.[0]?.length === 0;
  const isReachingEnd = isEmpty || (data && data[data.length - 1]?.length < 10);

  return {
    users,
    isLoadingMore,
    isReachingEnd,
    loadMore: () => setSize(size + 1),
  };
}

Cursor-Based Pagination

typescript

import useSWRInfinite from 'swr/infinite';

function useCursorPagination() {
  const getKey = (pageIndex: number, previousPageData: any) => {
    if (previousPageData && !previousPageData.nextCursor) return null;

    if (pageIndex === 0) return '/api/items';

    return `/api/items?cursor=${previousPageData.nextCursor}`;
  };

  return useSWRInfinite(getKey, fetcher);
}

Error Handling

Component-Level Error Handling

typescript

function UserProfile({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  const { data, error, isLoading } = useSWR(`/api/users/${userId}`, fetcher);

  if (isLoading) return <Skeleton />;

  if (error) {
    return (
      <ErrorMessage
        message="Failed to load user profile"
        retry={() => mutate(`/api/users/${userId}`)}
      />
    );
  }

  return <ProfileCard user={data} />;
}

Global Error Handler

typescript

<SWRConfig
  value={{
    onError: (error, key) => {
      if (error.status !== 403 && error.status !== 404) {
        // Send error to tracking service
        reportError(error, key);
      }
    },
  }}
>
  <App />
</SWRConfig>

Prefetching

typescript

import { preload } from 'swr';

// Prefetch data before component renders
function prefetchUser(userId: string) {
  preload(`/api/users/${userId}`, fetcher);
}

// Usage: Call on hover or route change
function UserLink({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  return (
    <Link
      to={`/users/${userId}`}
      onMouseEnter={() => prefetchUser(userId)}
    >
      View Profile
    </Link>
  );
}

Key Conventions

Use SWR for client-side data fetching with minimal configuration
Implement conditional rendering for loading states and error messages
Validate data to ensure expected format and handle errors gracefully
Use prefetching to improve performance before users request data
Leverage automatic revalidation for real-time data freshness
Use useSWRInfinite for paginated and infinite scroll patterns

Integration with Next.js

typescript

// For server-side data, use getServerSideProps or getStaticProps
// For client-side caching and revalidation, use SWR

// pages/user/[id].tsx
export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const user = await fetchUser(params.id);
  return { props: { fallback: { [`/api/users/${params.id}`]: user } } };
}

export default function UserPage({ fallback }) {
  return (
    <SWRConfig value={{ fallback }}>
      <UserProfile />
    </SWRConfig>
  );
}

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Do not use useEffect for data fetching when SWR can handle it
Do not ignore error states - always provide user feedback
Do not forget to handle loading states appropriately
Do not use polling when WebSocket or SSE would be more efficient
Do not skip conditional fetching for dependent data
Do not ignore TypeScript types for fetched data

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SKILL.md

SWR Best Practices

Core Principles

Key Features

Project Structure

Setup and Configuration

Global Configuration

Custom Fetcher

Basic Usage

useSWR Hook

Conditional Fetching

Revalidation Strategies

Automatic Revalidation

Manual Revalidation

Polling / Interval Refresh

Mutation Patterns

Optimistic Updates

Bound Mutate

Pagination

Basic Pagination

Infinite Loading with useSWRInfinite

Cursor-Based Pagination

Error Handling

Component-Level Error Handling

Global Error Handler

Prefetching

Key Conventions

Integration with Next.js

Anti-Patterns to Avoid