State Management in 2024: What to use?

The Fatigue is Real

React developers have too many choices. Here is my simplified decision tree.

The Options

1. Context API: Great for compound components and static global state (Theme, User). Bad for rapidly changing data.
2. Zustand: My default choice. Minimal boilerplate, works outside components.
3. Redux Toolkit: Only for massive enterprise apps with complex state logic.
4. TanStack Query: For server state. This replaces 90% of your global state.

My Recommendation

Use TanStack Query for anything coming from an API.
Use Zustand for complex client interaction (sidebar open, modal state).
Use Context for dependency injection.