Advanced Redux Toolkit: Tips and Tricks for Efficient State Management

Advanced Redux Toolkit

Redux Toolkit (RTK) has transformed state management in React applications by reducing boilerplate and improving performance. While the basics are straightforward, advanced features can make your Redux implementation even more efficient and scalable.

In this blog, we’ll explore powerful tips and tricks to optimize Redux Toolkit in your applications.

1. Use createEntityAdapter for Normalized State Management

Handling lists of data (like users, posts, or products) manually can be cumbersome. createEntityAdapter simplifies normalization and improves lookup performance.

🔹 Optimized State Management with createEntityAdapter

import { createEntityAdapter, createSlice } from "@reduxjs/toolkit";

// Create an adapter
const usersAdapter = createEntityAdapter();

// Define the slice
const usersSlice = createSlice({
  name: "users",
  initialState: usersAdapter.getInitialState(),
  reducers: {
    addUser: usersAdapter.addOne,
    updateUser: usersAdapter.updateOne,
    removeUser: usersAdapter.removeOne
  }
});

// Export actions & selectors
export const { addUser, updateUser, removeUser } = usersSlice.actions;
export default usersSlice.reducer;

✅ Benefits:

  • Automatic state normalization (data stored in an optimized key-value format).

  • Built-in CRUD operations for managing entities.
  • Faster lookups and updates using getSelectors().

2. Optimize API Calls with RTK Query

Handling API calls using useEffect and dispatch can be inefficient. RTK Query, built into Redux Toolkit, simplifies data fetching, caching, and automatic refetching.

🔹 Example Using createApi

import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from "@reduxjs/toolkit/query/react";

// Define API
export const usersApi = createApi({
reducerPath: "usersApi",
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com" }),
endpoints: (builder) => ({
getUsers: builder.query({
query: () => "/users"
})
})
});

// Auto-generated hook
export const { useGetUsersQuery } = usersApi;

🔹 Using It in a Component:

const { data: users, isLoading } = useGetUsersQuery();

if (isLoading) return <p>Loading…</p>;
return <ul>{users.map(user => <li key={user.id}>{user.name}</li>)}</ul>;

✅ Benefits:

  • Auto-caching & refetching when data changes.
  • Reduces boilerplate (no need for useEffect or manual state updates).
  • Optimized API performance with background refetching.

3. Use createSelector to Optimize Re-Renders

By default, React components re-render whenever the Redux store updates, even if the relevant data hasn’t changed. Using memoized selectors can significantly improve performance.

🔹 Example of a Memoized Selector Using createSelector

import { createSelector } from “@reduxjs/toolkit”;
const selectUsers = (state) => state.users;

export const selectActiveUsers = createSelector(
[selectUsers],
(users) => users.filter(user => user.isActive)
);

✅ Benefits:

  • Prevents unnecessary re-renders by memoizing values.
  • Improves performance by recalculating data only when needed.

4. Structure Redux State Efficiently

A well-structured Redux state makes applications scalable and maintainable. Follow these best practices:

✔️ Keep slices modular: Split the store into meaningful features like userSlice, postSlice, and authSlice. ✔️ Avoid deeply nested state: Use flat structures with IDs as references instead of deep nesting. ✔️ Use Entity Adapters when managing lists of data.

🚀 Final Thoughts

Mastering Redux Toolkit goes beyond just using createSlice(). Leveraging RTK Query, entity adapters, memoized selectors, and efficient state structuring can significantly improve performance and scalability.

💡 What’s your favorite advanced Redux Toolkit feature? Let’s discuss! 🚀