React useeffect

Skill softaworks/agent-toolkit/skills/react-useeffect

A curated collection of skills for AI coding agents. Skills are packaged instructions and scripts that extend agent capabilities across development, documentation, planning, and professional workflows.

Install

npx -y skills add softaworks/agent-toolkit --skill react-useeffect

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

React useEffect best practices from official docs. Use when writing/reviewing useEffect, useState for derived values, data fetching, or state synchronization. Teaches when NOT to use Effect and better alternatives.

SKILL.md

2.3 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

You Might Not Need an Effect

Effects are an escape hatch from React. They let you synchronize with external systems. If there is no external system involved, you shouldn't need an Effect.

Quick Reference

Situation	DON'T	DO
Derived state from props/state	`useState` + `useEffect`	Calculate during render
Expensive calculations	`useEffect` to cache	`useMemo`
Reset state on prop change	`useEffect` with `setState`	`key` prop
User event responses	`useEffect` watching state	Event handler directly
Notify parent of changes	`useEffect` calling `onChange`	Call in event handler
Fetch data	`useEffect` without cleanup	`useEffect` with cleanup OR framework

When You DO Need Effects

Synchronizing with external systems (non-React widgets, browser APIs)
Subscriptions to external stores (use useSyncExternalStore when possible)
Analytics/logging that runs because component displayed
Data fetching with proper cleanup (or use framework's built-in mechanism)

When You DON'T Need Effects

Transforming data for rendering - Calculate at top level, re-runs automatically
Handling user events - Use event handlers, you know exactly what happened
Deriving state - Just compute it: const fullName = firstName + ' ' + lastName
Chaining state updates - Calculate all next state in the event handler

Decision Tree

Need to respond to something?
├── User interaction (click, submit, drag)?
│   └── Use EVENT HANDLER
├── Component appeared on screen?
│   └── Use EFFECT (external sync, analytics)
├── Props/state changed and need derived value?
│   └── CALCULATE DURING RENDER
│       └── Expensive? Use useMemo
└── Need to reset state when prop changes?
    └── Use KEY PROP on component

Detailed Guidance

Anti-Patterns - Common mistakes with fixes
Better Alternatives - useMemo, key prop, lifting state, useSyncExternalStore