TanStack Start is a full-stack framework for building server-rendered React applications built on top of TanStack Router.
To set up a TanStack Start project, you'll need to:
Follow this guide to build a basic TanStack Start web application. Together, we will use TanStack Start to:
Here is what that will look like
Create a new project if you're starting fresh.
mkdir myApp
cd myApp
npm init -y
mkdir myApp
cd myApp
npm init -y
Create a tsconfig.json file with at least the following settings:
{
"compilerOptions": {
"jsx": "react-jsx",
"moduleResolution": "Bundler",
"module": "Preserve",
"target": "ES2022",
"skipLibCheck": true,
},
}
{
"compilerOptions": {
"jsx": "react-jsx",
"moduleResolution": "Bundler",
"module": "Preserve",
"target": "ES2022",
"skipLibCheck": true,
},
}
TanStack Start is powered by Vinxi and TanStack Router and requires them as dependencies.
To install them, run:
npm i @tanstack/start @tanstack/react-router vinxi
npm i @tanstack/start @tanstack/react-router vinxi
You'll also need React and the Vite React plugin, so install them too:
npm i react react-dom @vitejs/plugin-react
npm i react react-dom @vitejs/plugin-react
and some TypeScript:
npm i -D typescript @types/react @types/react-dom
npm i -D typescript @types/react @types/react-dom
We'll then update our package.json to reference the new Vinxi entry point and set "type": "module":
{
// ...
"type": "module",
"scripts": {
"dev": "vinxi dev",
"build": "vinxi build",
"start": "vinxi start",
},
}
{
// ...
"type": "module",
"scripts": {
"dev": "vinxi dev",
"build": "vinxi build",
"start": "vinxi start",
},
}
To tell Vinxi that it should start TanStack Start's minimal behavior, we need to configure the app.config.ts file:
// app.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@tanstack/start/config'
export default defineConfig({})
// app.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@tanstack/start/config'
export default defineConfig({})
There are four required files for TanStack Start usage:
Once configuration is done, we'll have a file tree that looks like the following:
.
├── app/
│ ├── routes/
│ │ └── `__root.tsx`
│ ├── `client.tsx`
│ ├── `router.tsx`
│ ├── `routeTree.gen.ts`
│ └── `ssr.tsx`
├── `.gitignore`
├── `app.config.ts`
├── `package.json`
└── `tsconfig.json`
.
├── app/
│ ├── routes/
│ │ └── `__root.tsx`
│ ├── `client.tsx`
│ ├── `router.tsx`
│ ├── `routeTree.gen.ts`
│ └── `ssr.tsx`
├── `.gitignore`
├── `app.config.ts`
├── `package.json`
└── `tsconfig.json`
This is the file that will dictate the behavior of TanStack Router used within Start. Here, you can configure everything from the default preloading functionality to caching staleness.
// app/router.tsx
import { createRouter as createTanStackRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { routeTree } from './routeTree.gen'
export function createRouter() {
const router = createTanStackRouter({
routeTree,
})
return router
}
declare module '@tanstack/react-router' {
interface Register {
router: ReturnType<typeof createRouter>
}
}
// app/router.tsx
import { createRouter as createTanStackRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { routeTree } from './routeTree.gen'
export function createRouter() {
const router = createTanStackRouter({
routeTree,
})
return router
}
declare module '@tanstack/react-router' {
interface Register {
router: ReturnType<typeof createRouter>
}
}
routeTree.gen.ts is not a file you're expected to have at this point. It will be generated when you run TanStack Start (via npm run dev or npm run start) for the first time.
As TanStack Start is an SSR framework, we need to pipe this router information to our server entry point:
// app/ssr.tsx
import {
createStartHandler,
defaultStreamHandler,
} from '@tanstack/start/server'
import { getRouterManifest } from '@tanstack/start/router-manifest'
import { createRouter } from './router'
export default createStartHandler({
createRouter,
getRouterManifest,
})(defaultStreamHandler)
// app/ssr.tsx
import {
createStartHandler,
defaultStreamHandler,
} from '@tanstack/start/server'
import { getRouterManifest } from '@tanstack/start/router-manifest'
import { createRouter } from './router'
export default createStartHandler({
createRouter,
getRouterManifest,
})(defaultStreamHandler)
This allows us to know what routes and loaders we need to execute when the user hits a given route.
Now we need a way to hydrate our client-side JavaScript once the route resolves to the client. We do this by piping the same router information to our client entry point:
// app/client.tsx
import { hydrateRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
import { StartClient } from '@tanstack/start'
import { createRouter } from './router'
const router = createRouter()
hydrateRoot(document.getElementById('root')!, <StartClient router={router} />)
// app/client.tsx
import { hydrateRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
import { StartClient } from '@tanstack/start'
import { createRouter } from './router'
const router = createRouter()
hydrateRoot(document.getElementById('root')!, <StartClient router={router} />)
This enables us to kick off client-side routing once the user's initial server request has fulfilled.
Finally, we need to create the root of our application. This is the entry point for all other routes. The code in this file will wrap all other routes in the application.
// app/routes/__root.tsx
import { createRootRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Outlet, ScrollRestoration } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Body, Head, Html, Meta, Scripts } from '@tanstack/start'
import * as React from 'react'
export const Route = createRootRoute({
meta: () => [
{
charSet: 'utf-8',
},
{
name: 'viewport',
content: 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1',
},
{
title: 'TanStack Start Starter',
},
],
component: RootComponent,
})
function RootComponent() {
return (
<RootDocument>
<Outlet />
</RootDocument>
)
}
function RootDocument({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
return (
<Html>
<Head>
<Meta />
</Head>
<Body>
{children}
<ScrollRestoration />
<Scripts />
</Body>
</Html>
)
}
// app/routes/__root.tsx
import { createRootRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Outlet, ScrollRestoration } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Body, Head, Html, Meta, Scripts } from '@tanstack/start'
import * as React from 'react'
export const Route = createRootRoute({
meta: () => [
{
charSet: 'utf-8',
},
{
name: 'viewport',
content: 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1',
},
{
title: 'TanStack Start Starter',
},
],
component: RootComponent,
})
function RootComponent() {
return (
<RootDocument>
<Outlet />
</RootDocument>
)
}
function RootDocument({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
return (
<Html>
<Head>
<Meta />
</Head>
<Body>
{children}
<ScrollRestoration />
<Scripts />
</Body>
</Html>
)
}
Now that we have the basic templating setup, we can write our first route. This is done by creating a new file in the app/routes directory.
// app/routes/index.tsx
import * as fs from 'fs'
import { createFileRoute, useRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { createServerFn } from '@tanstack/start'
const filePath = 'count.txt'
async function readCount() {
return parseInt(
await fs.promises.readFile(filePath, 'utf-8').catch(() => '0'),
)
}
const getCount = createServerFn('GET', () => {
return readCount()
})
const updateCount = createServerFn('POST', async (addBy: number) => {
const count = await readCount()
await fs.promises.writeFile(filePath, `${count + addBy}`)
})
export const Route = createFileRoute('/')({
component: Home,
loader: async () => await getCount(),
})
function Home() {
const router = useRouter()
const state = Route.useLoaderData()
return (
<button
onClick={() => {
updateCount(1).then(() => {
router.invalidate()
})
}}
>
Add 1 to {state}?
</button>
)
}
// app/routes/index.tsx
import * as fs from 'fs'
import { createFileRoute, useRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { createServerFn } from '@tanstack/start'
const filePath = 'count.txt'
async function readCount() {
return parseInt(
await fs.promises.readFile(filePath, 'utf-8').catch(() => '0'),
)
}
const getCount = createServerFn('GET', () => {
return readCount()
})
const updateCount = createServerFn('POST', async (addBy: number) => {
const count = await readCount()
await fs.promises.writeFile(filePath, `${count + addBy}`)
})
export const Route = createFileRoute('/')({
component: Home,
loader: async () => await getCount(),
})
function Home() {
const router = useRouter()
const state = Route.useLoaderData()
return (
<button
onClick={() => {
updateCount(1).then(() => {
router.invalidate()
})
}}
>
Add 1 to {state}?
</button>
)
}
That's it! 🤯 You've now set up a TanStack Start project and written your first route. 🎉
You can now run npm run dev to start your server and navigate to http://localhost:3000 to see your route in action.
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