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:

Install the dependencies
Add a configuration file
Create required templating

Follow this guide to build a basic TanStack Start web application. Together, we will use TanStack Start to:

Serve an index page...
Which displays a counter...
With a button to increment the counter persistently.

Here is what that will look like

Create a new project if you're starting fresh.

shell

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:

jsonc

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "moduleResolution": "Bundler",
    "module": "Preserve",
    "target": "ES2022",
    "skipLibCheck": true,
  },
}

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "moduleResolution": "Bundler",
    "module": "Preserve",
    "target": "ES2022",
    "skipLibCheck": true,
  },
}

Install Dependencies

TanStack Start is powered by the following packages and need to be installed as dependencies:

To install them, run:

shell

npm i @tanstack/react-start @tanstack/react-router vite

npm i @tanstack/react-start @tanstack/react-router vite

You'll also need React and the Vite React plugin, so install their dependencies as well:

shell

npm i react react-dom @vitejs/plugin-react

npm i react react-dom @vitejs/plugin-react

Please, for you, your fellow developers, and your users' sake, use TypeScript:

shell

npm i -D typescript @types/react @types/react-dom

npm i -D typescript @types/react @types/react-dom

Update Configuration Files

We'll then update our package.json to use Vite's CLI and set "type": "module":

jsonc

{
  // ...
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "vite dev",
    "build": "vite build",
    "start": "vite start",
  },
}

{
  // ...
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "vite dev",
    "build": "vite build",
    "start": "vite start",
  },
}

Then configure TanStack Start's app.config.ts file:

typescript

// app.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@tanstack/react-start/config'

export default defineConfig({})

// app.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@tanstack/react-start/config'

export default defineConfig({})

Add the Basic Templating

There are 2 required files for TanStack Start usage:

The router configuration
The root of your application

Once configuration is done, we'll have a file tree that looks like the following:

.
├── app/
│   ├── routes/
│   │   └── `__root.tsx`
│   ├── `router.tsx`
│   ├── `routeTree.gen.ts`
├── `.gitignore`
├── `app.config.ts`
├── `package.json`
└── `tsconfig.json`

.
├── app/
│   ├── routes/
│   │   └── `__root.tsx`
│   ├── `router.tsx`
│   ├── `routeTree.gen.ts`
├── `.gitignore`
├── `app.config.ts`
├── `package.json`
└── `tsconfig.json`

The Router Configuration

This is the file that will dictate the behavior of TanStack Router used within Start for both the server and the client. Here, you can configure everything from the default preloading functionality to caching staleness.

tsx

// 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.

The Root of Your Application

Finally, we need to create the root of our application. This is the entry point for all application routes. The code in this file will wrap all other routes in the application.

tsx

// app/routes/__root.tsx
import { createRootRoute, HeadContent, Scripts } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Outlet } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import * as React from 'react'

export const Route = createRootRoute({
  head: () => ({
    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>
        <HeadContent />
      </head>
      <body>
        {children}
        <Scripts />
      </body>
    </html>
  )
}

// app/routes/__root.tsx
import { createRootRoute, HeadContent, Scripts } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Outlet } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import * as React from 'react'

export const Route = createRootRoute({
  head: () => ({
    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>
        <HeadContent />
      </head>
      <body>
        {children}
        <Scripts />
      </body>
    </html>
  )
}

Writing Your First Route

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.

tsx

// app/routes/index.tsx
import * as fs from 'fs'
import { createFileRoute, useRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { createServerFn } from '@tanstack/react-start'

const filePath = 'count.txt'

async function readCount() {
  return parseInt(
    await fs.promises.readFile(filePath, 'utf-8').catch(() => '0'),
  )
}

const getCount = createServerFn({
  method: 'GET',
}).handler(() => {
  return readCount()
})

const updateCount = createServerFn({ method: 'POST' })
  .validator((d: number) => d)
  .handler(async ({ data }) => {
    const count = await readCount()
    await fs.promises.writeFile(filePath, `${count + data}`)
  })

export const Route = createFileRoute('/')({
  component: Home,
  loader: async () => await getCount(),
})

function Home() {
  const router = useRouter()
  const state = Route.useLoaderData()

  return (
    <button
      onClick={() => {
        updateCount({ data: 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/react-start'

const filePath = 'count.txt'

async function readCount() {
  return parseInt(
    await fs.promises.readFile(filePath, 'utf-8').catch(() => '0'),
  )
}

const getCount = createServerFn({
  method: 'GET',
}).handler(() => {
  return readCount()
})

const updateCount = createServerFn({ method: 'POST' })
  .validator((d: number) => d)
  .handler(async ({ data }) => {
    const count = await readCount()
    await fs.promises.writeFile(filePath, `${count + data}`)
  })

export const Route = createFileRoute('/')({
  component: Home,
  loader: async () => await getCount(),
})

function Home() {
  const router = useRouter()
  const state = Route.useLoaderData()

  return (
    <button
      onClick={() => {
        updateCount({ data: 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.

TanStack Start

Install Dependencies

Update Configuration Files

Add the Basic Templating

The Router Configuration

The Root of Your Application

Writing Your First Route

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