TanStack Query

TanStack Query (formerly React Query) is an async state management library for TypeScript and JavaScript. While it started as a React-focused solution, it now has first-class support for Vue.js, Angular, and other frameworks. It is designed for managing server state—data that lives outside the application and needs to be fetched, cached, and kept in sync. Our experience comes from using it in a Vue.js and Nuxt project, though the observations below should apply to other supported frameworks.

One of its most practical benefits is request deduplication. When using SSR, the data fetched on the server is passed to the client through hydration, so the same request is not repeated in the browser. Across the application, if multiple components request the same data simultaneously, TanStack Query issues only a single network call and shares the result between them.

TanStack Query also provides built-in caching that requires almost no configuration to get started. Fetched data is cached by a query key and reused on subsequent renders, with background refetching to keep it fresh. Cache lifetime and stale time are easy to tune per query when needed.

The feature we found most powerful is the reactive query key mechanism. A query key is an array of (potentially reactive) values that uniquely identifies a request. When any part of the key changes—for example, a search term or a filter object—TanStack Query automatically refetches the data. In practice, this made it straightforward to build highly reactive search and listing pages: filters were included in the query key, so updating a filter instantly triggered a fresh request without any manual wiring.

That said, TanStack Query is not the right tool for every fetch. It works best when the fetched data needs to be reactive or reused across the application, but for one-off imperative calls—such as fetching a single resource by ID—it introduces unnecessary overhead. In those cases, using the framework's native fetch utilities is usually better and more straightforward.

Overall, TanStack Query significantly reduces the boilerplate involved in fetching data—no more manually managing loading states, error states, or cache invalidation logic. It also enforces a consistent pattern for data fetching across the entire project, which makes the codebase easier to navigate.