State Ownership Philosophy
Learn how to assign the correct owner for each piece of state to avoid unnecessary re-renders and build scalable React architectures.
As React applications grow, a common source of complexity is not the state itself, but where that state is stored. State is often placed based on immediate convenience, inside a component that needs it, lifted to the top of the tree as a precaution, or moved into a global context to avoid prop drilling. Over time, these decisions compound, making the application harder to reason about. Components re-render unexpectedly, features become tightly coupled, and changes in one area of the UI trigger side effects elsewhere.
State ownership
To avoid this architectural drift, scalable React applications follow a simple but powerful rule:
Note: Every piece of state must have one clear owner.
When ownership is intentional, data flows naturally, updates remain predictable, and re-renders stay controlled. But when ownership is misplaced, too high, too low, or overly global, it undermines the foundation of the entire system.
Understanding state ownership isn’t about learning another pattern or ...