name: react-router-v7
description: React Router v7 best practices for data-driven routing. Use when implementing routes, loaders, actions, Form components, fetchers, navigation guards, protected routes, or URL search params. Triggers on createBrowserRouter, RouterProvider, useLoaderData, useActionData, useFetcher, NavLink, Outlet.

React Router v7 Best Practices

Quick Reference

Router Setup (Data Mode):

import { createBrowserRouter, RouterProvider } from "react-router";

const router = createBrowserRouter([
  {
    path: "/",
    Component: Root,
    ErrorBoundary: RootErrorBoundary,
    loader: rootLoader,
    children: [
      { index: true, Component: Home },
      { path: "products/:productId", Component: Product, loader: productLoader },
    ],
  },
]);

ReactDOM.createRoot(root).render(<RouterProvider router={router} />);

Framework Mode (Vite plugin):

// routes.ts
import { index, route } from "@react-router/dev/routes";

export default [
  index("./home.tsx"),
  route("products/:pid", "./product.tsx"),
];

Route Configuration

Nested Routes with Outlets

createBrowserRouter([
  {
    path: "/dashboard",
    Component: Dashboard,
    children: [
      { index: true, Component: DashboardHome },
      { path: "settings", Component: Settings },
    ],
  },
]);

function Dashboard() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Dashboard</h1>
      <Outlet /> {/* Renders child routes */}
    </div>
  );
}

Dynamic Segments and Splats

{ path: "teams/:teamId" }           // params.teamId
{ path: ":lang?/categories" }       // Optional segment
{ path: "files/*" }                 // Splat: params["*"]

Key Decision Points

Form vs Fetcher

Use <Form>: Creating/deleting with URL change, adding to history
Use useFetcher: Inline updates, list operations, popovers - no URL change

Loader vs useEffect

Use loader: Data before render, server-side fetch, automatic revalidation
Use useEffect: Client-only data, user-interaction dependent, subscriptions

Additional Documentation

• Data Loading: See references/loaders.md for loader patterns, parallel loading, search params
• Mutations: See references/actions.md for actions, Form, fetchers, validation
• Navigation: See references/navigation.md for Link, NavLink, programmatic nav
• Advanced: See references/advanced.md for error boundaries, protected routes, lazy loading

Mode Comparison