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React SPA Architecture with Wouter Routing

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Context

Hotpot Tracker needs a modern, responsive frontend that provides:
  • Fast, interactive user experience for task management
  • Client-side routing for seamless navigation
  • Real-time updates without page refreshes
  • Mobile-responsive design for cross-platform use
  • Integration with InstantDB’s real-time capabilities
The team has strong React expertise and needs to deliver quickly while maintaining code quality. The application requires complex state management for real-time collaboration features. Key considerations:
  • Bundle size optimization for performance
  • Developer experience and rapid iteration
  • Component reusability and design consistency
  • TypeScript integration throughout the stack

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Decision

We will build a React Single Page Application (SPA) using:
  • React 18 with hooks-based architecture for modern patterns
  • Wouter for lightweight client-side routing (1.5KB vs 12KB+ React Router)
  • Chakra UI for component library and design system
  • Vite for development tooling and build optimization
  • TypeScript for type safety and developer experience
This stack provides the right balance of performance, developer experience, and feature completeness for our collaborative task management use case.

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Consequences

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What becomes easier:

  • Fast development with pre-built, accessible UI components
  • Excellent developer experience with Vite hot reload and TypeScript
  • Small bundle size with Wouter routing improves load times
  • Consistent visual design across application with Chakra UI theme
  • Real-time state updates integrate seamlessly with React hooks
  • Component testing and debugging with mature React ecosystem

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What becomes more difficult:

  • SPA limitations for SEO and initial page load performance
  • Client-side routing complexity for deep linking and browser history
  • Dependency on Chakra UI design system limits custom styling flexibility
  • No server-side rendering capabilities without additional setup
  • JavaScript-heavy application may struggle on low-powered devices
  • Complex state management across real-time collaborative features