React Context Best Practices and Patterns

React Context is powerful but easy to misuse. Here are patterns that work in production.

Split Contexts

// Bad: one giant context
const AppContext = createContext();

// Good: split by concern
const AuthContext = createContext();
const ThemeContext = createContext();
const CartContext = createContext();

Custom Hooks

function useAuth() {
  const context = useContext(AuthContext);
  if (!context) throw new Error('useAuth must be within AuthProvider');
  return context;
}

Avoid Re-renders

Memoize context values to prevent unnecessary re-renders.