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Everyday utilities worth reaching for instead of writing your own.

These are the small, everyday utilities you reach for instead of writing your own: date handling, validation, state management, and similar plumbing. None of them are exciting on their own, but a well-maintained library saves real debugging time versus a hand-rolled version. Check download counts, maintenance activity, and bundle size before adding one to a production app.

date-fns icon
date-fns
A set of small, tree-shakeable date functions instead of one big Moment-style object. Good when bundle size actually matters.
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Lodash icon
Lodash
The old standby for array/object helpers, still maintained, though check if native JS or a lighter alternative already covers what you need before adding it.
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React Hook Form icon
React Hook Form
Uncontrolled-by-default form handling that barely re-renders, pairs well with a Zod resolver for validation.
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TanStack Query icon
TanStack Query
Handles server-state caching, refetching, and loading/error states so you stop hand-rolling useEffect data fetching.
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Zod icon
Zod
TypeScript-first schema validation with automatic type inference. The default pick for validating API inputs, env vars, and form data without writing types twice.
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Zustand icon
Zustand
A tiny global store for React with no provider wrapping and almost no boilerplate. Reach for it before Redux.
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