TypeScript Frontend Development

One coherent stack for building type-safe TypeScript apps: Vite 8 (build + dev server, Rolldown-powered), React 19.2 with the React Compiler, TypeScript 6.0 (strict), Tailwind CSS v4.3 + shadcn/ui for styling, Biome 2.4 for linting and formatting, Vitest 4 for testing, and Hono 4 for the backend/edge API. The pieces are designed to fit together - this skill covers how they wire up and the sharp edges that span more than one of them. Hono's RPC client (hc) shares server types directly with the React frontend, so the front and back end stay type-safe end to end without codegen.

The body below is the cross-cutting layer: the rules that bite when these tools meet, plus one working end-to-end setup. Each tool also has a deep-dive reference - read the one you need:

• references/vite.md - Vite 8 config, dev server, proxy, HMR, Rolldown, code splitting, build optimization, deployment.
• references/react.md - React 19 patterns: Actions, use(), Activity, useEffectEvent, document metadata, and the React Compiler.
• references/typescript.md - Strict TypeScript 6.0 config and patterns: tsconfig defaults, generics, utility types, import defer, tsgo.
• references/tailwind.md - Tailwind CSS v4 CSS-first config, OKLCH theming, dark mode, v4.3 utilities.
• references/shadcn.md - shadcn/ui CLI, component authoring with CVA + data-slot, registries, Radix vs Base UI.
• references/biome.md - Biome config, biome check, domains, type-aware linting, GritQL, ESLint/Prettier migration.
• references/vitest.md - Vitest config, Testing Library, jsdom/happy-dom, coverage, browser mode, projects.
• references/hono.md - Hono 4 web framework: routing, context, middleware, validation (Zod), end-to-end type-safe RPC, OpenAPI, helpers, and multi-runtime deployment (Workers/Node/Bun/Deno).

Version targets

Cross-cutting critical rules

These are the rules that fail in confusing ways precisely because they sit at the seam between two tools. The single-tool details live in the references.

Vite plugin order: framework plugins first, react() last

When a framework plugin (TanStack Router/Start, etc.) generates routes or transforms code, it must run before @vitejs/plugin-react so React's Fast Refresh transform sees the final output. Wrong order causes route-generation failures and broken HMR.

plugins: [
  tanstackStart(),   // or tanstackRouter() for SPA - framework first
  tailwindcss(),
  react(),           // React plugin last among framework plugins
]

React Compiler replaces manual memoization - and changes how you wire Vite

React Compiler 1.0 auto-memoizes components, computations, and callbacks at build time. Write plain components; do not reach for useMemo/useCallback/memo. The catch lives at the Vite seam: @vitejs/plugin-react v6 removed the inline babel option, so the old react({ babel: { plugins: [...] } }) wiring no longer works. The compiler now runs through a separate Babel plugin:

import react, { reactCompilerPreset } from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
import babel from '@rolldown/plugin-babel'

plugins: [react(), babel({ presets: [reactCompilerPreset()] })]

Install: pnpm add -D @rolldown/plugin-babel @babel/core babel-plugin-react-compiler @types/babel__core.

This also ripples into Biome: useExhaustiveDependencies can't tell the compiler is handling deps for you, so most compiler users turn it off (see biome.md).

Tailwind v4 is CSS-first - there is no tailwind.config.js

Tailwind v4 configures everything in CSS via @theme, @utility, @plugin, @source. Never create or look for tailwind.config.js/.ts. The Vite integration is the @tailwindcss/vite plugin (no PostCSS config either). If you find a tailwind.config.js in a v4 project, it is leftover - delete it and migrate the values into CSS. Full details in tailwind.md.

Style with semantic tokens, never raw palette or dynamic class names

<div className="bg-primary text-primary-foreground">   // respects theme + dark mode
<div className="bg-blue-500 text-white">               // breaks theming - avoid

And never assemble class names from fragments (bg-${color}-500) - Tailwind's scanner only sees complete literal strings, so dynamic names silently produce no CSS. Use a lookup map of full class strings.

TypeScript 6.0 changed the defaults - lean on them, don't fight them

TS 6.0 bakes in much of what used to be manual: strict and noUncheckedSideEffectImports are now on by default, so drop them from a fresh tsconfig. But two new defaults will break builds if you ignore them: types now defaults to [] (add "types": ["node"] if you use Node globals) and module/target shifted (module defaults to esnext, not nodenext). baseUrl is deprecated - use prefixed paths instead. See typescript.md for the full 6.0 tsconfig and migration notes.

One Biome command, and files.includes is the only include key

Run biome check (or biome ci) - it formats, lints, and organizes imports in a single pass; never split into separate lint+format calls. And in Biome 2.x the only file-selection key is files.includes (with the s); files.ignore/files.include/files.exclude do not exist and throw Found an unknown key. Exclude with negation: "includes": ["", "!/routeTree.gen.ts"]. More in biome.md.

Hono RPC ties the backend's types to the React frontend - keep them in sync

When the API is Hono, the React app talks to it through the hc() client, which

imports the server's exported typeof app directly. That shared type is the seam: it only

works if both sides run the same Hono version and both tsconfig.json set "strict": true

(a mismatch throws "Type instantiation is excessively deep"). Two more rules that bite at this

seam: handlers must specify status codes (c.json(data, 200)) for the client to infer

responses, and routes the client calls must not use c.notFound(). As the route count grows,

compile the client type once (hcWithType) so the IDE stays fast. Full details in

hono.md.

End-to-end setup

A minimal but complete React + TypeScript + Tailwind + Biome project. Swap the framework plugin for your router/SSR choice (see vite.md for TanStack and Cloudflare variants).

vite.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import react, { reactCompilerPreset } from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
import babel from '@rolldown/plugin-babel'
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    tailwindcss(),
    react(),
    babel({ presets: [reactCompilerPreset()] }),
  ],
  resolve: {
    alias: { '@': new URL('./src', import.meta.url).pathname },
  },
})

import.meta.url is the ESM-correct way to resolve paths - there is no __dirname in an ESM config, and Vite configs are ESM-only.

tsconfig.json (TypeScript 6.0)

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    // strict + noUncheckedSideEffectImports are ON by default in 6.0 - omitted on purpose
    "target": "es2023",
    "module": "preserve",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "moduleDetection": "force",
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "verbatimModuleSyntax": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,
    "exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true,
    "erasableSyntaxOnly": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "types": [],
    "paths": { "@/*": ["./src/*"] }
  }
}

module: preserve + moduleResolution: bundler is the right pairing for a Vite-bundled app; use nodenext instead only for Node-executed code. types: [] keeps ambient @types/* from leaking in globally - add ["node"] (or others) explicitly when needed.

biome.json

{
  "$schema": "./node_modules/@biomejs/biome/configuration_schema.json",
  "vcs": { "enabled": true, "clientKind": "git", "useIgnoreFile": true },
  "files": { "includes": ["**", "!**/components/ui", "!**/routeTree.gen.ts"] },
  "formatter": { "enabled": true, "indentStyle": "space", "lineWidth": 100 },
  "linter": {
    "enabled": true,
    "rules": { "recommended": true },
    "domains": { "react": "recommended" }
  },
  "javascript": { "formatter": { "quoteStyle": "double" } },
  "assist": { "enabled": true, "actions": { "source": { "organizeImports": "on" } } }
}

src/styles.css

@import "tailwindcss";

:root {
  --background: oklch(1 0 0);
  --foreground: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --primary: oklch(0.205 0 0);
  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --radius: 0.5rem;
}
.dark {
  --background: oklch(0.145 0 0);
  --foreground: oklch(0.985 0 0);
  --primary: oklch(0.922 0 0);
  --primary-foreground: oklch(0.205 0 0);
}

@theme inline {
  --color-background: var(--background);
  --color-foreground: var(--foreground);
  --color-primary: var(--primary);
  --color-primary-foreground: var(--primary-foreground);
}

The @import "tailwindcss"; line is load-bearing: the @tailwindcss/vite plugin alone produces no styles without it - a missing import is the classic "Tailwind renders nothing" footgun. Use @theme inline (not plain @theme) for tokens that reference CSS variables, so they track dark-mode changes.

A component, the way the whole stack wants it

Plain function, ref as a regular prop (no forwardRef), native element props via React.ComponentProps, variants via CVA, data-slot for styling hooks, and no manual memoization - the compiler handles it.

import { cva, type VariantProps } from "class-variance-authority"
import { cn } from "@/lib/utils"

const buttonVariants = cva(
  "inline-flex items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-md text-sm font-medium transition-colors disabled:opacity-50",
  {
    variants: {
      variant: {
        default: "bg-primary text-primary-foreground hover:bg-primary/90",
        outline: "border border-input bg-background hover:bg-accent",
        ghost: "hover:bg-accent hover:text-accent-foreground",
      },
      size: { default: "h-9 px-4 py-2", sm: "h-8 px-3", lg: "h-10 px-8" },
    },
    defaultVariants: { variant: "default", size: "default" },
  }
)

function Button({
  className,
  variant,
  size,
  ref,
  ...props
}: React.ComponentProps<"button"> & VariantProps<typeof buttonVariants>) {
  return (
    <button
      ref={ref}
      data-slot="button"
      className={cn(buttonVariants({ variant, size }), className)}
      {...props}
    />
  )
}

Note the cn() order: defaults first, consumer className last, so tailwind-merge's last-wins resolution lets callers override.

Best practices

1. Let the compiler optimize. Write plain components and computations; reserve useMemo/useCallback for the rare case where you need a value to be a stable effect dependency.
2. Model state as discriminated unions, not loose booleans ({ status: "loading" } | { status: "error"; error }) so impossible states are unrepresentable.
3. Extend native props with React.ComponentProps<"el"> instead of re-declaring HTML attributes by hand.
4. Use use() over useContext() - it works after early returns and inside conditionals.
5. Semantic color tokens only, and always pair bg- with the matching text--foreground.
6. biome check --write is your one local command; biome ci in pipelines.
7. Rolldown is the default bundler in Vite 8 - no opt-in needed; split stable vendor code with Rolldown's codeSplitting (see vite.md).
8. Pin exact versions for tooling that rewrites code (babel-plugin-react-compiler, @biomejs/biome) to avoid surprise diffs between releases.
9. Keep secrets off the client - only VITE_-prefixed env vars reach browser code via import.meta.env.
10. Test through vite.config.ts - Vitest reuses your build config, so tests see the same aliases and transforms; vitest run in CI, jsdom for component tests.

Resources

• Vite: https://vite.dev/guide/ - Vite 8 blog: https://vite.dev/blog/announcing-vite8
• React 19.2: https://react.dev/blog/2025/10/01/react-19-2 - Compiler: https://react.dev/learn/react-compiler
• TypeScript 6.0: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/typescript/announcing-typescript-6-0/
• Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com/docs - shadcn/ui: https://ui.shadcn.com/docs
• Biome: https://biomejs.dev/