@tanstack/react-table
Version:
Headless UI for building powerful tables & datagrids for React.
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Markdown
---
name: create-table-hook
description: >
Build reusable React table infrastructure with createTableHook, useAppTable, createAppColumnHelper, shared features/defaults, component registries, AppTable/AppCell/AppHeader wrappers, and typed context hooks. Load for recurring application table conventions, scoped contexts, HMR cycles, or table prop drilling.
metadata:
type: framework
library: '@tanstack/react-table'
library_version: '9.0.0'
framework: react
requires:
- '@tanstack/table-core#core'
- getting-started
- table-state
sources:
- 'TanStack/table:docs/framework/react/guide/composable-tables.md'
- 'TanStack/table:docs/framework/react/guide/table-context.md'
- 'TanStack/table:examples/react/composable-tables'
- 'TanStack/table:packages/react-table/src/createTableHook.tsx'
- 'TanStack/table:packages/react-table/src/createTableHookContexts.tsx'
---
This skill builds on `@tanstack/table-core#core`, `getting-started`, and `table-state`. Use a factory when multiple tables share real conventions; use standalone `useTable` for a one-off.
## Setup
```tsx
import {
createTableHook,
rowSelectionFeature,
tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/react-table'
export const { createAppColumnHelper, useAppTable, useTableContext } =
createTableHook({
features: tableFeatures({ rowSelectionFeature }),
getRowId: (row: { id: string }) => row.id,
})
```
Keep this factory in an infrastructure module. It binds feature types and defaults once while each `useAppTable` call still supplies its own data, columns, state, and initial state.
## Core Patterns
### Infer columns through the bound helper
```tsx
type Person = { id: string; name: string }
const helper = createAppColumnHelper<Person>()
const columns = helper.columns([helper.accessor('name', { header: 'Name' })])
function People({ data }: { data: Person[] }) {
const table = useAppTable({ data, columns })
return (
<table.AppTable>
<div>{table.getRowModel().rows.length}</div>
</table.AppTable>
)
}
```
`AppTable` takes ordinary JSX children when it has no selector. Function children are only valid with a selector:
```tsx
<table.AppTable selector={(state) => state.rowSelection}>
{(rowSelection) => <output>{Object.keys(rowSelection).length}</output>}
</table.AppTable>
```
### Read registered context instead of drilling props
```tsx
function RowCount() {
const table = useTableContext()
return <output>{table.getRowModel().rows.length}</output>
}
```
Register reusable table/cell/header components in the factory and consume them under their matching `App*` provider.
### Isolate genuinely nested table setups
The default module-scoped contexts are HMR-stable, and normal provider scoping already isolates sibling tables. Separate `createTableHook` calls still use those shared default contexts, so nested providers can silently resolve a consumer to the inner table. Create scoped contexts only when different table setups are nested:
```tsx
import {
createTableHook,
createTableHookContexts,
rowSelectionFeature,
tableFeatures,
} from '@tanstack/react-table'
const features = tableFeatures({ rowSelectionFeature })
const { tableContext, cellContext, headerContext } =
createTableHookContexts<typeof features>()
export const app = createTableHook({
features,
tableContext,
cellContext,
headerContext,
})
```
Prefer context hooks returned by `createTableHook`; they include the registered component maps in their types. Hooks returned directly by `createTableHookContexts` know only `TFeatures` and are useful from modules that cannot import the completed factory.
## Common Mistakes
### MEDIUM Factory for a one-off table
Wrong:
```tsx
const { useAppTable } = createTableHook({ features: tableFeatures({}) })
```
Correct:
```tsx
const table = useTable({ features: tableFeatures({}), columns, data })
```
A factory adds an app-wide abstraction; standalone construction is clearer without shared conventions.
Source: `docs/framework/react/guide/composable-tables.md`
### HIGH Creating the factory during render
Wrong:
```tsx
function People() {
const app = createTableHook({ features })
const table = app.useAppTable({ data, columns })
return (
<table.AppTable>
<div />
</table.AppTable>
)
}
```
Correct:
```tsx
const app = createTableHook({ features })
function People() {
const table = app.useAppTable({ data, columns })
return (
<table.AppTable>
<div />
</table.AppTable>
)
}
```
Creating a new factory closure during render makes hook configuration and component registries unstable. Keep the factory and its bound hook identity at module scope.
Source: `packages/react-table/src/createTableHook.tsx`
### HIGH Closing a circular HMR import
Wrong:
```tsx
// table.ts imports RowCount; RowCount.tsx imports useTableContext from table.ts
export const app = createTableHook({ features, tableComponents: { RowCount } })
```
Correct:
```tsx
// components.tsx receives the exported hook through a cycle-free module boundary
export const app = createTableHook({ features })
```
Keep the factory dependency graph acyclic or inject components from a separate composition root; circular registries can break Vite HMR.
Source: `https://github.com/TanStack/table/issues/6348`
## API Discovery
Inspect `node_modules/@tanstack/react-table/dist/createTableHook.d.ts` and `createTableHookContexts.d.ts` for the exact returned helpers, component registries, wrapper props, and scoped context types.