Version: XState v5

@xstate/store

XState Store is a small library for simple state management in JavaScript/TypeScript applications. It is meant for updating store data using events for vanilla JavaScript/TypeScript apps, React apps, and more. It is comparable to libraries like Zustand, Redux, and Pinia. For more complex state management, you should use XState instead, or you can use XState Store with XState.

Installation

npm
pnpm
yarn

npm install @xstate/store

pnpm install @xstate/store

yarn add @xstate/store

Quick start

import { createStore } from '@xstate/store';

const store = createStore(
  // Initial context
  { count: 0, name: 'David' },
  // Transitions
  {
    inc: {
      count: (context) => context.count + 1
    },
    add: {
      count: (context, event: { num: number }) => context.count + event.num
    },
    changeName: {
      name: (context, event: { newName: string }) => event.newName
    }
  }
);

// Get the current state (snapshot)
console.log(store.getSnapshot());
// => {
//   status: 'active',
//   context: { count: 0, name: 'David' }
// }

// Subscribe to snapshot changes
store.subscribe((snapshot) => {
  console.log(snapshot.context);
});

// Send an event
store.send({ type: 'inc' });
// logs { count: 1, name: 'David' }

store.send({ type: 'add', num: 10 });
// logs { count: 11, name: 'David' }

store.send({ type: 'changeName', newName: 'Jenny' });
// logs { count: 11, name: 'Jenny' }

Creating a store

To create a store, you need to pass in two arguments to the createStore(…) function:

The initial context
An object for transitions (event handlers) where:

The keys are the event types (e.g. "inc", "add", "changeName")
The values are the state updates to apply when the event is sent to the store, as either an object or a function.

Updating context in transitions is similar to using the assign action in XState. You can update specific context properties by using an object:

import { createStore } from '@xstate/store';

const store = createStore(
  { count: 0, incremented: false, /* ... */ },
  {
    inc: {
      count: (context, event) => context.count + 1,
      // Static values do not need to be wrapped in a function
      incremented: true
    }
  }
);

Or you can update the entire context by using a function:

import { createStore } from '@xstate/store';

const store = createStore(
  { count: 0, incremented: false, /* ... */ },
  {
    inc: (context, event) => {
      // ...

      return {
        count: context.count + 1,
        incremented: true
      }
    }
  }
);

You do not need to spread the ...context when updating the entire context with a function. The return value of the function will be merged into the current context.

import { createStore } from '@xstate/store';

const store = createStore(
  { count: 0, incremented: false, /* ... */ },
  {
    reset: (context, event) => {
      // No need to use `...context`
      // `incremented` and other properties will be preserved
      return {
        count: 0,
      }
    }
  }
);

Transition functions

A transition function is a function that takes the current context and an event object, and returns:

The partial or entire context object to update (if using a function assigner)
The context property value to update (if using an object assigner).

For strong typing, you should specify the payload type of the event object in the transition function.

import { createStore } from '@xstate/store';

const store = createStore(
  { name: 'David', count: 0 },
  {
    updateName: (context, event: { name: string }) => {
      return {
        name: event.name
      }
    },
    inc: {
      count: (context, event: { by: number }) => {
        return context.count + event.by;
      }
    }
  }
);

store.send({
  type: 'updateName',
  name: 'Jenny' // Strongly-typed as `string`
});

store.send({
  type: 'inc',
  by: 10 // Strongly-typed as `number`
});

Using Immer

If you want to use Immer to update the context, you can do so by passing in the produce function as the first argument to createStoreWithProducer(producer, …).

import { createStoreWithProducer } from '@xstate/store';
import { produce } from 'immer';

const store = createStoreWithProducer(
  // Producer
  produce,
  // Initial context
  { count: 0, todos: [] },
  // Transitions
  {
    inc: (context, event: { by: number }) => {
      // No return; handled by Immer
      context.count += event.by;
    },
    addTodo: (context, event: { todo: string }) => {
      // No return; handled by Immer
      context.todos.push(event.todo);
    }
  });

// ...

Note that you cannot use the object assigner syntax when using createStoreFromProducer(…), nor is it even necessary.

Usage with React

If you are using React, you can use the useSelector(store, selector) hook to subscribe to the store and get the current state.

import { createStore } from '@xstate/store';
import { useSelector } from '@xstate/store/react';

// Create a store
const store = createStore(
  { count: 0, name: 'David' },
  {
    inc: {
      count: (context) => context.count + 1
    }
  });

// Use the `useSelector` hook to subscribe to the store
function Component(props) {
  const count = useSelector(store, (state) => state.context.count);

  // This component displays the count and has a button to increment it
  return (
    <div>
      Count: {count}
      <button onClick={() => store.send({ type: 'inc' })}>Increment</button>
    </div>
  );
}

A store can be shared with multiple components, which will all receive the same snapshot from the store instance. Stores are useful for global state management.

Using XState Store with XState

You may notice that stores are very similar to actors in XState. This is very much by design. XState's actors are very powerful, but may also be too complex for simple use cases, which is why @xstate/store exists.

However, if you have existing XState code, and you enjoy the simplicity of creating store logic with @xstate/store, you can use the fromStore(context, transitions) actor logic creator to create XState-compatible store logic that can be passed to the createActor(storeLogic) function:

import { fromStore } from '@xstate/store';
import { createActor } from 'xstate';

// Instead of:
// const store = createStore( ... };
const storeLogic = fromStore(
  { count: 0, incremented: false, /* ... */ },
  {
    inc: {
      count: (context, event) => context.count + 1,
      // Static values do not need to be wrapped in a function
      incremented: true
    }
  }
);

const store = createActor(storeLogic);
store.subscribe(snapshot => {
  console.log(snapshot);
});
store.start();

store.send({
  type: 'inc'
});

In short, you can convert createStore(…) to fromStore(…) just by changing one line of code. Note that fromStore(…) returns store logic, and not a store actor instance. Store logic is passed to createActor(storeLogic) to create a store actor instance:

// Instead of:
// const store = createStore({
const storeLogic = fromStore({
  // (same arguments as `createStore`)
});

// Create the store (actor)
const storeActor = createActor(storeLogic);

Using fromStore(…) to create store actor logic also has the advantage of allowing you to provide input by using a context function that takes in the input and returns the initial context:

import { fromStore } from '@xstate/store';

const storeLogic = fromStore((initialCount: number) => ({
  count: initialCount,
}), {
  // ...
});

const actor = createActor(storeLogic, {
  input: 42
});

Converting stores to state machines

If you have a store that you want to convert to a state machine in XState, you can convert it in a straightforward way:

Use createMachine(…) (imported from xstate) instead of createStore(…) (imported from @xstate/store) to create a state machine.
Move the first argument (the initial context object) to the context property of the machine configuration.
Move the second argument (the transitions object) to the on property of the machine configuration.
Wrap the assignments in an assign(…) action creator (imported from xstate) and move that to the actions property of the transition.
Destructure context and event from the first argument instead of them being separate arguments.

For example, here is our store before conversion:

import { createMachine } from 'xstate';

// 1. Use `createMachine(…)` instead of `createStore(…)`
const store = createStore(
  // 2. Move the first argument (the initial `context` object)
  // to the `context` property of the machine configuration
  { count: 0, name: 'David' },
  // 3. Move the second argument (the `transitions` object)
  // to the `on` property of the machine configuration
  {
    inc: {
      // 4. Wrap the assignments in `assign(…)`
      // 5. Destructure `context` and `event` from the first argument
      count: (context, event: { by: number }) => context.count + event.by
    }
  });

const machine = createMachine({
  // ...
});

And here is the store as a state machine after conversion:

import { createMachine } from 'xstate';

// const store = createStore(
//   { count: 0, name: 'David' },
//   {
//     inc: {
//       count: (context, event: { by: number }) => context.count + event.by
//     }
//   });

// 1. Use `createMachine(…)` instead of `createStore(…)`
const machine = createMachine({
  // 2. Move the first argument (the initial `context` object)
  // to the `context` property of the machine configuration
  context: {
    count: 0,
    name: 'David'
  },
  // 3. Move the second argument (the `transitions` object)
  // to the `on` property of the machine configuration
  on: {
    inc: {
      // 4. Wrap the assignments in `assign(…)`
      actions: assign({
        // 5. Destructure `context` and `event` from the first argument
        count: ({ context, event }) => context.count + event.by
      })
    }
  }
});

For stronger typing, use the setup(…) function to strongly type the context and events:

import { setup } from 'xstate';

const machine = setup({
  types: {
    context: {} as { count: number; name: string },
    events: {} as { type: 'inc'; by: number }
  }
}).createMachine({
  // Same as the previous example
});

Installation​

Quick start​

Creating a store​

Transition functions​

Using Immer​

Usage with React​

Using XState Store with XState​

Converting stores to state machines​

Installation

Quick start

Creating a store

Transition functions

Using Immer

Usage with React

Using XState Store with XState

Converting stores to state machines