tanstack-table

Overview

TanStack Table is a headless UI library for building data tables and datagrids. It provides logic for sorting, filtering, pagination, grouping, expanding, column pinning/ordering/visibility/resizing, and row selection - without rendering any markup or styles.

Package: @tanstack/react-table Utilities: @tanstack/match-sorter-utils (fuzzy filtering) Current Version: v8

Installation

npm install @tanstack/react-table

Core Architecture

Building Blocks

1. Column Definitions - describe columns (data access, rendering, features)
2. Table Instance - central coordinator with state and APIs
3. Row Models - data processing pipeline (filter -> sort -> group -> paginate)
4. Headers, Rows, Cells - renderable units

Critical: Data & Column Stability

// WRONG - new references every render, causes infinite loops
const table = useReactTable({
  data: fetchedData.results,     // new ref!
  columns: [{ accessorKey: 'name' }], // new ref!
})

// CORRECT - stable references
const columns = useMemo(() => [...], [])
const data = useMemo(() => fetchedData?.results ?? [], [fetchedData])

const table = useReactTable({ data, columns, getCoreRowModel: getCoreRowModel() })

Column Definitions

Using createColumnHelper (Recommended)

import { createColumnHelper } from '@tanstack/react-table'

type Person = {
  firstName: string
  lastName: string
  age: number
  status: 'active' | 'inactive'
}

const columnHelper = createColumnHelper<Person>()

const columns = [
  // Accessor column (data column)
  columnHelper.accessor('firstName', {
    header: 'First Name',
    cell: info => info.getValue(),
    footer: info => info.column.id,
  }),

  // Accessor with function
  columnHelper.accessor(row => row.lastName, {
    id: 'lastName', // required with accessorFn
    header: () => <span>Last Name</span>,
    cell: info => <i>{info.getValue()}</i>,
  }),

  // Display column (no data, custom rendering)
  columnHelper.display({
    id: 'actions',
    header: 'Actions',
    cell: ({ row }) => (
      <button onClick={() => deleteRow(row.original)}>Delete</button>
    ),
  }),

  // Group column (nested headers)
  columnHelper.group({
    id: 'info',
    header: 'Info',
    columns: [
      columnHelper.accessor('age', { header: 'Age' }),
      columnHelper.accessor('status', { header: 'Status' }),
    ],
  }),
]

Column Options

Table Instance

Creating a Table

import {
  useReactTable,
  getCoreRowModel,
  getSortedRowModel,
  getFilteredRowModel,
  getPaginationRowModel,
  flexRender,
} from '@tanstack/react-table'

function MyTable() {
  const [sorting, setSorting] = useState<SortingState>([])
  const [columnFilters, setColumnFilters] = useState<ColumnFiltersState>([])
  const [pagination, setPagination] = useState<PaginationState>({
    pageIndex: 0,
    pageSize: 10,
  })

  const table = useReactTable({
    data,
    columns,
    state: { sorting, columnFilters, pagination },
    onSortingChange: setSorting,
    onColumnFiltersChange: setColumnFilters,
    onPaginationChange: setPagination,
    getCoreRowModel: getCoreRowModel(),
    getSortedRowModel: getSortedRowModel(),
    getFilteredRowModel: getFilteredRowModel(),
    getPaginationRowModel: getPaginationRowModel(),
  })

  return (
    <table>
      <thead>
        {table.getHeaderGroups().map(headerGroup => (
          <tr key={headerGroup.id}>
            {headerGroup.headers.map(header => (
              <th key={header.id} onClick={header.column.getToggleSortingHandler()}>
                {header.isPlaceholder ? null :
                  flexRender(header.column.columnDef.header, header.getContext())}
                {{ asc: ' ↑', desc: ' ↓' }[header.column.getIsSorted() as string] ?? null}
              </th>
            ))}
          </tr>
        ))}
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        {table.getRowModel().rows.map(row => (
          <tr key={row.id}>
            {row.getVisibleCells().map(cell => (
              <td key={cell.id}>
                {flexRender(cell.column.columnDef.cell, cell.getContext())}
              </td>
            ))}
          </tr>
        ))}
      </tbody>
    </table>
  )
}

Sorting

const table = useReactTable({
  state: { sorting },
  onSortingChange: setSorting,
  getSortedRowModel: getSortedRowModel(),
  enableSorting: true,
  enableMultiSort: true,
  // manualSorting: true,  // For server-side sorting
})

// Built-in sort functions: 'alphanumeric', 'text', 'datetime', 'basic'
// Column-level: sortingFn: 'alphanumeric'

Filtering

Column Filtering

const table = useReactTable({
  state: { columnFilters },
  onColumnFiltersChange: setColumnFilters,
  getFilteredRowModel: getFilteredRowModel(),
  getFacetedRowModel: getFacetedRowModel(),
  getFacetedUniqueValues: getFacetedUniqueValues(),
  getFacetedMinMaxValues: getFacetedMinMaxValues(),
})

// Built-in: 'includesString', 'equalsString', 'arrIncludes', 'inNumberRange', etc.

// Filter UI
function Filter({ column }) {
  return (
    <input
      value={(column.getFilterValue() ?? '') as string}
      onChange={e => column.setFilterValue(e.target.value)}
      placeholder={`Filter... (${column.getFacetedUniqueValues()?.size})`}
    />
  )
}

Global Filtering

const [globalFilter, setGlobalFilter] = useState('')

const table = useReactTable({
  state: { globalFilter },
  onGlobalFilterChange: setGlobalFilter,
  globalFilterFn: 'includesString',
  getFilteredRowModel: getFilteredRowModel(),
})

Fuzzy Filtering

import { rankItem } from '@tanstack/match-sorter-utils'

const fuzzyFilter: FilterFn<any> = (row, columnId, value, addMeta) => {
  const itemRank = rankItem(row.getValue(columnId), value)
  addMeta({ itemRank })
  return itemRank.passed
}

const table = useReactTable({
  filterFns: { fuzzy: fuzzyFilter },
  globalFilterFn: 'fuzzy',
})

Pagination

const table = useReactTable({
  state: { pagination },
  onPaginationChange: setPagination,
  getPaginationRowModel: getPaginationRowModel(),
  // For server-side:
  // manualPagination: true,
  // pageCount: serverPageCount,
})

// Navigation
table.nextPage()
table.previousPage()
table.firstPage()
table.lastPage()
table.setPageSize(20)
table.getCanNextPage()     // boolean
table.getCanPreviousPage() // boolean
table.getPageCount()       // total pages

Row Selection

const [rowSelection, setRowSelection] = useState<RowSelectionState>({})

const table = useReactTable({
  state: { rowSelection },
  onRowSelectionChange: setRowSelection,
  enableRowSelection: true,
  enableMultiRowSelection: true,
})

// Checkbox column
columnHelper.display({
  id: 'select',
  header: ({ table }) => (
    <input
      type="checkbox"
      checked=