Untitled Post
This post is... indescribable
Feed
Kent C. Dodds Blog
Latest entries from Kent C. Dodds Blog.
Implementing Hybrid Semantic + Lexical Search
Semantic search alone wasn't good enough. Here's how I improved search on kentcdodds.com through three rounds of iteration with Cursor and GPT-5.4, each time learning something tha...
Simplifying Containers with Cloudflare Sandboxes
How I replaced a long-lived Cloudflare Container with a one-shot Cloudflare Sandbox, deleted most of the control-plane code, and let an agent do the heavy lifting in less than an h...
Migrating to Workspaces and Nx
The interesting part of moving kentcdodds.com to npm workspaces was not the file moves. It was everything the file moves broke.
Offloading FFmpeg with Cloudflare
How I moved Call Kent podcast episode processing off my primary Fly.io app server and onto Cloudflare Queues and Containers: what broke, what I missed, and whether it was worth the...
Building Semantic Search on my Content
I've added some pretty cool AI-powered features to kentcdodds.com and I want to tell you all about it.
Helping YOU ask ME questions with AI
Here's how I've made it easier for you to call into the Call Kent podcast without having to record yourself and also make yourself anonymous using AI.
How I used Cursor to Migrate Frameworks
I upgraded kentcdodds.com from Remix v2 to React Router v7 in a day with over 17k lines of code changed. Here's how I did it.
The Dow's Start on the Covenant Path
My experience sharing the gospel with Jeremiah and Beiyi Dow
2025 in Review
Looking back over my 2025 and looking forward to my 2026
The next chapter: EpicAI.pro
What I'm working on with AI education and why I think it's the future.
AI is taking your job
AI is changing how hiring works, and that makes in person connections even more important.
How I increased my visibility
Someone asked me this and here's my answer.
2023 in Review
A review of what happened in the life of Kent C. Dodds in 2023
Launching Epic Web
The story of how Epic Web came to be
Stop Being a Junior
Some advise for people who still consider themselves junior developers
RSC with Dan Abramov and Joe Savona Live Stream
I had a live streamed conversation with Joe Savona and Dan Abramov. Here's a summary of our discussion.
Fixing a Memory Leak in a Production Node.js App
How I found and fixed a memory leak on kentcdodds.com
2022 in Review
A review of what happened in the KCD world in 2022
My Car Accident
I was involved in a very bad car accident in 2022. Here's the story.
I Migrated from a Postgres Cluster to Distributed SQLite with LiteFS
Why and how I migrated from distributed postgres to distributed sqlite on kentcdodds.com
I'm building EpicWeb.dev
I've struck out on my own again to focus on my most ambitious project yet.
A review of my time at Remix
As I move on to my next adventure, I want to take this opportunity to review what I accomplished while at Remix.
Remix: The Yang to React's Yin
Remix fills the missing piece that all React web applications need: The Network Chasm
How I help you build better websites
I'm making a career move to more effectively help you make the web (and the world) better.
Why I Love Remix
I've written tens of thousands of lines of code with Remix and I want to tell you why I love using this framework.
The State Initializer Pattern
A simple pattern used in libraries like downshift and ReachUI to enable component/hook users to initialize your state and even reset it to that initial value.
How to React ⚛️
Let's see how learning React ⚛️ in the right order can make it less overwhelming.
Get a catch block error message with TypeScript
TypeScript forces you to acknowledge you can't know what was thrown making getting the error message a pain. Here's how you can manage it.
Building an awesome image loading experience
How Unsplash's blurred image loading works and why I did mine differently for a more excellent experience on my site.
How Remix makes CSS clashes predictable
Remix has this beautifully simple feature for CSS that I want to tell you all about.
Introducing the new kentcdodds.com
This site just experienced a huge rewrite and I want to show you around a bit.
How I built a modern website in 2021
I rewrote kentcdodds.com using the latest technologies and I want to talk about what I did.
How to use React Context effectively
How to create and expose React Context providers and consumers
Static vs Unit vs Integration vs E2E Testing for Frontend Apps
What these mean, why they matter, and why they don't
The Testing Trophy and Testing Classifications
How to interpret the testing trophy for optimal clarity
Array reduce vs chaining vs for loop
A comparison of different approaches to operating on an array
Don't Solve Problems, Eliminate Them
How eliminating problems can drastically simplify your codebases and life
Super Simple Start to Remix
The simplest distraction-free version of a remix app
Super Simple Start to ESModules in Node.js
All supported versions of Node.js support ESModules now. Here's how to get started using them.
JavaScript Pass By Value Function Parameters
How it works and how to work with it... and around it
How to write a Constrained Identity Function (CIF) in TypeScript
A handy advanced TypeScript pattern to increase your productivity.
How to optimize your context value
Why and how you can optimize your context provider's value to avoid performance issues
How to write a React Component in TypeScript
There are plenty of ways to do it, here's how I recommend typing React Components
TypeScript Function Syntaxes
The syntax for various functions and function types in TypeScript with simple examples.
Listify a JavaScript Array
Make a human readable list from an array in JavaScript.
Build vs Buy: Component Libraries edition
Some things to think about before you decide to create your own component library.
Using fetch with TypeScript
How to make HTTP requests with fetch and TypeScript
Wrapping React.useState with TypeScript
How to make a custom hook that wraps useState with TypeScript properly
Define function overload types with TypeScript
Have your JS expressiveness and type it too.
2020 in Review
An overview of what I accomplished in 2020 and a bit about my goals for 2021.
Business and Engineering alignment
How to convince "the business folks" to let you do what you want.
Hi, thanks for reaching out to me 👋
How to get help from Kent
useEffect vs useLayoutEffect
The simple rules for when to use each.
Super simple start to Firebase functions
The simplest getting started guide for Firebase Cloud functions
Super simple start to Netlify functions
Easily create server code without worrying about managing servers yourself
Super Simple Start to css variables
How to get started using css variables
Favor Progress Over Pride in Open Source
How I deprecated my most popular open source project in favor of a better library
Testing Implementation Details
Testing implementation details is a recipe for disaster. Why is that? And what does it even mean?
How getting into Open Source has been awesome for me
An anecdotal argument for contributing and using open source
useState lazy initialization and function updates
When to pass a function to useState and setState
Use ternaries rather than && in JSX
What problems can happen when you use && to conditionally render content in JSX
Application State Management with React
How React is all you need to manage your application state
Use react-error-boundary to handle errors in React
How to simplify your React apps by handling React errors effectively with react-error-boundary
JavaScript to Know for React
What JavaScript features you should be familiar with when learning and using React
How I structure Express apps
The build/dev tools and scripts I use for Node backends.
What open source project should I contribute to?
My silver bullet answer to this frequently posed question, and how to get started
When I follow TDD
Test-Driven Development doesn't always make sense, here's when it does for me.
AHA Programming 💡
The dangers of DRY, the web of WET, the awesomeness of AHA.
How I Record Educational Videos
My process for making high value-to-minute content.
Should I write a test or fix a bug?
How to prioritize tests relative to everything else.
Stop mocking fetch
Why you shouldn't mock fetch or your API Client in your tests and what to do instead.
Intentional Career Building
A challenge and ideas for you to do something to build your career.
Improve test error messages of your abstractions
How to manipulate stack traces to get beautiful error messages with Jest and your test helper functions.
Tracing user interactions with React
How to use the (EXPERIMENTAL) interactions tracing API in React.
Eliminate an entire category of bugs with a few simple tools
How you can use a few simple static code analysis tools to avoid common programming bugs.
Common mistakes with React Testing Library
Some mistakes I frequently see people making with React Testing Library.
Super Simple Start to React
The most simple React setup imaginable
Stop using client-side route redirects
Why you should stop using client-side route redirects (like the `from` prop on React Router's Redirect component) and what you should do instead.
The State Reducer Pattern with React Hooks
A pattern for you to use in custom hooks to enhance the power and flexibility of your hooks.
Function forms
When I prefer to use function declarations instead of arrow functions
Replace axios with a simple custom fetch wrapper
Axios can do a ton of stuff, but here's a simpler solution that can handle most use cases
How to test custom React hooks
Get confidence your custom React hooks work properly with solid tests.
React Production Performance Monitoring
How to set up performance monitoring for production React applications.
Should I useState or useReducer?
Two built-in React hooks that handle state, which one should you use?
Stop using isLoading booleans
Why using a status enum (or even better: a **state machine**) will help your app stay bug free
Make Your Test Fail
If you're not careful you can write a test that's worse than having no tests at all
Make your own DevTools
How creating DevTools specific for your own app can improve your productivity
An Argument for Automation
Why it can be worth spending 1 hour automating a 10 second task
Fix the "not wrapped in act(...)" warning
There are a few reasons you're getting this warning. Here's how you fix it.
Super Simple Start to ESModules in the Browser
All major browsers support ESModules now. Here's how to get started using them.
Implementing a simple state machine library in JavaScript
Let's write a state machine abstraction together to understand it better
2010s Decade in Review
The 2010s are over, time to think back, then forward
Why users care about how you write code
Your coding practices and technology choices impact user experience...
Why I avoid nesting closures
A little tendency I have to reduce cognitive load for readers of my code.
Don't call a React function component
The difference between React.createElement and calling a function component directly
Why your team needs TestingJavaScript.com
A letter you can copy/paste and send to your boss.
Inversion of Control
A simple principle that can drastically improve your reusable code
Understanding React's key prop
The key prop is a mechanism for controlling component instances.
How to Enable React Concurrent Mode
Concurrent Mode is an enormous improvement for user experience and developer experience. Here's how you enable it.