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client-components

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Reference conventions for React client components — Tailwind CSS, UI primitives (Dialog, Tooltip, Menu), constants, HTML sanitization, and component design patterns. Use when building or reviewing UI components in packages/client.

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/ParabolInc/parabol/blob/HEAD/.claude/skills/client-components/SKILL.md

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packages/client conventions

Styling

  • All new components must use Tailwind CSS — do not use emotion (styled, css from @emotion/styled / @emotion/react).
  • Biome enforces Tailwind class sort order (lint/nursery/useSortedClasses). After modifying a file, run pnpm exec biome check --write <file> to auto-fix. Do not use pnpm biome check --write — the biome script already includes check, so it would expand to biome check check --write and fail.
  • Promote shared classes to the parent. When two or more sibling elements share the same Tailwind class, move it to their common parent instead of repeating it. Inherited properties (font-*, text-*, capitalize, leading-*, color) cascade naturally; structural properties (flex, w-*, p-*) usually stay on the element they control.

UI primitives (modals, dialogs, popovers, tooltips, menus)

Use the radix-ui based components in packages/client/ui/:

Use caseComponents
Modal / dialogDialog, DialogContent, DialogTitle, DialogActions, DialogOverlay, DialogClose from ui/Dialog/
Alert/confirm dialogAlertDialog and sub-components from ui/AlertDialog/
TooltipTooltip, TooltipTrigger, TooltipContent from ui/Tooltip/
Dropdown menuMenu, MenuItem, MenuContent etc. from ui/Menu/
SelectSelect, SelectContent, SelectItem etc. from ui/Select/

Do NOT use DashModal (packages/client/components/Dashboard/DashModal.tsx) — it is deprecated.

Dialog open state can be managed with useDialogState from ui/Dialog/useDialogState.tsx, or passed as isOpen/onClose props to Dialog. Prefer always rendering the Dialog and controlling via isOpen rather than conditionally mounting it.

Constants

  • Do not add new values to constEnums.ts (packages/client/types/constEnums.ts) — it is deprecated.
  • Add new constants to packages/client/utils/constants.ts as plain export const values.

HTML Sanitization

  • Wrap all external HTML with sanitizeExternalHtml() before dangerouslySetInnerHTML. Content from external sources (Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Linear, user reflections) must be sanitized via sanitizeExternalHtml() from packages/client/utils/sanitizeExternalHtml.ts. It uses DOMPurify with a hook that forces links to target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" and blocks <style> tags.
// Good
<div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: sanitizeExternalHtml(descriptionHTML)}} />

// Bad — XSS risk
<div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: descriptionHTML}} />

Component Size

  • Target under 100 LOC per component. If a component is approaching 100 lines, look for self-contained sections (a form section, a list item, a panel) to extract into their own files.
  • Hard limit: 300 LOC. A component that exceeds 300 lines must be split — no exceptions.

React Component Design

  • Use onPointerDown instead of onMouseDown + onTouchStart. The unified pointer API handles mouse, touch, and pen.
  • Prevent unnecessary re-renders:
    • useMemo for expensive computations
    • useCallback for event handlers passed to child components
    • Early returns in useEffect when values haven't changed (e.g. if (cellValue !== value))
  • Lazy useState initialization for hot-path components: useState(() => expensiveComputation()) not useState(expensiveComputation()). The thunk runs only on mount, not every render.
  • Provide clear user feedback. Forms need submit buttons or auto-save — don't rely on implicit Enter-to-save without visual cues.

UI/UX Patterns

  • Autocomplete behavior: Allow Tab and Enter to complete suggestions. Show a visual preview of what will be completed (inline ghost text or bold matching).
  • Stable tag/label colors: Assign colors when tags are created and persist them. Don't generate colors from the current text on every keystroke.
  • Destructive actions need explicit confirmation. Use clear labels like "Delete Permanently" not just "Delete".
  • Clear role naming: prefer simple names like "Team Lead" and "Member" over "Member team".
  • Validate and limit input sizes — set maxLength on all input fields. Prevent users from pasting megabytes of text into cells.

Dependencies & Package Management

  • Consolidate package versions in the root package.json. Don't install the same package in multiple package.json files — this causes version conflicts (e.g. TipTap extensions with different versions on server vs client).

Code Organization

  • Use descriptive file names. Avoid generic names like data.ts — prefer tableOps.ts, transforms.ts, etc.
  • Kebab-case for HTML/CSS attributes. Use data-is-database not data-isDatabase.
  • Consistent ordering: CHANGELOG entries in reverse chronological order (newest first).

Testing Stripe

  • brew install stripe/stripe-cli/stripe and then stripe login to get the port forwarder up and running
  • Use stripe listen --forward-to https://localhost:3000/stripe --skip-verify to forward Stripe events to your local server.