dexie-offline-state

name

dexie-offline-state

description

How to add or change state/data persistence in the event-app (the offline-first Devcon PWA under event-app/). Use whenever adding a data-fetching hook, caching API responses, persisting user state, or deciding where state lives in event-app. The app is offline-first: all persisted state must go through the Dexie/IndexedDB-backed SWR layer so it survives no connectivity. Triggers: "fetch X in event-app", "cache", "offline", "persist", "store", "useSWR", "Dexie", "IndexedDB", "add a hook", "state management".

Dexie offline-first state (event-app)

The event-app package is an offline-first PWA used in venues with poor connectivity. Persisted state lives in IndexedDB via Dexie, fronted by SWR. Full reference: event-app/src/data/cache/README.md — read it before changing the cache layer.

The rule

All app data/state that should survive going offline must flow through the Dexie-backed SWR cache. Do not add a parallel persistence mechanism (localStorage, another IndexedDB wrapper, in-memory-only stores) for such data.

Default path: write an SWR hook

The SWR cache provider is Dexie (src/data/cache/), so anything fetched via an SWR hook is automatically persisted and offline-available — no per-hook work.

"use client";
import useSWR from "swr";

export function useThing(id: string) {
  const { data, error, isLoading, mutate } = useSWR(
    id ? ["thing", id] : null,      // null key = don't fetch yet (auth/id missing)
    () => provider.getThing(id),
    { revalidateOnFocus: false }
  );
  return { thing: data, isLoading, error, refresh: () => mutate() };
}

• Key the cache deterministically (["thing", id]) — the key is the Dexie storage key and must be stable across reloads.
• Gate with a null key until prerequisites exist (e.g. a signed-in user).
• Put reusable hooks under src/data/<domain>/ (see src/data/tickets/useTickets.ts, src/data/hooks/use-sessions.ts).

Dedicated Dexie table (only when needed)

Add a table in src/data/cache/cache-db.ts (bump this.version(n)) for large /relational datasets you query with indexes, or write-queues that must outlive the 24h cache window. Keep all persistence in that DB.

Gotchas

• cacheDB is null on the server/static export — guard with typeof window !== "undefined".
• Anything reading the cache must render under SWRConfigProvider (src/app/layout.tsx), which waits for IndexedDB hydration.
• Under STATIC_EXPORT (Capacitor native) there are no API routes; hooks hitting /api/* must target the deployed web origin.