tanstack

name	tanstack
description	Router skill for TanStack Start (`@tanstack/react-start`) in dean-stack — dispatches to the SPA-prerender sub-skill, the routing sub-skill, or the PWA-deep-links sub-skill. SPA mode + full prerender targets GitHub Pages; no server functions, no server loaders. Triggers on: tanstack, tanstack start, tanstack router overview, which tanstack skill.

Entry point for any TanStack-shaped question in dean-stack. The framework is TanStack Start running in SPA mode with full prerender for GitHub Pages — there is no runtime server in production. This skill exists to dispatch; sub-skills carry the rules.

When to invoke

• The user types tanstack with no further specifier and you need to route them.
• The user asks "which TanStack skill," "TanStack router overview," or how TanStack Start is wired in this repo.
• A question mixes routing + prerender + PWA concerns and the right sub-skill is ambiguous — pick after reading the routing table.
• A question about a TanStack-adjacent surface owned by another tech (Nitro preset → nitro; route param schemas → zod; <Suspense> API → react-19-primitives) — defer to the producer.

Owns

Entry point that routes TanStack questions to the SPA-prerender sub-skill, the routing sub-skill, the preload sub-skill, or the PWA-deep-links sub-skill.

Defers to

• tanstack-start-spa-prerender — anything about the SPA-mode + full-prerender configuration, ssr: false, the absence of server functions/loaders, the build output shape.
• tanstack-router-routing — anything about file-based routes, createFileRoute, route params, search params, Link/useNavigate/useRouter.
• tanstack-router-preload — anything about defaultPreload, per-<Link preload="..."> overrides, modulepreload of route chunks, intent vs viewport vs render, the quicklink-considered-and-rejected position.
• tanstack-router-pwa-deep-links — anything about the Workbox NavigationRoute, the navigation fallback resolving to the prerendered shell, deep-link offline behavior.
• nitro — for the GH-Pages-specific concerns: the BASE_PATH env contract (sourced from actions/configure-pages@v5's base_path output), the post-build cp index.html → 404.html and .nojekyll, the deploy workflow's app selector, and the dist/client/ upload path. TanStack Start uses Nitro internally — there is no standalone nitro.config.ts.
• zod — for any route param / search param validation schema.
• react-19-primitives — for <Suspense> boundaries inside route components.
• jotai — for state read inside a route component.
• t3-env — for env.VITE_* inside a loader or route component.

Dean-stack rules

• Pillar 1 (Storybook-first) means: route components are composed from smaller components built in Storybook first. The route file itself is the integration site, never the construction site.
• Pillar 2 (Zod-first types) means: every route param and search param goes through a Zod schema (see zod). Hand-written param types are forbidden.
• Pillar 3 (IDB-first state) means: routes read state from atoms (which read from IDB after hydration); no per-route loader fetches user state at runtime — there is no runtime.
• Pillar 4 (CLI-gate-first) means: a missing prerendered route, an unhandled async, or a server-function import surfaces as a build failure and blocks bun run check.
• TanStack Start is in SPA mode + full prerender only. No createServerFn, no server loaders, no routeRules that imply a server. If a use case appears that needs a server, that use case does not belong on GH Pages — surface the constraint.

Routing

• use tanstack-start-spa-prerender when the question is about tanstackStart plugin options, prerender.enabled, ssr: false, the build output (dist/client/), opting a route in/out of prerender, or "why is there no server?"
• use tanstack-router-routing when the question is about adding a route file, createFileRoute, params, search, validateSearch, Link, useNavigate, useRouter, useLoaderData, route trees, or the generated routeTree.gen.ts.
• use tanstack-router-preload when the question is about defaultPreload, per-<Link preload="..."> overrides, why intent is the project default, modulepreload of route chunks, or whether to introduce a third-party prefetch library (quicklink etc.).
• use tanstack-router-pwa-deep-links when the question is about Workbox's NavigationRoute, navigateFallback, the prerendered shell, offline deep-link resolution, or what the service worker should hand back when the network is gone.

Routing table

Question shape	Sub-skill
"Add a /games/maze/$level route"	tanstack-router-routing
"Why is dist/server/ empty?"	tanstack-start-spa-prerender
"How do I prerender every level page at build time?"	tanstack-start-spa-prerender (decide) + nitro (preset)
"Loading /games/maze/3 while offline shows 404"	tanstack-router-pwa-deep-links
"Should I add quicklink for prefetch?" / "Why defaultPreload: 'intent'?"	tanstack-router-preload
"Override preload on this hero <Link> to viewport"	tanstack-router-preload
"Validate ?sort=asc with Zod"	tanstack-router-routing (integration) + zod (schema)
"Where do I set the GH Pages base path?"	nitro

Anti-patterns

• Don't suggest createServerFn / server functions — there is no runtime server. The flag for SPA mode is on; server functions break the static-only output.
• Don't suggest server loaders or getServerSideProps-shaped APIs — same reason.
• Don't introduce @tanstack/start (the old package name) — it's @tanstack/react-start now.
• Don't fork the Vite config in Storybook to add TanStack plugins — Storybook re-uses the app's Vite config wholesale (see tailwind and storybook-config Wave 4).
• Don't answer routing/prerender/PWA questions inside this router — route to the sub-skill so the answer carries the right rules.

Triggers on

tanstack, tanstack start, tanstack router overview, which tanstack skill