Introduction
This thesis is about coming up with a way to make TanStack Query feel more like the Cloud Firestore client-side SDK.
The Cloud Firestore client-side SDK provides an unparalleled interface, in terms of elegance, for dealing with "real-time" data in the client-side code. Combining the positive traits of the Cloud Firestore client-side SDK with TanStack Query could hypothetically solve the most prominent problem I face when developing with TanStack Query.
The most prominent problem I face when developing with TanStack Query is that if I opt-out of revalidation, then I have to write huge amounts of boilerplate-heavy fragile query cache updating code which is tightly coupled with both the data model and the UI of the app. I identify that there's a missing piece here — a need for a solution which can take care of the query cache updating in a generic and robust way. My hypothesis is that the recipe for that solution can be derived from the Cloud Firestore client-side SDK.
The source code for the web page edition of this thesis, as well as the examples and libraries produced as results of this thesis can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/DanielGiljam/tanstack-query-with-orbitjs
Prerequisites
I assume that the reader is familiar with current web application development practices, patterns, frameworks, libraries, and tooling, and that the reader has some experience working with TanStack Query or similar libraries, such as SWR by Vercel.
Delimitations
Delimitation #1
In this thesis, the underlying assumption is that TanStack Query is part of our frontend stack, and that is not going to change.
Delimitation #2
In this thesis, the underlying assumption is that we cannot use Cloud Firestore as part of our stack.