Zheyu

2026 React Stack for Vibe Coding

Jan 30, 2026 (1w ago)13 views

AI has changed how we build software. More and more non-engineers are trying vibe coding. If you ask AI to build a frontend app, it will choose React almost every time. That is not because React is objectively better than Vue or Svelte, but because models are trained on millions of GitHub repositories, and a huge portion are React-based. So AI is naturally strongest with the React ecosystem.

But React alone is not enough. To collaborate well with AI, we need tools with straightforward structure, clear docs, and minimal hidden magic. The less ambiguity, the fewer hallucinations during reading, coding, and debugging. That is why this stack exists: to recommend what works best for vibe coding right now.

Core: React + TypeScript

React and TypeScript are the foundation. If you do vibe coding, use TypeScript by default.

TypeScript is the most basic and most powerful assistant: it catches problems during development, improves IDE autocomplete, and gives AI more context through explicit types. Most frameworks let you enable TypeScript at project creation. Always turn it on.

Framework: Next.js

Next.js is still the mainstream choice. Even though there was a critical vulnerability in late 2025, it was not strictly a Next.js-only issue (it was tied to React Server Components). Given the Vercel ecosystem and maturity, Next.js remains the framework most React teams cannot avoid.

Styling and UI: Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui

Use Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui.

Utility-first styling is now mainstream, and Tailwind pairs extremely well with AI tools. If you have never used Tailwind, 2026 is a great time to start.

The best UI companion for Tailwind is shadcn/ui. It is not a hosted component library; it copies component source directly into your project. You own and can modify everything. AI tools can read and edit those files without friction.

If you want flashy motion effects, check out React Bits.

Data fetching: TanStack Query

TanStack Query is still the benchmark for request state management. It handles fetching, caching, invalidation, and retries in a consistent way. Offloading this layer prevents many synchronization bugs. In general, the broader TanStack tooling is excellent.

Routing: TanStack Router

If you use Next.js, use App Router. But if your stack is Vite-based or TanStack Start, TanStack Router is my first choice.

Its type safety is among the strongest available. Routes, path params, and search params are all strictly typed, so TypeScript catches missing or incorrect params at compile time.

State management: Zustand

In 2026, use Zustand for state management.

It feels like native React hooks: simple, fast, and extensible. For most apps, you do not need Redux-level ceremony anymore.

Validation: Zod

Zod is battle-tested, widely adopted, and has a rich learning ecosystem.

Zod v4 shipped in 2025 with better performance and smaller bundle size. If bundle size is ultra-critical, try Zod Mini (around 6.6x smaller than standard Zod).

ORM: Drizzle

Drizzle is the ORM I use most often.

It is designed for serverless scenarios and has zero runtime dependencies. Its API feels close to SQL, so if you know SQL, Drizzle is easy to pick up. Of course, Prisma is also a strong option.

Auth: Better Auth

Better Auth is a framework-agnostic TypeScript auth solution.

Out of the box, it supports email/password, social login, 2FA, passkeys, and more. It works with PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and can pair with Prisma or Drizzle. It also ships with an MCP server, which means AI tools can help you implement auth flows directly without hand-rolling everything through raw API work.

AI SDK: Vercel AI SDK

For LLM integration in apps, Vercel AI SDK is my default.

It supports OpenAI, Anthropic, and most major providers out of the box. Most interaction patterns you need for LLM products are already covered. The AI Elements library also provides shadcn/ui-based React components for chat interfaces, which saves a lot of time.

AI tools

I usually use Codex. Since it is included in ChatGPT Plus, it is cost-effective for light vibe coding. Claude Code is also excellent, and in many areas more feature-complete. Many workflow ideas (like Plan Mode and Skills) were popularized there.

But what matters most is not which CLI you choose. It is whether you use Skills.

I recommend installing Vercel's Skills, especially react-best-practices and web-design-guidelines. If you build React Native apps, install react-native-guidelines too.

If you want more Skills, Vercel also launched a Skills marketplace. Many stacks mentioned above already have curated best-practice Skills there, including options like better-auth-best-practices, and you can install them with a single command.