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Version: 2.0.0-rc1

TanStack Start Quickstart

Get a SpacetimeDB app with TanStack Start running in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites


Create your project

Run the spacetime dev command to create a new project with a SpacetimeDB module and TanStack Start.

This will start the local SpacetimeDB server, publish your module, generate TypeScript bindings, and start the development server.

spacetime dev --template tanstack-ts
Open your app

Navigate to http://localhost:5173 to see your app running.

The template includes a TanStack Start app with TanStack Query integration with SpacetimeDB.

Explore the project structure

Your project contains both server and client code.

Edit spacetimedb/src/index.ts to add tables and reducers. Edit src/routes/index.tsx to build your UI.

my-spacetime-app/
├── spacetimedb/ # Your SpacetimeDB module
│ └── src/
│ └── index.ts # Server-side logic
├── src/ # TanStack Start frontend
│ ├── router.tsx # QueryClient + SpacetimeDB setup
│ ├── routes/
│ │ ├── __root.tsx # Root layout
│ │ └── index.tsx # Main app component
│ └── module_bindings/ # Auto-generated types
└── package.json
Understand tables and reducers

Open spacetimedb/src/index.ts to see the module code. The template includes a person table and two reducers: add to insert a person, and say_hello to greet everyone.

Tables store your data. Reducers are functions that modify data — they're the only way to write to the database.

import { schema, table, t } from 'spacetimedb/server';

export const spacetimedb = schema(
  table(
    { name: 'person', public: true },
    {
      name: t.string(),
    }
  )
);

spacetimedb.reducer('add', { name: t.string() }, (ctx, { name }) => {
  ctx.db.person.insert({ name });
});

spacetimedb.reducer('say_hello', (ctx) => {
  for (const person of ctx.db.person.iter()) {
    console.info(`Hello, ${person.name}!`);
  }
  console.info('Hello, World!');
});
Test with the CLI

Open a new terminal and navigate to your project directory. Then use the SpacetimeDB CLI to call reducers and query your data directly.

cd my-spacetime-app

# Call the add reducer to insert a person
spacetime call add Alice

# Query the person table
spacetime sql "SELECT * FROM person"
 name
---------
 "Alice"

# Call say_hello to greet everyone
spacetime call say_hello

# View the module logs
spacetime logs
2025-01-13T12:00:00.000000Z  INFO: Hello, Alice!
2025-01-13T12:00:00.000000Z  INFO: Hello, World!
Query and update data

Use useSpacetimeDBQuery() to subscribe to tables with TanStack Query — it returns [data, loading, query]. SpacetimeDB React hooks also work with TanStack Start.

import { useSpacetimeDBQuery, useReducer } from 'spacetimedb/tanstack';
import { tables, reducers } from '../module_bindings';

function App() {
  const [people, loading] = useSpacetimeDBQuery(tables.person);
  const addPerson = useReducer(reducers.add);

  if (loading) return <p>Loading...</p>;

  return (
    <ul>
      {people.map((person, i) => (
        <li key={i}>{person.name}</li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

Next steps