React Clean Code - Simplify Complex UI with Headless Components Pattern

In this walk-through, we tackle a common issue with reusable UI components: an overgrown template selector that’s become difficult to manage, maintain, and customize. Originally built to be generic, this component has evolved into a complex structure weighed down by customizations. Watch as I refactor it using the headless component pattern with React Context.

By moving all logic into a central, UI-free context and breaking out visual elements—like Tiles, Categories, and Search Bars—into reusable atomic components, we unlock a flexible solution that’s easy to adapt. Whether building from scratch or using the default setup, this approach brings simplicity, power, and ultimate composability to your React code.

Subscribe to my newsletter for more articles and videos on refactoring and clean code tips: https://juntao.substack.com/

Additional Resources:

React Anti-Patterns: https://www.amazon.com/React-Anti-Pat...
React Clean Code Book: https://leanpub.com/react-clean-code
Maintainable React Book: https://leanpub.com/maintainable-react
Mastering Maintainable React Course: https://www.udemy.com/course/masterin...
Headless Component Pattern: https://www.martinfowler.com/articles...

Links to the code and newsletter issue
https://juntao.substack.com/p/design-...
https://juntao.substack.com/p/solutio...
https://github.com/abruzzi/the-pragma...