Building Advanced Table Views in React

The Challenge of Building Tables in React

Building feature-rich tables in React has always been a complex endeavor. You need:

  • Sorting
  • Filtering
  • Pagination
  • Column resizing
  • And often much more

While these features seem straightforward on the surface, implementing them from scratch quickly becomes a maintenance nightmare.

Recently, I discovered an elegant solution: tablecn.com, a sophisticated table component built on top of shadcn/ui, TanStack Table, and nuqs.

What Makes This Approach Special?

1. Built on Three Powerful Libraries

  1. TanStack Table – A headless table library that handles all the complex logic.
  2. shadcn/ui – Provides beautiful, accessible UI components out of the box.
  3. nuqs – Manages state and persists it in the URL.

2. URL State Management with nuqs

One of the most impressive features is how it handles state persistence. The table uses nuqs, a library that elegantly manages state through URL parameters.

This approach is particularly valuable—regardless of your pagination strategy. Whether you’re implementing client-side or server-side pagination, you need to manage critical state like:

  • Current page number
  • Items per page
  • Active filters and sort orders
  • Column visibility preferences

By encoding this state in the URL via nuqs, users can:

  • Maintain context across page refreshes without losing their place
  • Share specific views with colleagues (they see exactly the same filtered data)
  • Bookmark frequently accessed table states for quick access
  • Navigate naturally using browser back/forward buttons
Why This Matters

Persistent State: When users apply filters or sort columns, the state is encoded in the URL. This means:

  • Refreshing the page doesn’t lose your filters.
  • You can bookmark specific table states.
  • Sharing filtered views becomes as simple as sharing a URL.
  • Back/forward browser navigation works intuitively.

Implementation Insights

For a deeper dive, check out this YouTube video explaining and reviewing the component code: Code Review from Cosden Solutions