🐻 Introducing Zustand Copilot: The Ultimate VS Code Extension for Zustand State Management

Source: Dev.to

If you’ve been working with Zustand for state management in React, you know how elegant and powerful it is. But what if you could make your Zustand development experience even better?

Today, I’m excited to announce Zustand Copilot — a VS Code extension designed to be the definitive toolkit for Zustand v5+ development.

🤔 Why I Built This

After building dozens of React applications with Zustand, I found myself:

• 📝 Typing the same store boilerplate over and over
• 🔍 Constantly switching to docs for syntax reference
• 😓 Forgetting to use useShallow for multi‑value selectors (hello, unnecessary re‑renders!)
• 📁 Manually setting up the Slices Pattern for larger apps

Zustand Copilot solves all of these problems.

✨ Key Features

1. TypeScript‑First Snippets

Just type a prefix and get production‑ready code.

Example – type zstore and you get:

import { create } from 'zustand';
import { devtools } from 'zustand/middleware';

interface CounterState {
  count: number;
  increment: () => void;
  decrement: () => void;
  reset: () => void;
}

export const useCounterStore = create()(
  devtools(
    (set) => ({
      count: 0,
      increment: () =>
        set((state) => ({ count: state.count + 1 }), false, 'increment'),
      decrement: () =>
        set((state) => ({ count: state.count - 1 }), false, 'decrement'),
      reset: () => set({ count: 0 }, false, 'reset'),
    }),
    { name: 'CounterStore' }
  )
);

2. Smart Code Actions

Right‑click on any store and get intelligent refactoring options:

• Wrap with devtools – Add Redux DevTools integration instantly
• Wrap with persist – Add localStorage persistence
• Add useShallow – Optimize your selectors for performance
• Extract to Slices Pattern – Modularize large stores

3. Real‑Time Hover Documentation

Hover over any Zustand function and see:

• 📖 Detailed description
• 📝 TypeScript signature
• 💻 Usage examples
• ⚡ Performance tips
• 🔗 Links to official docs

4. Intelligent Auto‑Imports

Start typing and get smart import suggestions for:

• create, createStore, useStore
• devtools, persist, immer
• useShallow (with performance hints!)
• StateCreator, StoreApi types

5. Command‑Driven Store Generation

Use the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) to:

• Create New Store – Interactive store generator
• Create New Slice – Generate slice files
• Generate Slices Pattern Store – Full project structure

⚡ Performance Best Practices Built‑In

Zustand Copilot doesn’t just help you write code faster — it helps you write better code.

useShallow Everywhere

// ❌ Bad: Creates a new object on every render
const { name, age } = useStore((state) => ({
  name: state.name,
  age: state.age,
}));

// ✅ Good: Shallow comparison prevents re‑renders
const { name, age } = useStore(
  useShallow((state) => ({
    name: state.name,
    age: state.age,
  }))
);

The extension will warn you when you forget useShallow and offer to add it automatically!

Slices Pattern for Scale

For large applications, the extension encourages the Slices Pattern:

src/stores/
├── index.ts           # Combined store
└── slices/
    ├── authSlice.ts   # Authentication
    ├── userSlice.ts   # User data
    └── settingsSlice.ts # Settings

Run the Zustand: Generate Slices Pattern Store command to scaffold this instantly.

🚀 Getting Started

Installation

1. Open VS Code.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+X to open Extensions.
3. Search for “Zustand Copilot”.
4. Click Install.

Or install via CLI:

code --install-extension devplusfun.zustand-copilot

Quick Start

1. Create a new .ts or .tsx file.
2. Type zstore and press Tab.
3. Fill in the placeholders.
4. Start building! 🐻

📊 Available Snippets

🛠 Configuration

Customize the extension in your VS Code settings:

{
  "zustandCopilot.autoImport.enabled": true,
  "zustandCopilot.hoverDocs.enabled": true,
  "zustandCopilot.codeActions.enabled": true,
  "zustandCopilot.defaultStorePath": "src/stores",
  "zustandCopilot.useShallowByDefault": true,
  "zustandCopilot.snippets.enabled": true,
  "zustandCopilot.commandPalette.enabled": true
}

🙏 Feedback Welcome!

This is just version 1.0.0, and I have big plans for future releases:

• 📊 Store visualization panel
• 🧪 Testing utilities
• 🔄 Redux → Zustand migration tools
• 📈 Performance analysis

What features would you like to see? Drop a comment below or open an issue on GitHub!

🔗 Links

• 📦 VS Code Marketplace
• 📖 Zustand Official Docs

If this extension helps your Zustand development, please ⭐ star the repo and leave a review on the marketplace! It really helps others discover it.

Happy coding! 🐻✨

{
  "ot.includeDevtools": true
}