Code Splitting#

In large web applications, it is often desirable to split up the app code into multiple JS bundles that can be loaded on-demand. This strategy, called 'code splitting', helps to increase performance of your application by reducing the size of the initial JS payload that must be fetched.

To code split with Redux, we want to be able to dynamically add reducers to the store. However, Redux really only has a single root reducer function. This root reducer is normally generated by calling combineReducers() or a similar function when the application is initialized. In order to dynamically add more reducers, we need to call that function again to re-generate the root reducer. Below, we discuss some approaches to solving this problem and reference two libraries that provide this functionality.

Basic Principle#

Using `replaceReducer`#

The Redux store exposes a replaceReducer function, which replaces the current active root reducer function with a new root reducer function. Calling it will swap the internal reducer function reference, and dispatch an action to help any newly-added slice reducers initialize themselves:

const newRootReducer = combineReducers({
  existingSlice: existingSliceReducer,
  newSlice: newSliceReducer
})

store.replaceReducer(newRootReducer)

Reducer Injection Approaches#

Defining an `injectReducer` function#

We will likely want to call store.replaceReducer() from anywhere in the application. Because of that, it's helpful to define a reusable injectReducer() function that keeps references to all of the existing slice reducers, and attach that to the store instance.

import { createStore } from 'redux'

// Define the Reducers that will always be present in the application
const staticReducers = {
  users: usersReducer,
  posts: postsReducer
}

// Configure the store
export default function configureStore(initialState) {
  const store = createStore(createReducer(), initialState)

  // Add a dictionary to keep track of the registered async reducers
  store.asyncReducers = {}

  // Create an inject reducer function
  // This function adds the async reducer, and creates a new combined reducer
  store.injectReducer = (key, asyncReducer) => {
    store.asyncReducers[key] = asyncReducer
    store.replaceReducer(createReducer(store.asyncReducers))
  }

  // Return the modified store
  return store
}

function createReducer(asyncReducers) {
  return combineReducers({
    ...staticReducers,
    ...asyncReducers
  })
}

Now, one just needs to call store.injectReducer to add a new reducer to the store.

Using a 'Reducer Manager'#

Another approach is to create a 'Reducer Manager' object, which keeps track of all the registered reducers and exposes a reduce() function. Consider the following example:

export function createReducerManager(initialReducers) {
  // Create an object which maps keys to reducers
  const reducers = { ...initialReducers }

  // Create the initial combinedReducer
  let combinedReducer = combineReducers(reducers)

  // An array which is used to delete state keys when reducers are removed
  let keysToRemove = []

  return {
    getReducerMap: () => reducers,

    // The root reducer function exposed by this object
    // This will be passed to the store
    reduce: (state, action) => {
      // If any reducers have been removed, clean up their state first
      if (keysToRemove.length > 0) {
        state = { ...state }
        for (let key of keysToRemove) {
          delete state[key]
        }
        keysToRemove = []
      }

      // Delegate to the combined reducer
      return combinedReducer(state, action)
    },

    // Adds a new reducer with the specified key
    add: (key, reducer) => {
      if (!key || reducers[key]) {
        return
      }

      // Add the reducer to the reducer mapping
      reducers[key] = reducer

      // Generate a new combined reducer
      combinedReducer = combineReducers(reducers)
    },

    // Removes a reducer with the specified key
    remove: key => {
      if (!key || !reducers[key]) {
        return
      }

      // Remove it from the reducer mapping
      delete reducers[key]

      // Add the key to the list of keys to clean up
      keysToRemove.push(key)

      // Generate a new combined reducer
      combinedReducer = combineReducers(reducers)
    }
  }
}

const staticReducers = {
  users: usersReducer,
  posts: postsReducer
}

export function configureStore(initialState) {
  const reducerManager = createReducerManager(staticReducers)

  // Create a store with the root reducer function being the one exposed by the manager.
  const store = createStore(reducerManager.reduce, initialState)

  // Optional: Put the reducer manager on the store so it is easily accessible
  store.reducerManager = reducerManager
}

To add a new reducer, one can now call store.reducerManager.add("asyncState", asyncReducer).

To remove a reducer, one can now call store.reducerManager.remove("asyncState")

Libraries and Frameworks#

There are a few good libraries out there that can help you add the above functionality automatically:

redux-dynamic-modules: This library introduces the concept of a 'Redux Module', which is a bundle of Redux artifacts (reducers, middleware) that should be dynamically loaded. It also exposes a React higher-order component to load 'modules' when areas of the application come online. Additionally, it has integrations with libraries like redux-thunk and redux-saga which also help dynamically load their artifacts (thunks, sagas).
Redux Ecosystem Links: Reducers - Dynamic Reducer Injection