Building a React Hook That Predicts User Navigation Based on Hover Patterns

Imagine if your app could prefetch pages based on what the user is likely to click — before they actually click it. In this guide, we’ll build a React hook that predicts user navigation based on hover behavior, making your app feel faster without wasteful network calls.

Why Predict Navigation?

Real-world advantages:

• Prefetching assets and data just-in-time
• Reducing Time to Interactive (TTI) on key page transitions
• Enhancing perceived performance for mobile users

Step 1: Build the useHoverIntent Hook

Track hover timing to predict serious "intent" (vs accidental hover):

// useHoverIntent.js
import { useState, useEffect, useRef } from "react";

export function useHoverIntent(onIntent, delay = 150) {
  const timer = useRef(null);

  const onMouseEnter = () => {
    timer.current = setTimeout(() => {
      onIntent();
    }, delay);
  };

  const onMouseLeave = () => {
    clearTimeout(timer.current);
  };

  return {
    onMouseEnter,
    onMouseLeave,
  };
}

Step 2: Create a usePrefetchOnHover Hook

This hook wires hover intent to a custom prefetch action:

// usePrefetchOnHover.js
import { useHoverIntent } from "./useHoverIntent";

export function usePrefetchOnHover(url, prefetchFn) {
  return useHoverIntent(() => {
    prefetchFn(url);
  });
}

Step 3: Create a Prefetching Function

You can customize prefetching depending on your setup (e.g., Next.js, Remix, custom APIs):

// prefetch.js
export async function prefetch(url) {
  try {
    await fetch(url, { method: "HEAD" }); // Lightweight pre-request
  } catch (err) {
    console.error("Prefetch failed:", err);
  }
}

Step 4: Use It Inside a Link Component

// SmartLink.js
import { usePrefetchOnHover } from "./usePrefetchOnHover";
import { prefetch } from "./prefetch";

function SmartLink({ href, children }) {
  const hoverHandlers = usePrefetchOnHover(href, prefetch);

  return (
    <a href={href} {...hoverHandlers}>
      {children}
    </a>
  );
}

export default SmartLink;

Step 5: Put It Together

// App.js
import SmartLink from "./SmartLink";

function App() {
  return (
    <nav>
      <SmartLink href="/about">About Us</SmartLink>
      <SmartLink href="/services">Services</SmartLink>
      <SmartLink href="/contact">Contact</SmartLink>
    </nav>
  );
}

export default App;

Pros and Cons

✅ Pros

• Predicts real user behavior without AI/ML overhead
• Prefetches only when there's strong "click intent"
• Extremely lightweight (one tiny hook)

⚠️ Cons

• Prefetch timing is tricky — too early = wasted bandwidth, too late = no perceived gain
• May trigger unnecessary loads if users hover and bounce away often
• Requires careful UX tuning on mobile (where "hover" can behave differently)

🚀 Alternatives

• Next.js Link prefetch: Built-in link prefetching on hover (but less customizable)
• Quicklink: Google Chrome Labs library that auto-prefetches visible links

Summary

Smart prefetching based on hover intent is a secret weapon for frontend performance. With just a few lines of custom React hooks, you can predict where users will go next — and make your app feel instant without wasting resources.

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