The Journey of React State Management: From Flux Redux Redux Toolkit

State management in React has always been one of the most debated, discussed, and evolving topics in the frontend ecosystem. Suppose you have worked with React for a long enough time. In that case, you have seen the world move from scattered component state to Flux, from Flux to Redux, then through years of “Redux boilerplate memes”, and finally to what most of us use today - Redux Toolkit, a modern, batteries-included way to manage state.

But this journey did not happen overnight. It evolved because React evolved, apps grew more complex, and developers needed simpler, more predictable tools.

Let's take a deep, story-driven walk through how the ecosystem changed, from Flux architecture, to Redux, to the modern Redux Toolkit, and how the Context API matured in parallel.

Where It All Began: The State Problem in Early React

React has always been great at UI. Its component-based mental model made building dynamic interfaces intuitive. But React had one major gap:

How should data flow inside a large application?

Before Flux or Redux existed, people stored state directly inside components and passed data down through props. It worked… until it didn’t.

As applications grew:

• Data was needed by deeply nested components.
• Updating state in one part of the UI caused unpredictable effects elsewhere.
• Props drilling became painful.
• Synchronising shared state across siblings was messy.

There was no standard architecture. Everyone built state flow however they wanted. The community needed something predictable.

That is when Flux entered the scene.

Flux: The First Attempt at Predictability

Flux was introduced by Facebook in 2014 as a pattern—not a library—for managing data flow in React apps.

Flux’s Single Biggest Idea

Unidirectional data flow

Instead of data moving in random directions, everything followed a clean cycle:

View → Action → Dispatcher → Store → View

Why Flux Mattered

Flux solved a real problem:
It made data flow predictable.

It gave developers a mental model:

• A user triggers an action.
• That action is dispatched.
• Stores update themselves.
• UI re-renders.

This clarity was revolutionary.

But Flux Had Problems

Flux implementations quickly became:

• Verbose
• Hard to scale beyond a point
• Not standardised
• Too many variations (every company built their own version)

Developers understood the idea, but they wanted a simpler implementation.

This desire directly led to Redux.

Redux: Simplicity, Predictability & Pure Functions

In 2015, Dan Abramov and Andrew Clark released Redux, inspired by Flux but built with a totally fresh philosophy.

Redux focused on three core principles:

1. Single Source of Truth

All global state lives in one store (later combinable, but still structured as one root).

2. State is Read-Only

You cannot mutate the state directly.
Only actions can request changes.

3. Changes Are Made With Pure Reducers

Reducers are functions:

(state, action) => newState

They do not mutate state.
They do not produce side effects.
They always return a brand-new object.

This made debugging and testing incredibly easy.

Why Redux Exploded in Popularity

• Predictable state transitions
• Time-travel debugging (devtools!)
• Pure functions → easier testing
• Huge ecosystem + community
• Middleware ecosystem (Thunk, Saga, Observables)

Redux became the global state solution for React.

But Redux Had a Problem of Its Own… Boilerplate

Redux was great. But the developer experience? Not so much.

Every Redux app requires:

• action types
• action creators
• switch-case reducers
• immutable updates
• combining reducers
• thunk boilerplate for async
• verbose folder structures

Even simple things like updating a nested object needed complex immutable spread patterns.

The community jokes were brutal:

“To update a counter, I need 12 files.”
“Redux is powerful… but you pay for it with pain.”

This frustration slowly pushed developers to alternatives:

• MobX
• Recoil
• Zustand
• XState
• Context API

And then React itself evolved.

Meanwhile in React Land: The Rise of the Context API

Although the Context API existed since early React versions, it was rewritten and modernised in React 16.3.

Context became the perfect tool for:

• Theming
• Authentication state
• Language/i18n
• App-wide configuration
• Sharing data across deeply nested components

Here's the modern Context API:

const ThemeContext = createContext();

const App = () => (
  <ThemeContext.Provider value="dark">
    <Dashboard />
  </ThemeContext.Provider>
);

Context provided global-ish state sharing without Redux. It solved the props drilling completely.

But Context was not meant to be a state management replacement. It had limitations:

Context API Limitations

• No structured debugging (no devtools like Redux)
• Too many re-renders when sharing a large state
• Not optimised for business logic separation
• Harder to manage async logic or side effects
• Not scalable for complex domains

So while Context became a great tool for small to medium use cases, it didn’t kill Redux.

Redux was still king, especially for large apps.

But to stay relevant, Redux needed a reboot.

Modern apps required:

• Less boilerplate
• Better performance
• Simpler async handling
• More official tools

That’s where Redux Toolkit enters the story.

Redux Toolkit (RTK): The Future of Redux

In 2019, the Redux team released Redux Toolkit, which is now the official, recommended way to write Redux code.

RTK solved the biggest pain points developers complained about for years.

What Redux Toolkit Provides

1. createSlice() reduces the boilerplate to near zero

Instead of writing action types, action creators, and switch-case reducers separately, RTK combines them:

const counterSlice = createSlice({
  name: "counter",
  initialState: { value: 0 },
  reducers: {
    increment: (state) => { state.value++ },
    decrement: (state) => { state.value-- },
  }
});

Reducers and actions come in one package.
No switch-case.
No action constants.
No verbosity.

2. Mutating state is allowed (yes, really)

RTK uses Immer internally.
So this:

state.value++;

is converted into a safe, immutable update behind the scenes.

3. Async logic becomes effortless with createAsyncThunk

export const fetchUsers = createAsyncThunk(
  'users/fetch',
  async () => {
    const res = await fetch('/api/users');
    return res.json();
  }
);

The thunk automatically generates:

• pending
• fulfilled
• rejected

action types.
No need for separate boilerplate.

4. Store setup becomes trivial

const store = configureStore({
  reducer: { counter: counterSlice.reducer }
});

• DevTools auto-enabled
• Thunk middleware included
• Better performance defaults

5. Recommended by the Redux team

RTK is not just “another library”; it is the official way to write Redux now.

RTK Query: A Bonus Evolution

Redux Toolkit also includes RTK Query, a powerful data fetching and caching solution.

It gives React apps:

• Automatic caching
• Deduped requests
• Auto-refetching
• Invalidations
• Async state built-in

Example:

export const userApi = createApi({
  reducerPath: "userApi",
  baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: "/api" }),
  endpoints: (builder) => ({
    getUsers: builder.query({
      query: () => "/users"
    })
  })
});

This essentially replaces:

• Axios calls
• useEffect data fetching
• Manual caching logic
• Global loading/error state

RTK Query is now one of the best tools for server state.

Where Context API Fits Today

Context API still plays a big role:

Use Context API for:

• Theme (dark/light)
• Auth user object
• Global configurations
• Feature toggles
• Small shared state

Use Redux Toolkit when:

• You need a predictable data flow
• You need advanced debugging (devtools)
• You manage a large or complex global state
• Your app has complex business rules
• You want a scalable architecture
• You want easy async logic (createAsyncThunk)
• You need caching or data fetching (RTK Query)

Context API and Redux Toolkit are not competitors.
They complement each other beautifully.

RTK is for app-level logic.
Context is for UI-level data sharing.

Conclusion: A Decade of State Management Evolution

The journey from Flux → Redux → Redux Toolkit reflects the entire JavaScript ecosystem maturing.

• Flux gave us architecture.
• Redux gave us predictability.
• Redux Toolkit gave us developer experience.

And parallel to all of this, the Context API evolved into a powerful, ergonomic tool for handling small-scale global data.

Today’s best practice is clear:

Use Redux Toolkit for real state management,
Use Context for simple, UI-oriented shared data,
Use RTK Query for server-state and API caching.

Redux is not dead.
It just reinvented itself—and it's better than ever.

Official Reference Links

• Flux
• Redux
• Redux Toolkit
• RTK Query
• React Context API