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What Happens When You Break the Rules of Hooks in React?

React has a strict rule: Don't call hooks inside loops, conditions, or nested functions. This isn’t just a style preference, it’s required for React to work correctly. If you break this rule, you’ll run into bugs that are hard to trace. Here's exactly why this rule exists and what React is doing under the hood that makes it necessary. Here's what’s actually going on: React doesn’t track your hooks by name instead it tracks them by order of execution. So when your component renders, React expects something like this: 1st hook → useState 2nd hook → useEffect 3rd hook → useRef This order must stay the same every render. If it doesn't? React pulls the wrong state out of the wrong slot, and now your useRef is getting count’s value and chaos begins

Apr 10, 2025 - 14:49
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What Happens When You Break the Rules of Hooks in React?

React has a strict rule:

Don't call hooks inside loops, conditions, or nested functions.

This isn’t just a style preference, it’s required for React to work correctly.

If you break this rule, you’ll run into bugs that are hard to trace. Here's exactly why this rule exists and what React is doing under the hood that makes it necessary.

Here's what’s actually going on:
React doesn’t track your hooks by name instead it tracks them by order of execution.

So when your component renders, React expects something like this:

1st hook → useState
2nd hook → useEffect
3rd hook → useRef

This order must stay the same every render.
If it doesn't? React pulls the wrong state out of the wrong slot, and now your useRef is getting count’s value and chaos begins

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