SUPER POWER SKILLS by Vercel M

Introduction to Vercel's React Best Practices Skill #

• Vercel has released "React Best Practices," a "skill" folder designed to be integrated into AI coding agents like Cursor and Claude Code.
• The tool packages over a decade of React optimization knowledge into a structured format that AI understands.
• It is designed to proactively identify performance issues that developers often miss, such as waterfalls, bloated bundles, and unnecessary re-renders.

High-Impact Optimization Framework #

• The skill prioritizes fixes by impact level, ranging from "Critical" to "Low."
• It follows a specific "order of operations" for optimization:
  1. Eliminating waterfalls (sequential asynchronous operations).
  2. Reducing bundle size (the primary source of performance gains).
  3. Server-side performance.
  4. Client-side data fetching.
  5. Re-render optimization.
  6. Rendering performance.
  7. Advanced patterns.
  8. JavaScript performance.
• The package includes over 40 rules, each accompanied by code examples showing "problematic" vs. "correct" patterns.

Real-World Application Examples #

• The tool can consolidate multiple message scans into a single pass.
• It identifies database calls that can be run in parallel rather than sequentially.
• It detects inefficiencies like missing lazy state initialization (e.g., moving JSON parsing into a useState callback to prevent repeated work).

Installation and Integration #

• Installation Command: Run npx add-skill vercellabs/agentskills in the terminal.
• File Output: The skill compiles into an agents.md file, which serves as a queryable reference for the AI.
• Claude Code: For Claude specifically, the skill is stored in the claudes_skills folder for direct invocation.
• Verdant Integration: Can be set up as a slash command (/react-best-practices) within the Verdant framework by copying the skill file into the commands folder.

Practical Usage Workflow #

• Users can ask the AI to analyze a specific component or a slow-running part of the app.
• The AI cross-references the code against the agents.md rules to flag issues like missing dependencies in useEffect or inefficient library imports.
• It provides a teaching mechanism for beginners and a safety net for experienced developers focused on features over performance.

Accessibility and Licensing #

• The project is open-source and available on GitHub under Vercel Labs.
• It is completely free to use under the Apache 2.0 license.
• While it requires a compatible AI coding agent to function, it is presented as a "no-brainer" addition for users of Cursor or Claude Code.

Summary #

Vercel's "React Best Practices" skill is an open-source library designed to upgrade AI coding agents from simple code generators to sophisticated performance auditors. By installing this skill, developers provide their AI tools with a structured framework of 40+ rules to identify and fix critical performance bottlenecks like async waterfalls and bundle bloat. The tool is free, integrates easily via a single terminal command, and works across popular platforms like Cursor, Claude Code, and Verdant.