Introduction to React Context

React Context provides a way to share values between components without explicitly passing props through every level of the tree. It solves the "prop drilling" problem.

The Prop Drilling Problem

When data needs to be accessible by many components at different nesting levels, passing it through every intermediate component becomes tedious:

How Context Solves This

Context provides a way to share values "globally" within a component tree:

Creating Context in React

In real React, you use createContext and useContext:

Context vs Props: When to Use Each

Exercise: Identify Prop Drilling

Exercise: Design a Context Structure

Exercise: Simulate Context Providing

Key Takeaways

1. Prop drilling is tedious - Passing props through many levels of components that don't use them
2. Context provides shortcuts - Share values directly with any component in the tree
3. createContext creates a context - With a default value for when no Provider exists
4. Provider wraps the tree - Sets the value available to all descendants
5. Use Context for global data - Theme, auth, locale, and other widely-needed values