React Hook recipe from https://usehooks.com. Demo: https://codesandbox.io/s/qxkr4mplv6

use-local-storage-example.js

import { useState } from 'react';

// Usage
function App() {
  // Similar to useState but first arg is key to the value in local storage.
  const [name, setName] = useLocalStorage('name', 'Bob');

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        type="text"
        placeholder="Enter your name"
        value={name}
        onChange={e => setName(e.target.value)}
      />
    </div>
  );
}

// Hook
function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.log(error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that ...
  // ... persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = value => {
    try {
      // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
      const valueToStore =
        value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value;
      // Save state
      setStoredValue(valueToStore);
      // Save to local storage
      window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore));
    } catch (error) {
      // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
      console.log(error);
    }
  };

  return [storedValue, setValue];
}

@beausmith. You are welcome. I'm glad to help you

Suggested change:

if value is null or undefined remove it from local storage.

import { useState } from 'react'

// Hook
function useLocalStorage (key, initialValue) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key)
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.log(error)
      return initialValue
    }
  })

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that ...
  // ... persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = value => {
    try {
      // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
      const valueToStore =
        value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value
      // Save state
      setStoredValue(valueToStore)
      // Save to local storage or remove if value is null or undefined
      if (valueToStore === null || valueToStore === undefined) {
        window.localStorage.removeItem(key)
      } else {
        window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore))
      }
    } catch (error) {
      // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
      console.log(error)
    }
  }

  return [storedValue, setValue]
}

export default useLocalStorage

As said by @oleg-am when you try to parse a string from localStorage you get an error, but we still want to return the initalValue if it doesn't exist so we can call an external function to verify this

The same occurs if you try to stringify a string, so when try to save it on localStorage verify if it already is a string

const useLocalStorage = (key, initialValue) => {
  const parseJsonItem = item => {
    try {
      return JSON.parse(item);
    } catch (e) {
      return item;
    }
  };

  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);

      if (item) return parseJsonItem(item);

      return initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  const setValue = value => {
    try {
      const valueToStore =
        value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value;
      setStoredValue(valueToStore);
      window.localStorage.setItem(
        key,
        typeof valueToStore === 'string'
          ? valueToStore
          : JSON.stringify(valueToStore),
      );
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  };

  return [storedValue, setValue];
};

Maybe I am missing something, but why isn't it as simple as this?

TypeScript:

import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from 'react';

const parseJson = <T>(str: string | null | undefined): T | undefined => {
  try {
    return JSON.parse(str as string);
  } catch (e) {
    return undefined;
  }
};

export const useLocalStorage = <T>(key: string, initialValue: T): [T, (value: T) => void] => {

  const defaultGetter = useCallback(() => {
    const parsed = parseJson<T>(localStorage.getItem(key));
    return parsed === undefined || parsed === null ? initialValue : parsed;
  }, [ key, initialValue ]);

  const [ value, setValue ] = useState<T>(defaultGetter);

  useEffect(
    () => localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(value)),
    [ value, key ]
  );

  return [ value, setValue ];
};

• I know, it is not recommended to access the external resources outside of useEffect but in this case it might be important to render the first time with the correct value from the localStorage so can't put the reading part there. In my case component re-render causes flashing so I can't allow second re-render (when default value change to the one from localStorage) need the value right away, I presume this could be the case for others as well.

Hi @gragland - Have you ran into any scenarios where local-storage is needed on more than one element?

I am running into the state being updated on two elements and they both need to be isolated of each other. The error is both counters keep duplicating each others values. That shouldn't be the intended behavior

Ex: https://codesandbox.io/s/stoic-satoshi-owsu9

@jephjohnson
I have made a solution for you using react's context.
Only thing you have to add is the LocalStorageProvider in your app.js

Here is a working example: https://codesandbox.io/s/zealous-bell-o6lh9

This is my use-local-storage.js:

import React, { useState, createContext, useContext } from "react";

export const localStorageContext = createContext();
export const useLocalStorageContext = () => useContext(localStorageContext);
export const LocalStorageProvider = ({ children }) => {
  const [state, setState] = useState({});
  return (
    <localStorageContext.Provider value={{ state, setState }}>
      {children}
    </localStorageContext.Provider>
  );
};

export default function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  const { state, setState } = useLocalStorageContext();

  let value = state[key];

  if (!value) {
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      value = item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.log(error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  }

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that ...
  // ... persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = value => {
    try {
      // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
      const valueToStore =
        value instanceof Function ? value(state[key]) : value;
      // Save state
      setState(prev => ({ ...prev, [key]: valueToStore }));

      // Save to local storage
      window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore));
    } catch (error) {
      // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
      console.log(error);
    }
  };

  return [value, setValue];
}

And this is your app.js:

import React, { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import useLocalStorage from "./use-local-storage";
import { LocalStorageProvider } from "./use-local-storage";

const navLinks = [{ text: "Cars" }, { text: "Buses" }];

const Items = ({ text, id, activeTab }) => {
  const [count, setCount] = useLocalStorage("count", 0);

  const plus = () => {
    setCount(count + 1);
  };

  const minus = () => {
    setCount(count - 1);
  };

  return (
    <div id={id} className={activeTab === id ? "active" : null}>
      {text}
      <h2>You clicked {count} times!</h2>
      <button onClick={plus}>+</button>
      <button onClick={minus}>-</button>
    </div>
  );
};

const Nav = ({ list, activeTab, onClick }) => {
  return list ? (
    list.map((item, index) => (
      <Items
        key={index}
        text={item.text}
        onClick={onClick}
        activeTab={activeTab}
      />
    ))
  ) : (
    <div>No Data</div>
  );
};

function App() {
  const [items, setlist] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    setlist(navLinks);
  }, []);

  return (
    <LocalStorageProvider>
      <Nav list={items} />
    </LocalStorageProvider>
  );
}
export default App;

Hi @gragland - Have you ran into any scenarios where local-storage is needed on more than one element?

I am running into the state being updated on two elements.

Ex: https://codesandbox.io/s/stoic-satoshi-owsu9

@jildertvenema - Doh! Looks like both counters are being updated at the same time. They should both be isolated. So if Increment the counter on the first one, refresh the value should persist. The second one should not duplicate the same value. Make sense? Both are independent of each other

@jephjohnson Then why not use count1 and count2?

@jephjohnson Then why not use count1 and count2?

In the state? Not following...

@jephjohnson Maybe i'm missing your point but why don't u use useLocalStorage("bussesCount", 0); and useLocalStorage("carCount", 0);

@jephjohnson Maybe i'm missing your point but why don't u use useLocalStorage("bussesCount", 0); and useLocalStorage("carCount", 0);

Codesandbox on what your thinking would be helpful

@jildertvenema - I am duplicating the component. What are you thinking exactly?

https://codesandbox.io/s/mutable-water-xmh5w

@jephjohnson i've added a stateName property to your tabs

@jephjohnson i've added a stateName property to your tabs

@jildertvenema - Epic! Solid idea :)

There is a flaw in the way this hook tries to emulate useState behaviour.

React batches calls to setState that happen in the same callback. Because of that you should never rely on the state returned by useState to update the state. This is why you can also pass a function to setState that receives the latest state as an argument. But this is actually broken here because the hook invokes the function with the state returned by useState which may already be outdated from a previous call. Instead it should simply pass the function provided to setStoredValue and update the local storage with the resulting state when it has been updated using useEffect.

Also see Why is setState giving me the wrong value?.

Have a look at this example to see the problem:

const BrokenCounter = () => {
  const [count, setCount] = useLocalStorage("count", 0);

  const handleIncrement = () => {
    // count should be increased by 2
    // but it will only be increased by 1 because react batches those updates
    // https://reactjs.org/docs/faq-state.html#why-is-setstate-giving-me-the-wrong-value
    setCount(current => current + 1);
    setCount(current => current + 1);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <p>{`The count is: ${count}`}</p>
      <button onClick={handleIncrement}>Increment by 2</button>
    </div>
  );
}

This is my suggestion for a fix:

function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.log(error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  useEffect(() => {
    try {
      // Save to local storage
      window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(storedValue));
    } catch (error) {
      // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
      console.log(error);
    }
  }, [key, storedValue]);

  return [storedValue, setStoredValue];
}

if you want this link

import { useState } from 'react';

// Usage
function App() {
  // Similar to useState but first arg is key to the value in local storage.
  const [name, setName] = useLocalStorage('name', 'Bob');

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        type="text"
        placeholder="Enter your name"
        value={name}
        onChange={e => setName(e.target.value)}
      />
    </div>
  );
}

// Hook
function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.log(error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that ...
  // ... persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = value => {
    try {
      // if you want the real function
      let valueToStore
      if(value instanceof Function){
        setStoredValue((v) => {
          valueToStore = value(v)
          return valueToStore
        })
      }
      else{
        valueToStore = value
        setStoredValue(value)
      }
      // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
      //const valueToStore = value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value;
      // Save state
      //setStoredValue(valueToStore);
      // Save to local storage
      window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore));
    } catch (error) {
      // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
      console.log(error);
    }
  };

  return [storedValue, setValue];
}

@gragland Would be great if this could be updated to sync across tabs. It's pretty much window.addEventListener("storage", updateState) where updateState is a memoized function to handle the StorageEvent and set the state with the new value.

Inspired by donavon/use-persisted-state and useLocalStorage: hooks are nice.

I used this code and then had setValue returned from this hook in a dependency array of a useEffect as I wanted to set a value in local storage from inside that effect. This creates an endless loop since you are returning a new setValue on every render, each time your useLocalStorage is called so the effect this hook is used in will execute on every render.

I moved to this implementation instead which does not have the issue as it is using the setter returned from useState which will be the same across renders:
https://bit.dev/giladshoham/react-hooks/use/use-local-storage/

I would suggest to modify your code or at least list a caveat so others don't have the same issue when they stumble upon this code from a web search.

@gragland Would be great if this could be updated to sync across tabs. It's pretty much window.addEventListener("storage", updateState) where updateState is a memoized function to handle the StorageEvent and set the state with the new value.

Here's what I came up with for that in case anyone wants to do the same:

import { useState, useEffect, useCallback } from 'react';

export function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      console.warn(error);
      // If error also return initialValue
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that persists the new value to localStorage
  const setValue = useCallback(
    (value) => {
      try {
        // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
        const valueToStore = value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value;
        // Save state
        setStoredValue(valueToStore);
        // Save to local storage
        window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore));
      } catch (error) {
        // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
        console.warn(error);
      }
    },
    [storedValue, setStoredValue, key],
  );

  useEffect(
    function setUpSyncOnMount() {
      function storageWatcher(ev) {
        // Update our state with new value from other tab
        if (!document.hasFocus() && key === ev.key && ev.oldValue !== ev.newValue) {
          try {
            const newValue = JSON.parse(ev.newValue);
            setStoredValue(newValue);
          } catch (error) {
            // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
            console.warn(error);
          }
        }
      }

      window.addEventListener('storage', storageWatcher);

      return function removeOnUnmount() {
        window.removeEventListener('storage', storageWatcher);
      };
    },
    [key, setStoredValue],
  );

  return [storedValue, setValue];
}

export default useLocalStorage;

As bayareacoder suggested, if you're updating local state and not just using useLocalStorage then make sure you're only setting with useLocalStorage => [, setValue] if the values are different, or it will endlessly loop. For my use case I had sortBy and setSortBy that I was syncing with useLocalStorage, so I kept a reference to the last stored sortBy (storedSortBy) with documentSortBy in useRef:

const [storedSortBy, setStoredSortBy] = useLocalStorage(`${id}-sort`, defaultSorted);
const documentSortBy = useRef(storedSortBy);

// ...

useEffect(
  function syncSortStorage() {
    // If the sort options changed on another tab/window
    if (storedSortBy !== documentSortBy.current) {
      setSortBy(storedSortBy);
      documentSortBy.current = storedSortBy;
    }
    // If the sort options were changed directly by user
    else if (sortBy !== storedSortBy) {
      setStoredSortBy(sortBy);
      documentSortBy.current = sortBy;
    }
  },
  [sortBy, storedSortBy, setStoredSortBy, documentSortBy, setSortBy],
);

Came accros this issue

setValue((state) => "");
/*^^^^^^
  This expression is not callable.
    Not all constituents of type 'string | ((value: string | ((oldValue: string) => string)) => void)' are callable.
      Type 'string' has no call signatures.(2349)
*/

microsoft/TypeScript#35423

I had to add in as const on the returns values for it to comply without errors. I'm not sure what i have in my confguration for this to occur.

   return [storedValue, setValue] as const;

I'm also rendering out from NextJS and it failed horribly attempting to access window, so had to add in
if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {

const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState<T>(() => {
        try {
            // Get from local storage by key
            if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
                const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
                // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
                return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
            }else{
                return initialValue;
            }
        } catch (error) {
            // If error also return initialValue
            console.log(error);
            return initialValue;
        }
    });

I also wanted to add that the current implementation doesn't work even in the TypeScript playground, adding as const to hook return type fixes this error

add typescript type in setValue

export function useLocalStorage<T>(key: string, initialValue: T) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState<T>(() => {
    try {
      if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
        const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
        // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
        return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
      } else {
        return initialValue;
      }
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.error('localstorage', error);
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that ...
  // ... persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = (value: T | ((val: T) => T)) => {
    try {
      // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
      const valueToStore = value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value;
      // Save state
      setStoredValue(valueToStore);
      // Save to local storage
      window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore));
    } catch (error) {
      // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
      console.log(error);
    }
  };

  return [storedValue, setValue] as [T, (value: T | ((val: T) => T)) => void];
}

Hi first of all thanks to everyone for the work.

I would like to suggest some improvements in the implementation:

• initialValue as a function - the useState hook let you to initiate the value with a function that execute once, useLocalStorage should preserve this logic.
• don`t mute errors - the try/catch block in the hook should surround only the localStorage logic, and not the evaluation and storage of the state to react, to not hide error that been thrown in setState callback evaluation.
• memorized setValue - the useState hook return memorized setValue callback to not trigger other hooks that use the setState as a dependency , useLocalStorage should preserve this logic.
• store undefined - the JSON.stringify/parse serialization can`t handle undefined as value because JSON don`t support undefined, and getItem can`t separate it from uninitiated value , we can overcome that by storing a Object with the stored value in the localStorage.

Implementation:

import { useState, useCallback } from "react";

export default function useLocalStorage(key, initialValue) {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    // Allow initialValue to be a function so we have same API as useState
    const evaluatedInitialValue = typeof initialValue === "function" ? initialValue() : initialValue;

    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key);
      // Parse stored json or if none return evaluatedInitialValue
      return item ? JSON.parse(item).value : evaluatedInitialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      console.log(`can\`t parse localStorage item ${key}`, error);
      // If error also return evaluatedInitialValue
      return evaluatedInitialValue;
    }
  });

  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = useCallback(
    (value) => {
      // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
      const valueToStore = typeof value === "function" ? value(storedValue) : value;
      // Save state
      setStoredValue(valueToStore);

      try {
        // Save to local storage
        window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify({value: valueToStore}));
      } catch (error) {
        // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
        console.log(`can\`t save localStorage item ${key}`, error);
      }
    },
    [key, storedValue]
  );

  return [storedValue, setValue];
}

Getting this error on Next.js for the first time

ReferenceError: window is not defined

Getting this error on Next.js for the first time

ReferenceError: window is not defined

Because your page is initially rendered on the server and not the browser, the window object is not available yet. In that case you need to use the useEffect when interacting with the window object, since useEffect gets called only on the client side. I don't know why this is not happening to me, but I have a different problem, but with the same cause. I get the warning:
Warning: Did not expect server HTML to contain a <div> in <div>

It happens because the initial client state is different the initial server state. As someone already pointed out interacting with localStorage is a side effect, therefore it should be in useEffect. My solution was to set the passed initial state and use useEffect to update it with the state from local storage. If I was the author of this hook, I would correct that.

With that said, I'm very grateful for this hook and it's still an awesome thing!

Getting this error on Next.js for the first time
ReferenceError: window is not defined

Because your page is initially rendered on the server and not the browser, the window object is not available yet. In that case you need to use the useEffect when interacting with the window object, since useEffect gets called only on the client side. I don't know why this is not happening to me, but I have a different problem, but with the same cause. I get the warning: Warning: Did not expect server HTML to contain a <div> in <div>

It happens because the initial client state is different the initial server state. As someone already pointed out interacting with localStorage is a side effect, therefore it should be in useEffect. My solution was to set the passed initial state and use useEffect to update it with the state from local storage. If I was the author of this hook, I would correct that.

With that said, I'm very grateful for this hook and it's still an awesome thing!

Thanks man, I got the solution long back.

Add initial value saving to LS in the first try/catch block, because otherwise no LS record is created before setValue call. Also make setValue a callback for optimization.

import { useState, useCallback } from 'react'

export const useLocalStorage = (key, initialValue) => {
  // State to store our value
  // Pass initial state function to useState so logic is only executed once
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useState(() => {
    if (typeof window === 'undefined') {
      return initialValue
    }
    try {
      // Get from local storage by key
      const item = window.localStorage.getItem(key)
      // Parse stored json or if none return initialValue
      if (item !== null) {
        return JSON.parse(item)
      } else {
        window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(initialValue))
        return initialValue
      }
    } catch (error) {
      // If error also return initialValue
      console.log(error)
      return initialValue
    }
  })
  // Return a wrapped version of useState's setter function that ...
  // ... persists the new value to localStorage.
  const setValue = useCallback(
    (value) => {
      try {
        // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
        const valueToStore =
          value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value
        // Save state
        setStoredValue(valueToStore)
        // Save to local storage
        if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
          window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore))
        }
      } catch (error) {
        // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
        console.log(error)
      }
    },
    [key, storedValue],
  )

  return [storedValue, setValue]
}

Hi all!

I would like to sugest a minor improvement to the setValuemethod:
instead of this:

    const setValue = (value: any) => {
        try {
        // Allow value to be a function so we have same API as useState
        const valueToStore =
          value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value
        // Save state
        setStoredValue(valueToStore)
        // Save to local storage
        if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
          window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore))
        }
        } catch (error) {
            // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
            console.log(error)
        }
    }

I suggest this:

    const setValue = (value: any) => {
        try {
            setStoredValue(latestValue => {
                const valueToStore = value instanceof Function ? value(latestValue) : value

                // Save to local storage
                if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
                    window.localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(valueToStore))
                }

                return valueToStore
            })
        } catch (error) {
            // A more advanced implementation would handle the error case
            console.log(error)
        }
    }

The purpose is to have access to the real previous value in the callback method :)

I think this implementation has a small flaw in that you are assuming storedValue is up to date when you call

const valueToStore = value instanceof Function ? value(storedValue) : value

Probably better to use useEffect with a dependency on the value of useState and write the value there to localstorage instead.