# provider-pattern

Teaches your agent to move shared data into React Context and hand it out through a Provider when props crawl through every layer.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 620 installs · ★ 257
- Author: patterns.dev
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/PatternsDev/skills/tree/HEAD/javascript/provider-pattern/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-04-15
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/provider-pattern

## What it does

The skill walks through the provider pattern with code: create a context with `React.createContext()`, wrap the component tree in a `Provider`, read values with the `useContext` hook. It also shows why passing props down by hand gets painful — rename one prop and you edit every component in between.

A `ThemeProvider` example follows: light and dark mode, with `theme` and `toggleTheme` sitting in the provider's `value`, and `Toggle` and `List` pulling them from context. Custom hooks like `useThemeContext` are covered too, so consumption logic lives in one place.

The catch is re-renders. Put a frequently updated value in context and every consumer re-renders on each change, so the skill advises splitting contexts by concern — theme, auth, locale — instead of one big object. It applies to `**/*.js` and `**/*.ts` files.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill provider-pattern -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/provider-pattern/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/provider-pattern/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill provider-pattern -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/provider-pattern/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill provider-pattern -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/provider-pattern/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install PatternsDev/skills provider-pattern
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/provider-pattern/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill provider-pattern -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/PatternsDev/skills --path javascript/provider-pattern
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/provider-pattern/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add PatternsDev/skills --skill provider-pattern -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/PatternsDev/skills/tree/HEAD/javascript/provider-pattern/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- stop drilling props through several component layers
- share theme, auth or locale across the whole tree
- wrap context reads in a custom hook
- split one oversized context into smaller ones
- rename a shared prop without touching every component

## Example prompts
- Refactor this component: data is passed through five levels of props, move it to a Provider and useContext
- Build a ThemeProvider with light/dark toggle and a useThemeContext hook
- Why does my whole tree re-render when a context value changes?

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

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BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 672ec2ff423b6834
````text
---
name: provider-pattern
description: Teaches the provider pattern for sharing data across component trees. Use when multiple nested components need access to the same data and prop drilling becomes unwieldy.
paths:
  - "**/*.js"
  - "**/*.ts"
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: patterns.dev
  version: "1.1"
related_skills:
  - "module-pattern"
  - "singleton-pattern"
---

# Provider Pattern

## Table of Contents

- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [Instructions](#instructions)
- [Details](#details)
- [Source](#source)

In some cases, we want to make available data to many (if not all) components in an application. Although we can pass data to components using `props`, this can be difficult to do if almost all components in your application need access to the value of the props.

We often end up with something called _prop drilling_, which is the case when we pass props far down the component tree. Refactoring the code that relies on the props becomes almost impossible, and knowing where certain data comes from is difficult.

## When to Use

- Use this when many components need access to the same data (themes, auth, locale)
- This is helpful when prop drilling becomes unwieldy across multiple component layers

## Instructions

- Create a Context with `React.createContext()` and wrap components with its Provider
- Use the `useContext` hook in consuming components to access provided values
- Create custom hooks (e.g., `useThemeContext`) to encapsulate context consumption logic
- Avoid overusing context for frequently updated values as all consumers re-render on change
- Split contexts by concern to minimize unnecessary re-renders

## Details

Let's say that we have one `App` component that contains certain data. Far down the component tree, we have a `ListItem`, `Header` and `Text` component that all need this data. In order to get this data to these components, we'd have to pass it through multiple layers of components.

In our codebase, that would look something like the following:

```js
function App() {
  const data = { ... }

  return (
    <div>
      <SideBar data={data} />
      <Content data={data} />
    </div>
  )
}

const SideBar = ({ data }) => <List data={data} />
const List = ({ data }) => <ListItem data={data} />
const ListItem = ({ data }) => <span>{data.listItem}</span>

const Content = ({ data }) => (
  <div>
    <Header data={data} />
    <Block data={data} />
  </div>
)
const Header = ({ data }) => <div>{data.title}</div>
const Block = ({ data }) => <Text data={data} />
const Text = ({ data }) => <h1>{data.text}</h1>
```

Passing props down this way can get quite messy. If we want to rename the `data` prop in the future, we'd have to rename it in all components. The bigger your application gets, the trickier prop drilling can be.
````
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