Wagmi - React Hooks That Don't Suck for Web3

Wagmi is a React hooks library for Ethereum development. Same team that built Viem. It solves the annoying parts of Web3 dev: wallet connections, state management, and TypeScript support that actually works.

Instead of fighting with wallet provider bullshit and transaction state management, you just use hooks like useAccount(), useBalance(), and useWriteContract(). If you know React hooks, you know Wagmi. No more spending 6 hours debugging why MetaMask won't connect or why your transaction is stuck pending forever.

The Stack That Actually Works

Wagmi is built on three things that don't suck:

Viem - Way faster than Ethers.js and smaller bundles. In my testing, contract calls are noticeably snappier. Bundle size is about 60% smaller than equivalent Ethers.js implementations.

TanStack Query - Handles caching so your app doesn't spam RPC calls. Background updates, request deduplication, all that good stuff. Prevents the "Provider not found" error that ruins your day.

React Hooks - If you've used useState and useEffect, you already know how to use Wagmi.

The modular design means you only bundle what you use. Need just wallet connections? Cool. Want contract interactions? Add that. No need to ship the entire Web3 universe to your users.

TypeScript That Doesn't Fight You

The TypeScript support actually works. Give Wagmi your contract ABI and it'll infer function parameters, return types, everything. No more "Cannot call function transfer with args (string, string)" errors at runtime because you passed a string where it wanted a BigInt.

Error handling doesn't suck either. When a transaction fails, you get actual useful information: "Transaction failed: insufficient funds for gas * price + value" instead of the cryptic "execution reverted" nonsense.

Multi-chain support is built in. Your app can switch between Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum without you manually managing different providers. The library handles the network switching prompts and keeps everything synced.

Performance is solid. Request batching means fewer RPC calls (goodbye Alchemy rate limits), caching prevents redundant requests, and tree-shaking keeps your bundle reasonable. My production app loads noticeably faster since switching from Ethers.js.

Web3 development is painful enough without fighting your tools. Wagmi at least gets out of your way so you can focus on building features instead of debugging wallet connections.

The architecture is pretty straightforward once you get past the Web3 complexity.

Viem Does the Heavy Lifting

Wagmi uses Viem under the hood for all the actual blockchain calls. Viem is noticeably faster than Ethers.js - on my M1 Mac, contract reads are about 2x quicker. Bundle size is way smaller too.

The TypeScript integration is where it gets good. Give Wagmi your contract ABI and it automatically knows what functions exist, what parameters they take, what they return. No more runtime errors because you called transferFrom with the wrong types.

TanStack Query Saves Your Alchemy Bill

TanStack Query handles all the caching magic. Multiple components need the same contract data? Wagmi makes one RPC call and shares the result. No more accidentally spamming your provider with duplicate requests.

Background updates keep data fresh without blocking the UI. Shows cached data instantly while fresh data loads behind the scenes. When your RPC provider inevitably has issues, cached data keeps your app working instead of showing spinners forever.

Network errors get automatic retries with backoff. Your app doesn't die just because Infura had a hiccup for 10 seconds.

React Hooks You Actually Understand

The hooks work exactly like you'd expect. useAccount() gives you the connected wallet info and updates when the user switches accounts. useBalance() fetches token balances with automatic caching. useWriteContract() handles the full transaction flow from signing to confirmation.

If you've used React hooks before, you already know how to use Wagmi. No weird new patterns to learn.

Production Reality

Bundle size is reasonable - about 1.12 MB including dependencies. Way smaller than Ethers.js equivalents (which are bloated as hell). Tree-shaking removes unused wallet connectors and chains you don't support.

Request batching saves your Alchemy bill by combining multiple calls. Caching prevents redundant requests when components re-render. In production, this actually makes a noticeable difference in your infrastructure costs.

Error Handling That Doesn't Suck

Web3 has unique failure modes: rejected transactions, insufficient gas, network congestion, MetaMask randomly disconnecting. Wagmi actually tells you what went wrong instead of generic "execution reverted" bullshit.

Transaction errors include failure reasons and gas estimates. Network errors trigger provider switching if you configured multiple RPCs. Wallet connection errors give users actual actionable messages instead of technical jargon.

Multi-Chain Without the Pain

Multi-chain support just works. Configure your chains once and Wagmi handles network switching, separate caches per chain, fallback RPCs when your primary provider is down.

Users get automatic network switching prompts when your app needs a different chain. No more manually managing provider configurations for each network or dealing with stale data when chains switch.