[Research] Web Components State Management Patterns

Research Objective

Evaluate state management solutions for Web Components migration from Svelte stores.

Current State

• Using Svelte writable stores: theme, role, configStore, input, etc.
• Reactive data binding across 21 Svelte components
• Tauri integration for desktop app state

Research Questions

1. How to replace Svelte stores with Web Components-friendly state management?
2. Which state management library provides best TypeScript support?
3. How to maintain reactivity without framework magic?
4. Performance implications of different approaches?

Options to Evaluate

1. Custom State Manager (Proxy-based)

• Pros: Lightweight, full control, no dependencies
• Cons: Need to build observer pattern, debugging complexity
• Example: MobX-style Proxy observers

2. Redux + Web Components

• Pros: Battle-tested, great DevTools, TypeScript support
• Cons: Boilerplate overhead, learning curve
• Libraries: @reduxjs/toolkit, redux-web-component

3. MobX

• Pros: Simple API, automatic reactivity, decorators
• Cons: Magic can be confusing, bundle size
• Libraries: mobx, mobx-web-component

4. Lit Reactive Controllers

• Pros: Built for Web Components, lightweight
• Cons: Tied to Lit framework
• Libraries: @lit/reactive-element

5. Zustand

• Pros: Minimal API, no Provider pattern, hooks-like
• Cons: React-focused, needs Web Components adapter

Acceptance Criteria

• Research document comparing all options
• TypeScript support evaluation
• Bundle size comparison
• Performance benchmarks (reactivity speed)
• Developer experience assessment
• Debugging tools availability
• Migration path from Svelte stores
• Recommendation with rationale

References

• Current stores.ts: desktop/src/lib/stores.ts
• Components using stores: Search, Chat, ThemeSwitcher, ConfigJsonEditor

Documentation

Findings will be documented in: .docs/research-state-management.md

Start by reading desktop/src/lib/stores.ts and the Search, Chat, ThemeSwitcher, and ConfigJsonEditor components that use the stores. Evaluate the listed state-management options for TypeScript support, bundle size, reactivity performance, developer experience, debugging, and migration from Svelte stores, then document comparisons and a recommendation in .docs/research-state-management.md.