From Messy to Modular: Rebuilding Filters in React

Harness has developed a new Filters component system in React to enhance data filtering for improved developer productivity, addressing the limitations of their legacy system, which suffered from poor discoverability, inconsistent behavior, and high developer overhead. The new system, built through several iterations, utilizes the React Context API to provide a reusable, type-safe, and efficient framework that decouples filters from the framework internals, facilitates URL synchronization, and incorporates the principle of Inversion of Control (IoC). This design allows developers to define what their code does while the framework orchestrates when it happens, leading to a flexible and scalable filtering experience that is easy to maintain and enhances user experience by enabling seamless updates, shareability, and bookmarkability. The architecture serves as a blueprint for managing complex UI state management and reusable component design, showcasing how clear objectives and architectural principles can create elegant solutions in modern frontend systems.