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“Neon was so easy to get started, and it worked flawlessly with TanStack Start and TanStack Query. When you start a new project with TanStack Start and select Neon in the CLI, you get a working database instantly and later you can go claim it, which is one of the coolest things I’ve seen”

(Tanner Linsley, founder of TanStack)

TanStack is one of the most exciting projects in web development right now, and it’s never been a secret that we’re fans (we’re actually one of its partners). Recently, everything came full circle: the TanStack team also started using Neon to power tanstack.com itself, which turned out to be a great way to test the TanStack stack + Neon developer experience. Teaser: it didn’t disappoint.

In case you don’t know TanStack yet… 

TanStack is an open-source ecosystem of tools for building modern web applications that started as a few focused libraries and has now grown into a cohesive stack used by teams building all kinds of things, from side projects to large production apps.

We invite you to explore the tools and take a look what people are building with them, but here’s a flash list of what’s available today – with many more things in the works: 

  • TanStack Start, a full-stack framework for React and Solid
  • TanStack Router, type-safe routing for React and Solid
  • TanStack Query, for data fetching, caching, and synchronization across client and server
  • TanStack Table, a headless UI for building data grids and tables
  • TanStack DB, client-side database that works beautifully with the rest of the ecosystem
  • TanStack AI, a framework-agnostic AI SDK for building AI features
  • TanStack Form, a headless UI for building performance and type-safe forms
  • TanStack Virtual, a headless UI for rendering large data sets efficiently
  • TanStack Pacer, utilities for scheduling, rate-limiting, and controlling async work
  • TanStack Store, a framework-agnostic data store,
  • and TanStack Devtools, a devtool panels for inspecting and debugging TanStack apps
Check out the showcase

Across these libraries, TanStack follows a consistent set of principles:

  • Strong type safety by default
  • Composable, headless primitives over rigid abstractions
  • Framework awareness without lock-in
  • Tooling that scales with real applications, not demos

TanStack is possible thanks to a core team of sponsored open-source maintainers supported by a much larger group of contributors from around the world. Shoutout to them.

Neon Open Source Program

If you’re also building an open source project that uses Postgres, we’re happy to help you scale. Apply to our open source program to get credits, referral payouts, and marketing support.

Running the stack (plus Neon) to power tanstack.com

Of course, tanstack.com became the obvious place to put TanStack itself to the test. The site isn’t just a simple marketing page – it hosts TanStack’s documentation and community resources, serving millions of visitors per year. 

What’s behind it: 

  • At the core is TanStack Start, which TanStack uses as the full-stack framework driving the site. Start handles routing, server functions, and rendering, while keeping everything type-safe end to end. 
  • On the data side, TanStack Query powers client and server data fetching, caching, and synchronization.
  • For persistence, the team uses Neon with Drizzle, backing many pieces of the site – e.h. authentication tables, TanStack Stats (which caches and serves npm download data), and the community showcase where users can submit and browse projects built with TanStack. 

The architecture itself is intentionally straightforward: a serverless, lambda-style runtime, React on the frontend, and Postgres on the backend. 

Being just Postgres, Neon fit well into the TanStack stack since the start, but a few things stood out that made the experience especially smooth:  

  • Works seamlessly with TanStack Start and TanStack Query, without requiring any special adapter or workarounds.
  • Instant setup, no friction.  When starting a new TanStack project, selecting Neon immediately provisions a working Postgres database. You can build with it right away, and if you decide to keep it, you simply claim the database later. Is that easy. 
  • No need to manually provision or configure anything. In Neon, compute autoscaling does the job of resizing the database and storage scales as needed. It’s pretty much set it and forget it.
  • Branching for DX. The TanStack team takes advantage of Neon branches for development, including schema-only branches with no data. 
  • Compatibility with AI-assisted coding.  Much of the TanStack site was built using AI coding tools like Claude Code, which proved very good working with Neon.

Give it a try 

If you want to try the same setup, go ahead and give it a go. Run TanStack Start and select Neon in the CLI, experiment for a while, and if it clicks, claim your database, and keep going.

Add a claimable DB to your own OSS project or framework

The claimable Neon database experience that TanStack offers is built on Instagres. This setup makes it easy to embed a claimable database flow to open-source projects and frameworks, so your end users can get a working database instantly, no signup required. Check out the Instagres docs to learn more.