Add Pure SPA section to SPA Mode page #5139
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WalkthroughAdds a new "Pure SPA" subsection to the React SPA mode documentation clarifying that SPA mode still involves a frontend server (TanStack Start) and recommending TanStack Router for a no-frontend-server SPA. No code or public API changes. Changes
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docs/start/framework/react/spa-mode.md (1)
25-28: Clarify “Pure SPA” to avoid implying a required frontend server at runtime; add cross-links.The current wording can be read as “SPA mode still uses a frontend server for the initial document,” which conflicts with the CDN-only messaging above. Suggest replacing the paragraph and adding a note that points to the sections below.
## Pure SPA -SPA mode does not mean there is no frontend server; it's just a different way for the client to interact with your frontend (i.e., TanSatck Start) server. If you need to do an SPA with no frontend server, then [TanStack Router](https://tanstack.com/router/latest) will be a better fit for your project. +SPA mode doesn’t mean “no Start.” It generates a static shell and assets you can host on a CDN. You can still optionally deploy TanStack Start server functions or server routes for backend capabilities. If you want a client‑only SPA with no Start server/runtime, use [TanStack Router](https://tanstack.com/router/latest). + +> [!NOTE] +> If you’re mixing SPA mode with server capabilities, see [Allowing Server Functions and Server Routes](#allowing-server-functions-and-server-routes). For how data can appear in the shell during prerender, see [Dynamic Data in your Shell](#dynamic-data-in-your-shell).
Let me know if you think this is an alright addition to the SPA Mode page. I spent like a whole day trying to get SPA mode to work without an FE server before asking in the Discord and learning that that is antithetical to the ethos of Start. Something akin to this would have saved me a lot of time by directing me to Router alone much sooner.
After the first sentence, there could also be another sentence added explaining
I left it out because I didn't know if it was overexplaining.
Another option is maybe adding a sentence in the Why use Start without SSR? section to clarify better. I guess what I'm looking for is something on the SPA docs specifying that Start is an obligate server environment and enabling SPA doesn't opt you out of that, it merely changes how you interact with said server. I.e., if you want to bring your own server, you must daisy chain it to the Start server.
My position is that I'm in a company with a large Java backend. They would like us to rewrite the FE, but they don't want to add infra for an FE server. Ergo, I saw SPA mode and thought that I could use Start, but such is not the case.
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