A Three-File React Context Pattern That Eliminates Prop Drilling and Navigation Friction

React Context is commonly used to avoid prop drilling, where state is passed unnecessarily through multiple component layers, but poor file structure can make codebases hard to navigate. A developer has shared a structured approach using three files — a context file, a provider shell, and shared types — that consolidates state logic and consumer hooks in one place. The key insight is moving state management into a private hook within the same file as the public consumer hook, so that 'Go to Definition' jumps directly to the relevant logic. The public hook also performs a single null check and throws a descriptive error if used outside the provider, removing the need for repeated null handling in individual components. A working tic-tac-toe project on GitHub serves as a reference implementation for the pattern.