This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Husnain Tariq
As projects grow, the architecture often becomes the silent bottleneck. Recently, I refactored one of my projects by shifting from a traditional file-type folder structure to a feature-based architecture, and the difference has been significant.
In this post, I’ll walk through why I made the switch, how I structured it, and what benefits I gained. Hopefully, this helps you decide if it’s the right move for your project, too.
🔍 The Problem With File-Type Structures
Most React or frontend projects start with something like:
src/
components/
hooks/
utils/
pages/
context/
styles/
This works… until it doesn’t.
As your project grows, you start jumping between folders just to work on a single feature. A simple update may require touching multiple directories. Files become harder to discover, boundaries blur, and the structure stops scaling.
It’s not wrong, but it eventually slows development.
🧩 The Move to Feature-Based Architecture
A feature-based structure groups everything related to a specific feature in one place:
src/
features/
dashboard/
components/
hooks/
services/
types.ts
index.ts
auth/
components/
hooks/
services/
store/
Each feature becomes a self-contained module, owning its UI, state, logic, and tests.
⚡ Key Benefits I Experienced
After restructuring, these improvements were immediately noticeable:
1. Better Scalability
Features can grow independently without affecting others.
Large teams especially benefit from this modularity.
2. Faster Navigation
All files related to a feature live together.
No more hunting across folders.
3. Improved Maintainability
Feature boundaries become clearer, reducing complexity.
It’s easier to remove, rewrite, or migrate a feature.
4. Team-Friendly Structure
Developers can work on different features with less conflict and fewer merge issues.
5. Cleaner Imports & Encapsulation
Feature indices allow export consolidation:
// features/auth/index.ts
export * from "./components";
export * from "./hooks";
export * from "./services";
This leads to cleaner import paths and a more predictable codebase.
📁 Feature-Based Folder Structure — Visual Diagram
A simple visual representation of how a feature-based architecture looks:
src/
│
├── features/
│ ├── auth/
│ │ ├── components/
│ │ ├── hooks/
│ │ ├── services/
│ │ ├── store/
│ │ ├── types.ts
│ │ └── index.ts
│ │
│ ├── dashboard/
│ │ ├── components/
│ │ ├── hooks/
│ │ ├── services/
│ │ ├── types.ts
│ │ └── index.ts
│ │
│ └── profile/
│ ├── components/
│ ├── hooks/
│ ├── services/
│ ├── store/
│ ├── types.ts
│ └── index.ts
│
├── shared/
│ ├── components/
│ ├── hooks/
│ ├── utils/
│ └── constants/
│
└── app/ (Next.js routing)
🛠️ When You Should Consider Switching
You’ll benefit from a feature-based architecture if:
- Your app is growing, and new modules are being added regularly.
- Features are becoming complex
- Multiple developers contribute
- Navigation feels slower than it should
- Refactors feel risky or messy
If you’re in the early stages or building something small, the switch isn’t mandatory, but planning can save time later.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Husnain Tariq
Husnain Tariq | Sciencx (2025-11-26T22:17:02+00:00) Why I Switched to a Feature-Based Folder Structure (And Why You Should Too). Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/11/26/why-i-switched-to-a-feature-based-folder-structure-and-why-you-should-too/
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