Prevent hash changes from triggering route loader

[Neaox]

🐞 What happens today

• Navigating to the same route match while changing only the #hash results in match.cause === "stay".
• Unless you override shouldReload, the loader runs again even though the route, pathname, and search haven’t changed.
• Current public API:
  • loaderDeps – callback/object that controls cache keys (not whether the loader runs).
  • shouldReload – per-route function that decides if the loader executes.
  • There is no router-level defaultShouldReload option.

---

🔧 Work-around we’re using

let prevLoc: ParsedLocation | null = null

export const propertyRoute = createFileRoute('/my-route/$id')({
  loader: ({ context, params }) =>
    context.queryClient.prefetchQuery(getPropertyQuery(params.id)),

  shouldReload(match) {
    try {
      // First mount or file-route preload → let the router decide
      if (match.cause === 'enter' || match.cause === 'preload') return undefined

      const hashOnly =
        prevLoc &&
        prevLoc.hash !== match.location.hash &&
        prevLoc.pathname === match.location.pathname &&
        prevLoc.searchStr === match.location.searchStr

      // Skip reload if *only* the fragment changed
      if (hashOnly) return false

      // Otherwise use the router’s default behaviour
      return undefined
    } finally {
      prevLoc = match.location          // remember for next navigation
    }
  },
})

---

🙈 Drawbacks

Issue	Why it matters
Boilerplate	Every route needs the same guard.
Manual state	We maintain prevLoc ourselves; can reset under HMR, parallel bundles, SSR.
Hidden intent	The “ignore hash” rule isn’t expressed once at app level.

---

🌱 Ideas for the future — not implemented

1. Router-wide opt-in

   createRouter({
     defaultShouldReload: (match) => {}
   })

2. Previous context in shouldReload

   shouldReload: (current, previous) => boolean

3. Simple flag

   ignoreHash: true at either router or route level.

---

❓ Questions for maintainers & community

• Would a router-level option (defaultShouldReload / ignoreHash) be welcome?
• Any DX or performance concerns with exposing previous context to shouldReload?
• How are others preventing fragment-only reloads without per-route boilerplate?

[schiller-manuel]

(default)shouldReload looks like a nice idea.
this wouldnt just apply for hash related reloads, right?