State Management Architecture: React Context vs Zustand vs Server State

The debate over state management in React apps continues to evolve. With powerful server-state libraries like TanStack Query (React Query) and Next.js built-in data caching handling remote data, client-side global state stores like Zustand or Redux are mostly reserved for UI preferences, modals, and audio players.

Where do you draw the line? How much state are you keeping in client stores versus server cache?