Answer by Dumitru Pletosu for Reagent performance issue when passing atom as a function parameter

Both of your versions have an issue. You should use Form-2 type components when using local state. Like this:

(defn todo-screen []  (let [value (r/atom nil)]    (fn []      [rn/view {:style (styles :container)}       [rn/text {:style (styles :header)} "Todo List"]       [rn/view {:style (styles :textInputContainer)}        [todo-input value]        [rn/touchable-opacity         {:on-press (fn [] (rf/dispatch [:add-todo @value]) (reset! value nil))}         [icon {:name "plus" :size 30 :color "blue" :style {:margin-left 15}}]]]       [todos]])))

More info about Form-2 here.

Or you could use the r/with-let instead. More info about with-let.

Regarding your original question, you could have a compromise between both your versions, and extract the input and submit button into a separate component:

(defn todo-input-container [on-press]  (r/with-let [value (r/atom nil)]    [rn/view {:style (styles :textInputContainer)}     [rn/text-input      {:style          (styles :textInput) :multiline true       :placeholder    "What do you want to do today?" :placeholder-text-color "#abbabb"       :value          @value       :on-change-text #(reset! value %)}]     [rn/touchable-opacity      {:on-press (fn []                   (on-press @value)                   (reset! value nil))}      [icon {:name "plus" :size 30 :color "blue" :style {:margin-left 15}}]]]))(defn todo-screen []  [rn/view {:style (styles :container)}   [rn/text {:style (styles :header)} "Todo List"]   [todo-input-container (fn [value] (rf/dispatch [:add-todo value]))]   [todos]])