Conditionally calling an API using React-Query hook

The key was to use Dependent Queries

So, in my main component, I create a boolean and pass that to the enabled option of the useQuery hook:

const isLongEnough = searchString.length > 3;
const {data, isLoading} = useQuery(['search', searchString], getSearchResults, {enabled: isLongEnough});

and the API calling method is simply the API call – not any conditional:

const getSearchResults = async (_, searchString) => {
    const {data} = await axios.get(`/search?q=${searchString}`);
    return data;
}

The docs describe dependent queries as a solution for loading data from subsequent API endpoints, but the enable option can accept any boolean. In this case – if the search query string is long enough.