Comment by nzoschke
14 hours ago
Congrats and thanks! htmx brings me joy.
Pretty much every experiment I build now starts with Go, htmx, and SQLite to keep things simple and fast but still responsive.
I put a few more thoughts about this here:
https://housecat.com/blog/the-hugs-stack-hypermedia-unix-go-...
Agreed.
In fact, I find Django and Postgres to be the best solution for htmx but Go stack is probably almost as good in terms of developer velocity and obviously much faster. So I think that's a good solution.
You can really build powerful production apps with htmx, and what people underestimate is how good it is with AI assisted development (Claude understands it and does it well, and if any JS glue logic on a specific template is required, it's pretty well written and not a mess).
I had a great role for just over a year building with django/postgres/htmx! i ended up using lightweight web components for my js glue code (as well as shoelace, now web awesome, components). once a few patterns were established, claude code was extremely proficient. now getting back into frontend framework world i'm realizing what a lightweight, enjoyable experience that was...
Django + Postgres on the backend plus a frontend of HTMX + alpine.js for a light touch of interactivity where needed is a killer combination. Claude is very good at it, and with the right instructions actually keeps things concise and modular without spilling into spaghettification. I would recommend this as a first option to anyone looking to spin up a new web stack if you’re not absolutely sure you need the heavyweight of React.
I use the same stack. Single codebase, no build step. It’s so refreshing.
I call it the GOSH stack (Go Sqlite Htmx) but HUGS is good too.
Or RASX (Rust Axum Sqlite Htmx)
Skill.md here: https://github.com/dunctk/rasx-app-framework
Or HAGS (HTMX, AlpineJS, Go, SQLite).
Someone asked about using htmx with php on reddit, and was recommended a HAYW (Hypermedia on Anything You Want) stack.
i use this stack quite a bit too. i made the claude do some load bearing 360 backflips, gate and seam a whole buncha smoking guns, and bolt go-starlark on top of this so i can just declare little web apps like its streamlit but it doesn't feel sucky like streamlit. i get to just write little blurbs of python-looking code and i get these fully reactive tools. probably my favorite and most used abstraction that came from too much wine and lazy boredom. also built stupid simple framework ish coverage for connections and duckdb and a few other things.
Go backend with Starlark for dynamic behavior is a great combination. I have been building https://github.com/openrundev/openrun with that approach, mainly for teams to deploy internal tools. It can be used to deploy any containerized application. The management UI for OpenRun is built with the Hypermedia approach https://utils.demo.clace.io/console/
Oh wow, interesting combo that I would never independently reach for, but thanks to your template I might have to give it a whirl!
If you want a prototype fast, don't you use an LLM?
And if you do, why start with a simpler framework?
I also like the same stack, as it plays very well with a terminal focus workflow.