--- title: Please Just Fucking Try HTMX | daily.dev description: HTMX offers a middle ground between raw HTML limitations and JavaScript framework complexity. By adding HTML attributes that trigger server requests and swap... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/please-just-fucking-try-htmx-1mpfjamcy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Please Just Fucking Try HTMX | daily.dev og:description: HTMX offers a middle ground between raw HTML limitations and JavaScript framework complexity. By adding HTML attributes that trigger server requests and swap... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/please-just-fucking-try-htmx-1mpfjamcy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/1MpfJAMcY.png og:image:alt: Please Just Fucking Try HTMX og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Please Just Fucking Try HTMX **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 253 upvotes · 45 comments ## Summary HTMX offers a middle ground between raw HTML limitations and JavaScript framework complexity. By adding HTML attributes that trigger server requests and swap in HTML responses, you can build interactive web applications without the overhead of React, Vue, or Angular. A case study shows a company reduced their codebase by 67%, cut JavaScript by 90%, and improved performance by switching from React to HTMX. The approach works best for typical CRUD applications, dashboards, and forms rather than highly interactive apps like Google Docs. The core benefit is simplicity: no build tools, no state management libraries, just HTML attributes and server-side rendering. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@alexeyzerkalenkov** · 22 upvotes > Back to the roots! =) Finally people started to simplify things, which they did overcomplicated within last 20 years. KISS principle in action. > > > htmx gives you access to AJAX, CSS Transitions, WebSockets and Server Sent Events directly in HTML, using attributes, so you can build modern user interfaces with the simplicity and power of hypertext > > >htmx is small (~16k min.gz’d), dependency-free, extendable & has reduced code base sizes by 67% when compared with react **@ax\_prashant** · 14 upvotes > # NO, I DON'T WANT TO **@sourabhkumawat** · 7 upvotes > HTMX honestly solves a real problem that gets overlooked in the SPA world. The mental shift from "rebuild everything on the frontend" to "let the server handle rendering and sync the HTML" is massive. > > Our team went from massive JavaScript bundles and state management nightmares to shipping 70% less code. Build times dropped from 5min to 30sec. The learning curve for junior devs basically disappeared because now they're learning HTML attributes instead of wrestling with framework APIs. > > It's not React, and it doesn't try to be. But for CRUD apps and traditional web stuff? It's genuinely... **@andrscarrillo** · 6 upvotes > LMAO > https://htmx.org/essays/htmx-sucks/ **@snazzie** · 4 upvotes >  ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Please Just Fucking Try HTMX](https://daily.dev/posts/please-just-fucking-try-htmx-ncu8zbk1v) · Lobsters · 21 upvotes · 3 comments - [HTMX Is So Cool I Rolled My Own\!](https://daily.dev/posts/htmx-is-so-cool-i-rolled-my-own--ocvhcvgx1) · Lobsters · 28 upvotes · 4 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#react](https://daily.dev/tags/react), [#frontend](https://daily.dev/tags/frontend), [#html](https://daily.dev/tags/html), [#htmx](https://daily.dev/tags/htmx) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/please-just-fucking-try-htmx-1mpfjamcy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Please Just Fucking Try HTMX","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/please-just-fucking-try-htmx-1mpfjamcy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/please-just-fucking-try-htmx-1mpfjamcy"},"datePublished":"2025-12-18T16:00:16.326Z","dateModified":"2025-12-18T16:00:40.879Z","description":"HTMX offers a middle ground between raw HTML limitations and JavaScript framework complexity. 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KISS principle in action.\n\nhtmx gives you access to AJAX, CSS Transitions, WebSockets and Server Sent Events directly in HTML, using attributes, so you can build modern user interfaces with the simplicity and power of hypertext\n\n\nhtmx is small (~16k min.gz’d), dependency-free, extendable & has reduced code base sizes by 67% when compared with react","datePublished":"2025-12-19T08:38:41.760Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1MpfJAMcY#c-QELUbjyo4","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexey Zerkalenkov","url":"https://daily.dev/alexeyzerkalenkov","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKQBwPwaHC4XrPy0rniDybogCxlwDp7QCLkbwsqNRQSFhqDIlIf=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":22}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"NO, I DON’T WANT TO","datePublished":"2025-12-19T10:20:44.834Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1MpfJAMcY#c-pE8Lrkuu0","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Prashant Rijal","url":"https://daily.dev/ax_prashant","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--X33L4424--/f_auto/v1739440974/avatars/avatar_S5xYEu8jXmb2cDEBSs7Mn"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":14}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"HTMX honestly solves a real problem that gets overlooked in the SPA world. The mental shift from “rebuild everything on the frontend” to “let the server handle rendering and sync the HTML” is massive.\nOur team went from massive JavaScript bundles and state management nightmares to shipping 70% less code. Build times dropped from 5min to 30sec. The learning curve for junior devs basically disappeared because now they’re learning HTML attributes instead of wrestling with framework APIs.\nIt’s not React, and it doesn’t try to be. But for CRUD apps and traditional web stuff? It’s genuinely refreshing.","datePublished":"2025-12-20T08:51:10.064Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1MpfJAMcY#c-lpo5NLdT7","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"sourabh kumawat","url":"https://daily.dev/sourabhkumawat","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJlHuITo13xH7W83pqlyFTYzzftAdPBfh7xfo5jvP_iKYGL184I=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"LMAO\nhttps://htmx.org/essays/htmx-sucks/","datePublished":"2025-12-19T21:33:51.261Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1MpfJAMcY#c-iAHK4GWhF","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrés Carrillo","url":"https://daily.dev/andrscarrillo","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/64380067?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":6}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"","datePublished":"2025-12-23T15:01:16.401Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1MpfJAMcY#c-x7DeEf3D1","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"aaron cooper","url":"https://daily.dev/snazzie","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/19627023?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}}]} ```