About

Frontless is a minimalistic node.js stack for building universal (ismorphic) javascript applications. It is built to boost developer's productivity and eliminate as much repeated routine as possible.

At the core Frontless is just a tiny Express server which provides a developer with powerful tools for building SSR web applications.

Frontless is built around best javascript technologies: Feathers, Riot.JS, Turbolinks, and Express. It plays well with stock templates, any javascript UI components and CSS frameworks like Bootstrap4 or SemanticUI.

Motivation

Frontless is built to solve many issues, here are some of them:

Reduce repeated routine

In practice, the serverless approach significantly complicates work with data. That causes a front-end developer to write the code, which would be better performed by the server rather than a browser application. I believe, the server has to be responsible for things like routing, data requests, user state (sessions), and in some cases - component's view-model. It would make a front-end developer better concentrate on UI rather than repeating the functionality which is done by back-end in more reliable way.

Use any UI frameworks

With power and simplicity of Riot.JS you can use any UI components or stock templates. It plays well with any javascript frameworks or without them. If you're looking for a simple and elegant way to create user interface check out Riot.JS

Stay close to the database

A common hussle for a full-stack developer is that he has to go trough a lot of routine tasks to get the application work. A great part of this routine is usually related to writing API. Feathers.JS helps to overcome most of routine you would do to get a REST API working.

Syncronous rendering

Another common developer routine is to handle asyncronous calls to APIs and databases before rendering UI. Frontless can render pages after all asyncronous calls are complete. Including children riot components nested inside the page markup.

Simplify routing schemes

Routing in web applications should be as simple as it is in static sites. With that in mind, any Riot.JS component placed in pages directory is accesible by browser:

[ pages/foo.riot -> GET http://example.com/foo ]

Also, a page can accept positional arguments and it has access to the Express request context:

// GET http://example.com/foo@bar
export default {
  async fetch(){
    const {args} = this.req.params;
    const [userId] = args;
    console.log(userId === 'bar') // true
  }
}

Stack Summary

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details

Authors

Anton Nesterov - @nesterow

Credits

Gianluca Guarini - @GianlucaGuarini - riot/hydrate, Riot.js

Feathers.JS Community - Github