HTMX

Overview

Build HTML-first, server-rendered interfaces that stay easy to inspect and easy to change. Prefer plain links, forms, and server-rendered fragments; use htmx to enhance them locally; treat SSE as one tool inside the HTMX toolbox for real one-way push from the server.

Workflow

1. Check fit before choosing tools

Reach for htmx first when the UI is mostly forms, lists, tables, detail panes, search, filters, pagination, CRUD, notifications, logs, or dashboards with bounded updates.

Treat htmx as a weaker fit when the feature is dominated by high-frequency state changes, free-form drag surfaces, spreadsheets, maps, canvas-heavy behavior, rich offline requirements, or deep client-side state graphs. In those cases, isolate the complex area as an island and keep the rest of the page hypermedia-driven.

2. Start with plain HTML

Make links and forms work without htmx first whenever practical.