January 10, 2026
Hype tsunami or tiny ripple?
Ripple: The Elegant TypeScript UI Framework
New app builder has devs hyped, exhausted, and arguing about 'one more framework'
TLDR: Ripple promises simpler, faster app building by pre-processing code and making screens update automatically. The community is split between excitement (htmx + JSX vibes) and exhaustion, debating odd symbol choices and warning that “reactivity” can be hard to debug—raising the question: breakthrough or just another framework?
Ripple, a new TypeScript UI framework, is pitching a simple, fast way to build reactive apps—think screens that update themselves when your data changes—by doing most of the magic before the code even runs. The demo shows cute symbols like track() and @ for live-updating text, and #[] for lists, all promising fewer headaches and less clutter.
The crowd is split. One fan declared it “like htmx and JSX teamed up for world domination,” cheering the clean component style and the lack of heavy setup. Another called it “very close to Svelte with runes,” but easier because you don’t need weird syntax for loops or if-statements. Then the nitpickers rolled in: why use track for variables but # for lists? Cue the symbol wars. Meanwhile, the framework-fatigued chimed in with “Please, no more UI frameworks”—wishing we’d just make React Native (a mobile app tool) work in the browser and toss out Redux (a complicated state manager).
The spiciest pushback: reactivity can be a trap. One critic warned that mixing “implicit” and “explicit” updates—some automatic, some manual—gets messy to debug and eventually you end up with the same complexity as everyone else. Memes followed: “Yet-another-JS-framework bingo” and jokes about @ being the new secret sauce. Hype vs burnout, elegance vs reality—classic dev drama.
Key Points
- •Ripple is a compiler-first TypeScript UI framework emphasizing fine-grained reactivity and minimal boilerplate.
- •Design goals include reactive-by-default semantics without useState, ref(), .value, $:, or signals, and granular DOM updates.
- •Core syntax features: track() with @ for reactive variables, # for reactive collections, and inline control flow in templates.
- •A Todo List demo showcases state handling, collection updates, and event handling within Ripple components.
- •The framework comparison positions Ripple as low-boilerplate, fine-grained (vs VDOM diff), scoped CSS, small runtime, and AI-friendly, suited for dashboards and realtime/mobile-web UIs.