You love building web apps with Python, and HTMX got you excited about the hypermedia approach -- let the server drive the HTML, skip the JavaScript build step, keep things simple. But then you hit that last 10%: You need Alpine.js for interactivity, your state gets out of sync, and suddenly you're juggling two unrelated libraries that weren't designed to work together.

What if there was a single 11-kilobyte framework that gave you everything HTMX and Alpine do, and more, with real-time updates, multiplayer collaboration out of the box, and performance so fast you're actually bottlenecked by the monitor's refresh rate? That's Datastar.

On this episode, I sit down with its creator Delaney Gillilan, core maintainer Ben Croker, and Datastar convert Chris May to explore how this backend-driven, server-sent-events-first framework is changing the way full-stack developers think about the modern web.

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Links from the show

Delaney Gillilan: linkedin.com

Ben Croker: x.com

Chris May: everydaysuperpowers.dev

Datastar: data-star.dev

HTMX: htmx.org

AlpineJS: alpinejs.dev

Core Attribute Tour: data-star.dev

data-star.dev/examples: data-star.dev

github.com/starfederation/datastar-python: github.com

VSCode: marketplace.visualstudio.com

OpenVSX: open-vsx.org

PyCharm/Intellij plugin: plugins.jetbrains.com

data-star.dev/datastar_pro: data-star.dev

gg: discord.gg

HTML-ivating your Django web app's experience with HTMX, AlpineJS, and streaming HTML - Chris May: www.youtube.com

Senior Engineer tries Vibe Coding: www.youtube.com

1 Billion Checkboxes: checkboxes.andersmurphy.com

Game of life example: example.andersmurphy.com

Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com

Episode #537 deep-dive: talkpython.fm/537

Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm

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