The UNIX of the Web

Web development became complicated. Hundreds of packages, 400MB of dependencies, hours of configuration before writing a single line of code. We forgot that it doesn't have to be this way.

How web development should work

Instant start - Create index.html or index.md and you're running. No setup, no configuration, no waiting.

Single-page apps - Write semantic HTML with dynamic expressions. Import business logic from pure JavaScript modules. Let your design system handle presentation.

Content sites - Front pages, documentation, blogs, marketing pages. Write Nuemark content, add layout modules for structure, trust your design system for consistency.

Universal hot reload - Content, CSS, layouts, data, components, server routes, configurations. Save and watch the browser update instantly.

Complete system - Content sites, SPAs, server routes, backend models.

One tool, complete control. The UNIX philosophy applied to web development.

Nue is the entire ecosystem in 1MB

The kitchen sink problem

React emerged in 2013 to make HTML reactive. It started small and focused: the first version was just the view layer, deliberately leaving state management and routing to other tools. But then it went on a trajectory nobody could foresee. The ecosystem grew into a mountain of packages beyond anything imaginable. Today, a Next.js project created with create-next-app weighs 427MB just to display Hello, World.

The UNIX tradition has a name for this: kitchen sink software. Codebases that try to do everything inevitably do nothing well. They become unmaintainable, unpredictable, and harder to reason about.

Meanwhile, the web evolved dramatically. The web in 2025 has capabilities that didn't exist in 2013. HTML can describe complex applications. CSS creates real design systems. JavaScript became ES6: practically a new language. Browser APIs handle what once required libraries.

While React stayed on its own path, adding more and more packages, Nue stays close to metal and takes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to their absolute peak.

Why this matters

Instant feedback: Build times in milliseconds, not seconds. Hot reload across all assets in 10ms.

Tiny bundles: Complete SPAs smaller than individual React components. Marketing sites under 30KB.

Clear architecture: Business logic separated from design separated from content. Each layer scales independently.

Standards-based: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that work everywhere. No framework APIs to learn, no migration paths to navigate.

Standards are forever

The biggest tragedy in React is technical debt. Remember Redux? Higher-Order Components? Class components? Enzyme? Each solving problems that exist in the React ecosystem only, now forgotten and replaced with the next trend. Skills you learn today risk becoming obsolete in 2-3 years.

Web standards persist. HTML from 2006 still works. CSS only grows more powerful. JavaScript remains the language of the web. These skills compound over decades.

Products built on standards remain fresh forever. Your investment in web fundamentals never expires.

Who this is for

Solo developers building client projects who want to 10x their output.

Technical founders who need to ship products fast without framework overhead.

Full-stack developers who prefer backends but need admin interfaces.

Agencies delivering custom dashboards to small businesses.

Anyone who remembers when web development was straightforward and wants that back.

Try it

bun install -g nuekit
nue create blog
cd blog
nue