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WildflowerJS Reactive JS, No BS*

A no-build reactive JavaScript framework, rooted in the web platform.
No build step. No dependencies. No lock-in.

<script src="wildflower.min.js"></script> ...and start building.

Back to Basics

The code you write is 100% web standard code. HTML stays HTML. JavaScript stays JavaScript. CSS stays CSS. No JSX, no templating language, no custom syntax to learn. If you know the web platform, you already know how to use this.

WildflowerJS extends the web platform. It doesn't replace it.

Your Development Simplified

Because you develop with 100% web standards, every tool in your existing chain already understands the code: IDE, browser DevTools, linter, formatter, screen reader, SEO crawler. Nothing to install, no custom file types, no sourcemaps. Save the file, refresh, and your change is live.

Just be a web developer.

Batteries Included: One Mental Model

Router, SSR, stores, computed properties, two-way binding, event modifiers, data pools, and TypeScript types, all built in, all speaking the same language. Learn data-bind once and you know binding everywhere: lists, pools, stores, forms. There's no five-library stack to keep in sync.

One script tag. Everything you need.

<div data-component="counter">
  <span data-bind="count"></span>
  <button data-action="increment">
    +1
  </button>
</div>

<script>
wildflower.component('counter', {
  state: { count: 0 },
  increment() { this.count++ }
})
</script>

How It Works

data-bind connects state to the DOM.

data-action connects events to methods.

this.count++ triggers a precise DOM update.

Mutate state. The DOM updates.

Two Reactivity Modes

data-list for automatic reactivity: mutate state, DOM updates. data-pool for explicit control: plain objects, zero proxy overhead, you say what changed.

Same template syntax. Different performance profile. From interactive forms to per-frame particle systems. You choose the right tradeoff for the job.

Try it. Right-click, inspect this demo. Every dot is a real DOM element.

See full demo →

Get Started View Demos
* Build Step

Zero Toolchain

Modern frameworks ask you to install a compiler, a bundler, a package manager, hundreds of fragile transitive dependencies, and a framework-specific file format, before you write a single line of your application.

WildflowerJS was built starting from a single principle: no build step, no tooling. Ever.

WildflowerJS asks you to add a script tag.

There's no CLI scaffolding step, no config files, no .vue/.jsx/.svelte source format. You don't debug through sourcemaps or wait on a build pipeline. Your project has zero dependencies.

Performance isn't a tradeoff. Build steps optimize bundle delivery, not the runtime work that follows it. WildflowerJS writes directly to the DOM, with no virtual DOM or reconciliation pass between state change and update, so it doesn't need a build step to be fast.

The framework is full-featured without the toolchain: router, SSR, stores, computed properties, transitions, pools. You don't need a toolchain to use any of it.

my-app/
  index.html
  app.js
  style.css
  wildflower.min.js

That's the entire project. No package.json.
No node_modules. No config files. Ship it.

Zero Install. Zero Attack Surface.

Every dependency you install is trust extended to a maintainer you've never met, running scripts on your dev machine and in your CI. A typical React + Vite + UI‑lib setup pulls in 300+ transitive packages before you write a feature.

Each one is a potential intrusion vector. NPM worms, OAuth chains compromising deploy platforms, postinstall hijacking: the supply chain is now where production code gets compromised, not the deploy. And signing isn't a backstop: Mini Shai‑Hulud (May 2026) compromised 170+ packages whose malicious versions carried valid SLSA Build Level 3 provenance, because the attestation came from build infrastructure the worm had already taken over.

WildflowerJS users don't have this attack surface, by construction. There is no npm install, no postinstall script, no transitive package graph. The framework is one file you copy or pin by hash.

As of v1.1, the same holds for building the framework itself. WildflowerJS bundles with a vendored rollup and terser pipeline pulled as three SHA‑512‑pinned tarballs: no npm install, no transitive packages, no postinstall scripts in the build path. The entire toolchain is three files you verify by hash.

Zero dependencies is the absence of a problem the rest of the industry has not properly addressed.

A typical React/Vue project:

  npm install
  ├── hundreds of packages
  ├── from hundreds of maintainers
  ├── postinstall scripts run on install
  └── tens to hundreds of MB of transitive code

WildflowerJS:

  <script src="wildflower.min.js"></script>
  └── 1 file.
      No transitive dependencies.

Zero Lock-in

WildflowerJS works with the DOM, not instead of it. There's no virtual DOM intercepting your code and no compiler rewriting your markup. The render cycle is yours.

That means Leaflet, DataTables, Chart.js, D3, Three.js, any library that touches the DOM, just works. No wrapper packages or framework-specific escape hatches required. Drop in a script tag and use it.

Because your code is standard HTML and JavaScript, you're never locked in. Your skills transfer and your code is more portable. If you outgrow the framework, your knowledge doesn't expire.

This also means your "ecosystem" is all of the world of vanilla JS. Without compromises or hacks.

<!-- Use any library directly -->
<div data-component="map-view">
  <div id="map" style="height: 400px"></div>
</div>
wildflower.component('map-view', {
  state: { lat: 51.505, lng: -0.09 },
  init() {
    // Leaflet works as-is. No wrappers.
    this._map = L.map('map')
      .setView([this.lat, this.lng], 13);
    L.tileLayer('https://{s}.tile.osm.org'
      + '/{z}/{x}/{y}.png').addTo(this._map);
  }
})

Precise Reactivity

When you write this.count++, WildflowerJS updates the single DOM node bound to count. Nothing else is touched. There's no tree diffing or reconciliation pass to figure that out.

This isn't a tradeoff. You get fine-grained updates and a simple mental model. Change a property, the bound element updates. That's the entire reactivity model.

Other frameworks ask you to learn signals, accessors, memos, effects, and subscription lifecycles to achieve what WildflowerJS does with a property assignment.

wildflower.component('dashboard', {
  state: {
    users: 1420,
    status: 'healthy'
  },
  computed: {
    summary() {
      return this.users + ' users, ' + this.status;
    }
  },
  refresh() {
    this.users = 1421;
    // Only the elements bound to 'users'
    // and 'summary' update. Everything
    // else on the page is untouched.
  }
})

One Reactivity Model. Everywhere.

Components, Stores, and Plugins all share the same reactive foundation. State, computed properties, and methods work identically no matter where they live. Learn it once, it works the same way in a UI component, a global store, or a framework plugin.

Other frameworks make you learn a different system for each layer. React components use hooks, but stores need Redux or Zustand, which are completely different APIs. Vue components use reactive data, but Pinia stores have their own patterns. Every layer is a new mental model.

In WildflowerJS, there's one model. A store is a component without a template. A plugin is an entity that extends the framework itself, adding directives, lifecycle hooks, and services. The same this.count++ triggers the same reactivity everywhere.

This unlocks patterns other frameworks can't express. A store can run headless physics simulations with tick(), feeding data into a component that renders it through a pool, all using the same reactive primitives, no glue code required.

// Component: reactive UI
wildflower.component('cart', {
  state: { items: [] },
  computed: {
    total() { return this.items.length; }
  }
})

// Store: global shared state
wildflower.store('user', {
  state: { name: '', role: 'guest' },
  computed: {
    isAdmin() { return this.role === 'admin'; }
  }
})

// Plugin: extends the framework
wildflower.plugin({
  name: 'notifications',
  state: { items: [], unreadCount: 0 },
  computed: {
    hasUnread() { return this.unreadCount > 0; }
  },
  add(msg) { this.items.push(msg); this.unreadCount++; }
})
// Access globally: wildflower.$notifications.add(...)

// Same state. Same computed. Same methods.

Data Pools

Every framework wraps collection items in reactive proxies, whether the item needs it or not. WildflowerJS gives you a choice: data-list for push reactivity (automatic), data-pool for pull reactivity (explicit control, zero proxy overhead).

Pools render plain objects with the same template syntax as lists. Mutate the object, call markDirty(), and only that item updates. Full CRUD, selection, bulk operations, all faster than the push-reactive path.

And because pools use pull-based rendering, they scale to simulations, games, particle systems, and data visualizations at native frame rate. Use cases that would choke a virtual DOM. No other framework has anything like this.

<div data-component="user-table">
  <tbody data-pool="users" data-key="id">
    <template>
      <tr>
        <td data-bind="name"></td>
        <td data-bind="status"
            data-bind-class="status === 'active'
              ? 'badge success'
              : 'badge inactive'"></td>
      </tr>
    </template>
  </tbody>
</div>
wildflower.component('user-table', {
  pools: { users: {} },

  init() {
    // Populate: plain objects, no proxies
    data.forEach(u => this.pools.users.add(u));
  },

  // Optional: add tick() and the same pool
  // renders every frame. Same template, same
  // data, different rendering frequency.
  // That's the only difference between a
  // display table and a particle system.
})

Built for AI-Assisted Development

Because WildflowerJS is standard HTML and JavaScript, AI code assistants already know how to write it. There's no custom syntax to hallucinate or compiler quirks to work around. The code an AI generates runs exactly as written, with no build step between generation and execution.

We go further. WildflowerJS ships an AI-optimized reference page with patterns, anti-patterns, and examples designed for code generation context windows. Our llms.txt file follows the llms.txt convention for machine-readable documentation.

And for structured app generation, our Universal App Manifest lets you describe an entire application as a JSON schema (components, state, computed properties, methods, templates) and have an AI generate the working code from the manifest, mediated through framework-specific idiom files.

You: "Build me a todo app with
WildflowerJS"

AI reads llms.txt or ai-assistant.html
     ↓
Generates standard HTML + JS
     ↓
<div data-component="todo-app">
  <input data-model="newItem">
  <button data-action="addItem">
    Add
  </button>
  <ul data-list="items">
    <template>
      <li data-bind="text"></li>
    </template>
  </ul>
</div>
     ↓
Open in your browser. It works, and you can read and understand the code.

Communication

WildflowerJS provides several mechanisms for components to share data, call methods on each other, and react to changes across the application.

External State Access

For HTML bindings, use the $ accessor to read state from any entity (store, component, or plugin) directly in templates:

<!-- Bind directly to another entity's state -->
<span data-bind="$user-session.user.name"></span>
<span data-show="$user-session.isLoggedIn">Welcome!</span>
<span data-bind="$cart.itemCount"></span>

For JavaScript access, use subscribe with this.stores for stores, or wildflower.getComponent() for components. The proxy auto-resolves computed vs state properties:

<div class="card">
    <div class="card-body">
    <!-- Store-backed user session -->
    <div data-component="user-controls" class="p-3 border-bottom">
        <p>User: <span data-bind="$user-session.user.name"></span></p>
        <p>Status: <span data-bind="$user-session.user.isLoggedIn"></span></p>
        <p>Points: <span data-bind="$user-session.user.points"></span></p>
        <button class="btn btn-primary" data-action="toggleLogin">
            Toggle Login
        </button>
        <button class="btn btn-secondary ms-2" data-action="addPoints">
            +10 Points
        </button>
    </div>

    <!-- Component subscribing to the store -->
    <div data-component="welcome-banner" class="p-3">
        <h5>Welcome Banner</h5>
        <p data-bind="welcomeText" class="text-success fs-5"></p>
        <small class="text-muted">Uses subscribe + this.stores - auto-updates when store changes</small>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>
// Store with shared state
wildflower.store('user-session', {
    state: {
        user: { name: 'John Doe', isLoggedIn: true, points: 75 }
    },

    toggleLogin() {
        this.user = {
            ...this.user,
            isLoggedIn: !this.user.isLoggedIn,
            name: !this.user.isLoggedIn ? 'John Doe' : 'Guest'
        }
    },

    addPoints() {
        this.user.points += 10
    }
})

// Controls component calls store methods
wildflower.component('user-controls', {
    subscribe: {
        'user-session': ['user']
    },

    toggleLogin() {
        this.stores['user-session'].toggleLogin()
    },

    addPoints() {
        this.stores['user-session'].addPoints()
    }
})

// Subscribe to store for reactive JS access
wildflower.component('welcome-banner', {
    subscribe: {
        'user-session': ['user']
    },

    computed: {
        welcomeText() {
            const user = this.stores['user-session'].user
            return user.isLoggedIn
                ? `Welcome back, ${user.name}!`
                : 'Please log in to continue'
        }
    }
})
Live Preview

Cross-Component Method Calls

Use wildflower.getComponent() to get a component instance and call its methods directly:

<div class="card">
    <div class="card-body">
    <!-- Counter Service Component -->
    <div data-component="counter-service" class="p-3 border-bottom">
        <p>Current count: <span data-bind="count" class="badge bg-primary fs-5"></span></p>
        <p class="text-muted small">This component exposes methods for other components to call</p>
    </div>

    <!-- Controller Component -->
    <div data-component="counter-controller" class="p-3">
        <h5>Controller</h5>
        <div class="d-flex gap-2">
            <button class="btn btn-success" data-action="incrementCounter">+1</button>
            <button class="btn btn-warning" data-action="incrementBy" data-amount="5">+5</button>
            <button class="btn btn-danger" data-action="resetCounter">Reset</button>
        </div>
        <p class="text-muted small mt-2">Uses getComponent() to call counter-service methods directly</p>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>
// Service component with callable methods
wildflower.component('counter-service', {
    state: {
        count: 0
    },

    increment() {
        this.count++
    },

    incrementBy(amount) {
        this.count += amount
    },

    reset() {
        this.count = 0
    }
})

// Controller component that calls methods on counter-service
wildflower.component('counter-controller', {
    incrementCounter() {
        const counter = wildflower.getComponent('counter-service')
        if (counter) {
            counter.increment()
        }
    },

    incrementBy(event, element) {
        const amount = parseInt(element.dataset.amount) || 1
        const counter = wildflower.getComponent('counter-service')
        if (counter) {
            counter.incrementBy(amount)
        }
    },

    resetCounter() {
        const counter = wildflower.getComponent('counter-service')
        if (counter) {
            counter.reset()
        }
    }
})
Live Preview

Use wildflower.getComponents(name) when there are multiple instances of the same component type:

// Dismiss all notification toasts
const notifications = wildflower.getComponents('notification-toast')
notifications.forEach(n => n.dismiss())

// Find a specific instance
const urgent = notifications.find(n => n.state.priority === 'high')
if (urgent) {
    urgent.highlight()
}

Component Events (this.emit)

Use this.emit() for child-to-parent communication. The child emits a named event, and the parent handles it with an on-prefixed method (e.g., emit('select') calls the parent's onSelect()):

<div class="card">
    <div class="card-body">
    <!-- Parent Component -->
    <div data-component="task-list">
        <h5>Tasks</h5>
        <p>Last action: <span data-bind="lastAction" class="text-primary"></span></p>
        <ul class="list-unstyled" data-list="tasks" data-key="id">
            <template>
                <li class="border rounded p-2 mb-2">
                    <div data-component="task-item"
                         data-prop-task="."
                         class="d-flex align-items-center justify-content-between w-100">
                        <span data-bind="props.task.text"></span>
                        <span class="d-flex gap-2">
                            <button class="btn btn-sm btn-success"
                                    data-action="complete">Done</button>
                            <button class="btn btn-sm btn-danger"
                                    data-action="remove">Remove</button>
                        </span>
                    </div>
                </li>
            </template>
        </ul>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>
// Child component emits events to parent
wildflower.component('task-item', {
    props: {
        task: { type: Object, required: true }
    },

    complete() {
        // Emit 'complete' → parent's onComplete() is called
        this.emit('complete', {
            id: this.props.task.id,
            text: this.props.task.text
        })
    },

    remove() {
        // Emit 'remove' → parent's onRemove() is called
        this.emit('remove', { id: this.props.task.id })
    }
})

// Parent component handles events from children
wildflower.component('task-list', {
    state: {
        tasks: [
            { id: 1, text: 'Write documentation' },
            { id: 2, text: 'Fix bug #42' },
            { id: 3, text: 'Review PR' }
        ],
        lastAction: 'none'
    },

    // Handler for child's emit('complete', detail)
    onComplete(detail) {
        this.lastAction = `Completed: ${detail.text}`
        this.tasks = this.tasks.filter(
            t => t.id !== detail.id
        )
    },

    // Handler for child's emit('remove', detail)
    onRemove(detail) {
        this.lastAction = `Removed task #${detail.id}`
        this.tasks = this.tasks.filter(
            t => t.id !== detail.id
        )
    }
})
Live Preview
How emit() works:
  • this.emit('eventName', detail) walks up the component hierarchy looking for an onEventName(detail) handler
  • Event names are auto-capitalized: emit('select') → onSelect(), emit('itemAdded') → onItemAdded()
  • The detail argument (any value or object) is passed directly to the parent handler
  • Events propagate through the component hierarchy: if the immediate parent doesn't handle it, ancestors are checked
  • Returns true if the event was dispatched, false if the component wasn't ready

Watching State Changes

The watch block lets a component react to specific state changes with callback handlers. Watchers receive the new value, old value, and the path that changed:

wildflower.component('settings-panel', {
    state: {
        theme: 'light',
        fontSize: 14,
        user: { name: 'Alice', role: 'admin' }
    },

    watch: {
        // Watch a single property
        theme(newValue, oldValue) {
            document.body.className = `theme-${newValue}`
        },

        // Watch a nested property
        'user.role'(newRole, oldRole) {
            console.log(`Role changed: ${oldRole} → ${newRole}`)
        },

        // Watch any change on an object (fires when user or its children change)
        user(newUser, oldUser, path) {
            console.log(`User changed at ${path}`)
        },

        // Watch a store path
        'store:theme-preferences.darkMode': function(isDark) {
            this.theme = isDark ? 'dark' : 'light'
        }
    }
})
Watcher features:
  • Exact path: 'theme' fires when theme changes
  • Parent path: 'user' fires when user.name changes too
  • Wildcard: '*' fires on any state change
  • Store paths: 'store:storeName.path' watches store state (automatically cleaned up)

Immediate Watchers

Append :immediate to any watch key to run the handler immediately during initialization, in addition to on subsequent changes. The handler receives the current value as newValue and undefined as oldValue:

wildflower.component('theme-applier', {
    state: {
        theme: 'dark',
        locale: 'en'
    },

    watch: {
        // Runs immediately with current value, then on every change
        'theme:immediate'(newValue, oldValue) {
            document.body.className = `theme-${newValue}`
            // On init: newValue='dark', oldValue=undefined
            // On change: newValue='light', oldValue='dark'
        },

        // Works with store paths too
        'store:user-prefs.language:immediate'(lang) {
            this.locale = lang || 'en'
        }
    }
})

Without :immediate, watchers only fire on subsequent changes. Use immediate watchers when you need to apply side effects based on the initial state (like setting a CSS class or syncing with an external system) without duplicating logic in init().

Store Subscriptions

The subscribe block declares which stores a component depends on. Subscribed stores are injected as this.stores.storeName and the onStoreUpdate hook fires when watched paths change:

wildflower.component('user-dashboard', {
    // Declare store dependencies with paths to watch
    subscribe: {
        user: ['profile', 'preferences'],
        cart: ['items']
    },

    init() {
        // Stores are auto-injected after subscription
        console.log(this.stores.user.profile)
        console.log(this.stores.cart.items)
    },

    // Called when any subscribed path changes
    onStoreUpdate(storeName, path, newValue, oldValue) {
        if (storeName === 'user' && path === 'preferences') {
            this.applyPreferences(newValue)
        }
    },

    applyPreferences(prefs) {
        // React to store changes
    }
})

You can also subscribe to stores without watching specific paths, just to ensure the store is available in this.stores:

wildflower.component('nav-bar', {
    // Array syntax: wait for stores, no change notifications
    subscribe: ['auth', 'navigation'],

    init() {
        // Both stores available
        if (this.stores.auth.isLoggedIn) {
            this.stores.navigation.showUserMenu()
        }
    }
})

Programmatic Subscriptions

For dynamic or conditional subscriptions, use the this.subscribe() method. It returns an unsubscribe function for cleanup:

wildflower.component('live-feed', {
    state: { messages: [] },

    init() {
        // Subscribe to own state changes
        this._unsub = this.subscribe('messages', (newMessages) => {
            this.scrollToBottom()
        })
    },

    destroy() {
        // Clean up programmatic subscriptions
        if (this._unsub) this._unsub()
    }
})

// Works on stores too
const store = wildflower.getStore('notifications')
const unsub = store.subscribe('unreadCount', (count) => {
    document.title = count > 0 ? `(${count}) My App` : 'My App'
})

Choosing the Right Pattern

Pattern Use When Cleanup
$entity.path Reading entity state directly in HTML templates (preferred) Automatic
getComponent() Calling methods on or reading state from another component N/A
watch Reacting to specific local state or store path changes Automatic
subscribe block Declaring store dependencies with auto-injection and change notifications Automatic
subscribe() method Dynamic or conditional observation of any state path Manual (returns unsubscribe fn)
emit() Child-to-parent communication (events bubble up hierarchy) N/A
props Parent-to-child data flow declared in HTML Automatic
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