dotdrop VS tetra

Oh! You should also check out dotdrop too! 😂

I use dotdrop

I am currently using AstroNvim config and I like it. I use dotdrop for backing up my dotfiles. I would like to backup my AstroNvim config to my dotfiles. Here is the current directory structure of my ~/.config/nvim:

dotdrop – Save your dotfiles once, deploy them everywhere

There are so many solutions to this problem. dotdrop works really well. GNU Stow is a thing too. I use dotdrop because it supports the concept of profiles for different machines, and you can use Jinja2 template logic in your configs.

I use Dotdrop, it fits for me, but there are a lot of different options. At Chezmoi site there is a good comparison table.

Nice! For dotfiles and stuff, I use a helpful program called dotdrop, which allows you to create configs for different machines and all your dotfiles will just be magically symlinked to where you want them.

I like dotdrop. Mainly because I have multiple machines and dotdrop can do templating, so I can more granularly control what goes into each of my machines.

Then there are stack-specific libraries: StimulusReflex for Rails, Phoenix LiveView, Laravel Livewire, Unicorn and Tetra for Django, Blazor for .NET, … and the list goes on.

Unicorn is awesome, and I think most would agree that it's the Django communities answer to Livewire/Liveview/etc. Adam has built a brilliant project and the time he must dedicate to it is amazing!

Last year I had a month free and I had a go at building something for Django in this area, with a bunch of interesting ideas - built on Alpine.js, resumable server side component state, inline component templates. But sadly time is limited and I just can't spend the time needed to push it further. One day I may be able to pivot back to it: https://www.tetraframework.com/

There's a brilliant project called Django Unicorn that aims to be the equivalent of Laravel Livewire for Django. You should take a look.

https://www.django-unicorn.com/

That and HTMX + Alpine.js are a strong combination.

(I also had a bash at building a similar tool for Django called Tetra but unfortunately haven't had the time needed to commit to it: https://www.tetraframework.com)

Most full-stack applications separate frontend and backend code into distinct files; most web frameworks are built based on this structure. As the number of files and lines of code increases, it may increase the complexity of your codebase, thereby making it even more difficult to debug. The complexity caused by these separate files was minimized through the introduction of a framework called Tetra.

One of my apps built on the Django+HTMX stack got traction and no matter how much I loved using HTMX, I found it’s not feasible to keep a clean codebase (facilitating new developers on the team as well) with this stack.

[Tetra](https://www.tetraframework.com/) might be an alternative if you’re hell-bent on not using React.

But, if you want to ship quick, have a maintainable codebase in a technology a lot of devs are familiar with and have the power to instantly have an app for mobile (and buy yourself some time to build one in React Native; code is going to be similar to React.js), I’d recommend using React.

You can use Capacitor.js for instantly shipping a mobile app with your codebase that “just works”. Use Capgo for affordable codepush and you’re set!

But then again, HTMX all the way if you’re not building an app cause not everything is an “app”. At the same time, if you’re building an app with a framework unlike Phoenix, I don’t see why would not go ahead and use a decent JS framework. It seems to be getting a lot of hate and I don’t understand if it’s because of the inability to learn React or what.

tetra

Recently I found a web framework the sits on top of Django and is specifically designed to work with Alpine.js (tetraframework.com). What makes it stand out is that HTMX or Hotwire isn't needed, as Tetra takes care of it. (discussion on ycombinator)