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Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

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Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#1

Post by TonyPeakman »

TL;DR: dagger.js is a buildless, runtime-only micro-framework that plays nicely with native Web Components. It uses HTML-first directives (e.g. +click, +load) so you can ship a page by dropping a single from a CDN—no bundlers, no compile step.

Why I built it Modern stacks are powerful but often heavy: bundlers, compile steps, framework DSLs, local CLIs. For internal tools, small apps, and edge/serverless deployments, I wanted something you can view-source, paste into a page, and ship.

What it is:

Runtime-only: no build or VDOM compile; hydrate behaviors directly on HTML. HTML directives: e.g. +click, lifecycle +load / +loaded / +unload / +unloaded. Zero APIs: dagger.js works in pure declarative mode, modules and directives provide everything you need to build your application. Web-Components-first: works alongside Custom Elements; keep concerns local. Distributed modules: load small, focused script modules via CDN. Progressive enhancement: the page renders without a build step.

Use cases:

Admin panels & dashboards that don’t warrant a full toolchain Embed widgets, docs-sites with interactive bits Edge/serverless apps where cold start and simplicity matter

Links

GitHub: https://github.com/dagger8224/dagger.js Docs/Guide: https://daggerjs.org Examples: https://codepen.io/dagger8224/pens

I’d love feedback on edge-cases, and where it breaks. Happy to answer tough questions here.

Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework
daggerjs.org

Re: Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#2

Post by TonyPeakman »

thanks for taking a look!

Positioning: Think Alpine/Vue-like ergonomics but no build and WC-first.

Size & perf: Focus is on simplicity and startup latency over framework features. I’m not posting synthetic benchmarks; if you have a real page you want me to try, I’ll profile it and share results.

Interop: Works with native Custom Elements. I’m preparing examples with Shoelace/FAST.

Security: Directives are sandboxed; no eval. If you spot an injection risk, please open an issue and I’ll patch quickly.

Limitations: Complex state management, SSR/streaming, and huge SPA routing aren’t first goals.

License: MIT.

Contrib: Issues and small PRs welcome (docs, examples, tests especially).

I’ll stay in the thread to answer questions and incorporate feedback into the docs.

Re: Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#3

Post by xupybd »

TonyPeakman wrote: post #2

thanks for taking a look! Positioning: Think Alpine/Vue-like ergonomics but no build and WC-first. Size & perf: Focus is on simplicity and startup latency over framework features. I’m not posting synthetic benchmarks; if you have a real page you want me to try, I’ll profile it and share results. Interop: Works with native Custom Elements. I’m preparing examples with Shoelace/FAST. Security: Directives are sandboxed;…

Website looks dead. I get Godaddy domain parking.

Re: Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#4

Post by jodacola »

TonyPeakman wrote: post #2

thanks for taking a look! Positioning: Think Alpine/Vue-like ergonomics but no build and WC-first. Size & perf: Focus is on simplicity and startup latency over framework features. I’m not posting synthetic benchmarks; if you have a real page you want me to try, I’ll profile it and share results. Interop: Works with native Custom Elements. I’m preparing examples with Shoelace/FAST. Security: Directives are sandboxed;…

FYI: daggerjs.org is resolving to a GoDaddy domain parked page right now.

Will check out the repo linked at the end of your message.

Re: Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#5

Post by pylotlight »

xupybd wrote: post #3
TonyPeakman wrote: post #2

thanks for taking a look! Positioning: Think Alpine/Vue-like ergonomics but no build and WC-first. Size & perf: Focus is on simplicity and startup latency over framework features. I’m not posting synthetic benchmarks; if you have a real page you want me to try, I’ll profile it and share results. Interop: Works with native Custom Elements. I’m preparing examples with Shoelace/FAST. Security: Directives are sandboxed;…

Website looks dead. I get Godaddy domain parking.

worked for me. See also: https://github.com/dagger8224/dagger.js

Re: Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#9

Post by mdaniel »

malfist wrote: post #6

Dagger is also a compile time java dependency injection framework

And a very cool CI toolkit https://github.com/dagger/dagger (Apache 2)

Link to the DI mentioned by the parent comment https://github.com/google/dagger (also Apache 2)

Re: Show HN: Dagger.js – A buildless, runtime-only JavaScript micro-framework

#10

Post by mdaniel »

pylotlight wrote: post #5
xupybd wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Website looks dead. I get Godaddy domain parking.

worked for me. See also: https://github.com/dagger8224/dagger.js

I'd guess people are getting different results because of the varying A records https://dns.google/query?name=daggerjs.org

https://www.whois.com/whois/3.33.130.190 and https://www.whois.com/whois/15.197.148.33 are AWS

https://www.whois.com/whois/185.199.109.153 and similar are GitHub and is almost certainly this repo https://github.com/dagger8224/dagger8224.github.io/blob/main...

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