ShadowJS Core Framework

The core ShadowJS framework providing fine-grained reactivity, JSX runtime, and essential UI components.

✨ Features

• 🎯 Fine-grained Reactivity: Only re-render what actually changes
• ⚡ Fast Runtime: Minimal overhead with optimized DOM updates
• 🎨 JSX-First: Familiar React-like syntax with powerful extensions
• 📦 Tree-Shakable: Only bundle what you use
• 🔧 TypeScript Ready: Full type safety and IntelliSense support
• 🎭 Component System: Built-in components for common UI patterns

📦 Installation

npm install @shadow-js/core

For development with hot reload and JSX compilation:

npm install @shadow-js/core @shadow-js/vite

🚀 Quick Start

import { useStore, Show, For } from "@shadow-js/core";

function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useStore(0);
  const [items, setItems] = useStore(["Shadow", "JS", "Reactivity"]);

  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Counter: {() => count()}</h2>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count() + 1)}>Increment</button>

      <Show when={() => count() > 5} fallback={<p>Keep clicking!</p>}>
        <p>🎉 You reached {() => count()}!</p>
      </Show>

      <ul>
        <For each={() => items()}>{(item) => <li>{() => item}</li>}</For>
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

🎯 Core Concepts

Reactive Stores

Create reactive state that automatically updates dependent computations:

import { useStore } from "@shadow-js/core";

function App() {
  const [count, setCount] = useStore(0);
  const doubled = () => count() * 2; // Reactive computation

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {() => count()}</p>
      <p>Doubled: {() => doubled()}</p> {/* Updates automatically */}
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count() + 1)}>+</button>
    </div>
  );
}

Effects and Lifecycle

import { useEffect, onMount, onCleanup } from "@shadow-js/core";

function Timer() {
  const [time, setTime] = useStore(new Date());

  onMount(() => {
    console.log("Component mounted");
  });

  useEffect(() => {
    const interval = setInterval(() => {
      setTime(new Date());
    }, 1000);

    // Cleanup on unmount or dependency change
    return () => clearInterval(interval);
  });

  onCleanup(() => {
    console.log("Component unmounting");
  });

  return <div>Current time: {() => time().toLocaleTimeString()}</div>;
}

Conditional Rendering

import { Show } from "@shadow-js/core";

function UserStatus({ user }) {
  return (
    <Show when={() => user()} fallback={<div>Please log in</div>}>
      <div>Welcome back, {() => user().name}!</div>
    </Show>
  );
}

Lists with For

import { For } from "@shadow-js/core";

function TodoList({ todos }) {
  return (
    <ul>
      <For each={() => todos()}>
        {(todo, index) => (
          <li>
            {() => index() + 1}. {() => todo.title}
          </li>
        )}
      </For>
    </ul>
  );
}

Switch/Case Pattern

import { Switch, Match } from "@shadow-js/core";

function StatusDisplay({ status }) {
  return (
    <Switch fallback={<div>Unknown status</div>}>
      <Match when={() => status() === "loading"}>
        <div>Loading...</div>
      </Match>
      <Match when={() => status() === "success"}>
        <div>Success!</div>
      </Match>
      <Match when={() => status() === "error"}>
        <div>Error occurred</div>
      </Match>
    </Switch>
  );
}

Async Operations with Suspense

import { Suspense, lazy } from "@shadow-js/core";

// Lazy load components
const LazyComponent = lazy(() => import("./HeavyComponent"));

function App() {
  return (
    <Suspense fallback={<div>Loading component...</div>}>
      <LazyComponent />
    </Suspense>
  );
}

📚 API Reference

Reactivity Hooks

| Hook | Description | | --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | useStore<T>(initialValue) | Create a reactive store | | useEffect(fn, deps?) | Run side effects when dependencies change | | useMemo<T>(fn, deps?) | Memoize expensive computations | | useId() | Generate unique IDs | | onMount(fn) | Run code when component mounts | | onCleanup(fn) | Run cleanup code when component unmounts |

Control Flow Components

| Component | Description | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------ | | <Show> | Conditional rendering with fallback | | <For> | Render lists with automatic key management | | <Switch> | Multiple conditional rendering | | <Match> | Case condition for Switch | | <Suspense> | Handle async operations | | <ErrorBoundary> | Catch and handle errors |

Utilities

| Utility | Description | | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------- | | createContext<T>() | Create a context for dependency injection | | useContext<T>(context) | Consume context values | | lazy<T>(importFn) | Lazy load components | | render(component, container) | Render component to DOM | | Fragment | Group elements without wrapper |

🔧 Advanced Usage

Custom Hooks

import { useStore, useEffect } from "@shadow-js/core";

function useLocalStorage<T>(key: string, initialValue: T) {
  const [storedValue, setStoredValue] = useStore<T>(() => {
    try {
      const item = localStorage.getItem(key);
      return item ? JSON.parse(item) : initialValue;
    } catch (error) {
      return initialValue;
    }
  });

  useEffect(() => {
    try {
      localStorage.setItem(key, JSON.stringify(storedValue()));
    } catch (error) {
      console.warn(`Error saving to localStorage:`, error);
    }
  });

  return [storedValue, setStoredValue] as const;
}

Context and Global State

import { createContext, useContext } from "@shadow-js/core";

const ThemeContext = createContext();

function ThemeProvider({ children }) {
  const [theme, setTheme] = useStore<"light" | "dark">("light");

  const toggleTheme = () => {
    setTheme(theme() === "light" ? "dark" : "light");
  };

  return (
    <ThemeContext.Provider value={{ theme, toggleTheme }}>
      {children}
    </ThemeContext.Provider>
  );
}

function useTheme() {
  const context = useContext(ThemeContext);
  if (!context) {
    throw new Error("useTheme must be used within ThemeProvider");
  }
  return context;
}

Error Boundaries

import { ErrorBoundary } from "@shadow-js/core";

function App() {
  return (
    <ErrorBoundary fallback={(error) => <div>Error: {error.message}</div>}>
      <ComponentThatMightError />
    </ErrorBoundary>
  );
}

🔌 Integration

Vite Plugin

For the best development experience, use the ShadowJS Vite plugin:

vite.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import shadow from "@shadow-js/vite";

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [shadow()],
});

Manual JSX Setup

If you prefer manual setup, configure your bundler to use ShadowJS JSX runtime:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "jsxImportSource": "@shadow-js/core"
  }
}

🎨 Styling

ShadowJS works with any CSS solution:

// Inline styles (reactive)
<div style={() => ({ color: theme() === "dark" ? "white" : "black" })}>
  Dynamic styling
</div>

// CSS Classes
<div className="my-component">
  Static styling
</div>

// CSS Modules
import styles from "./Component.module.css";
<div className={styles.container}>CSS Modules</div>

🏗️ Architecture

ShadowJS is built with performance and developer experience in mind:

Fine-grained Reactivity System

• Automatic dependency tracking: No manual dependency arrays
• Efficient updates: Only affected components re-render
• Memory management: Automatic cleanup of unused subscriptions

Optimized Runtime

• Minimal bundle size: Core runtime is < 9KB gzipped
• Fast reconciliation: Optimized DOM diffing algorithm
• Memory efficient: Smart memory management and cleanup

Developer Experience

• TypeScript first: Full type safety and IntelliSense
• Great error messages: Clear error reporting and debugging
• Hot reload friendly: Optimized for development workflows

📚 Examples

Check out the examples documentation for comprehensive code examples covering:

• Basic patterns and best practices
• Advanced reactive patterns
• Real-world application examples
• Integration patterns

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See the Contributing Guide for details.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

📞 Support

• Documentation: ShadowJS Docs
• Examples: Code Examples
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

Built by Jehaad AL-Johani for fine-grained reactivity.