Rasti is a lightweight MVC library for building fast, reactive user interfaces.
It provides declarative, composable components for building state-driven UIs.
Its low-level MVC core, inspired by Backbone.js’s architecture, provides models, views and event emitters as the fundamental building blocks.

Key Features

• Declarative Components 🌟
  Build dynamic UI components using intuitive template literals.
• Event Delegation 🎯
  Simplify event handling with built-in delegation.
• Model-View Binding 🔗
  Keep your UI and data in sync with ease.
• Server-Side Rendering 🌐
  Render as plain text for server-side use or static builds.
• Lightweight and Fast ⚡
  Minimal overhead with efficient rendering.
• Legacy Compatibility 🕰️
  Seamlessly integrates into existing Backbone.js legacy projects.
• Standards-Based 📐
  Built on modern web standards, no tooling required.
• TypeScript Support 🧩
  Ships with type definitions for strict typing of models, views, components, props, and events.

Getting Started

Installing via npm

$ npm install rasti

import { Model, Component } from 'rasti';

Using ES modules via CDN

import { Model, Component } from 'https://esm.run/rasti';

Using a UMD build via CDN

Include Rasti directly in your HTML using a CDN. Available UMD builds:

• rasti.js
• rasti.min.js

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/rasti"></script>

The UMD build exposes the Rasti global object:

const { Model, Component } = Rasti;

Create a Component

// Define a Timer component that displays the number of seconds from the model.
const Timer = Component.create`
    <div>
        Seconds: <span>${({ model }) => model.seconds}</span>
    </div>
`;

// Create a model to store the seconds.
const model = new Model({ seconds : 0 });

// Mount the Timer component to the body and pass the model as an option.
Timer.mount({ model }, document.body);

// Increment the `seconds` property of the model every second.
// Only the text node inside the <span> gets updated on each render.
setInterval(() => model.seconds++, 1000);

Try it on CodePen

Adding sub components

// Define the routes for the navigation menu.
const routes = [
    { label : 'Home', href : '#' },
    { label : 'Faq', href : '#faq' },
    { label : 'Contact', href : '#contact' },
];

// Create a Link component for navigation items.
const Link = Component.create`
    <a href="${({ props }) => props.href}">
        ${({ props }) => props.renderChildren()}
    </a>
`;

// Create a Navigation component that renders Link components for each route.
const Navigation = Component.create`
    <nav>
        ${({ props, partial }) => props.routes.map(
            ({ label, href }) => partial`<${Link} href="${href}">${label}</${Link}>`
        )}
    </nav>
`;

// Create a Main component that includes the Navigation and displays the current route's label as the title.
const Main = Component.create`
    <main>
        <${Navigation} routes="${({ props }) => props.routes}" />
        <section>
            <h1>
                ${({ model, props }) => props.routes.find(
                    ({ href }) => href === (model.location || '#')
                ).label}
            </h1>
        </section>
    </main>
`;

// Initialize a model to store the current location.
const model = new Model({ location : document.location.hash });

// Update the model's location state when the browser's history changes.
window.addEventListener('popstate', () => model.location = document.location.hash);

// Mount the Main component to the body, passing the routes and model as options.
Main.mount({ routes, model }, document.body);

Try it on CodePen

Adding event listeners

// Create a model to store the counter value.
const model = new Model({ count : 0 });

// Create a Counter component with increment and decrement buttons.
const Counter = Component.create`
    <div>
        <div>Counter: ${({ model }) => model.count}</div>
        <button onClick=${function() { this.model.count++; }}>Increment</button>
        <button onClick=${function() { this.model.count--; }}>Decrement</button>
    </div>
`;

// Mount the Counter component to the body and pass the model as an option.
Counter.mount({ model }, document.body);

// Event listeners are bound to 'this' and use delegation from the root element.
// When buttons are clicked, only the text node gets updated, not the entire component.

Try it on CodePen

Why Choose Rasti?

Rasti is built for developers who want a simple yet powerful way to create UI components without the complexity of heavy frameworks. Whether you're building a high-performance dashboard, or embedding a lightweight widget, Rasti lets you:

• Skip the Setup
  No installations, no build tools—just load it and start coding.
• Lightweight and Efficient
  Minimal footprint with optimized performance, ensuring smooth updates.
• Just the Right Abstraction
  Keeps you close to the DOM with no over-engineering. Fully hackable — if you're curious about how something works, just check the source code.

Scaffolding a New Project

The fastest way to start a real-world Rasti project is create-rasti, the official scaffolding tool. It generates a ready-to-use Rasti + Vite setup with optional server-side rendering, routing, styling, and icon components.

# Interactive setup
npm create rasti

# Non-interactive single-page app
npm create rasti my-app

# Server-side rendering with routing and Tailwind CSS
npm create rasti my-app --ssr --router --tailwind

Available options include:

• Rendering — Single-page app (default), server-side rendering (--ssr), or static pre-rendering (--static).
• Styling — Plain CSS (default), Tailwind CSS (--tailwind), or CSSFUN with light/dark theme support (--cssfun).
• Routing (--router) — A small universal router built on path-to-regexp.
• Icons (--icons) — Generate Rasti components from popular SVG icon sets (heroicons, akar-icons, feathericon, pixelarticons, and more).

See the create-rasti repository for the full list of templates and options.

Example

To see how Rasti's API and architecture come together in a small app, explore the sample TODO application in the example folder of the Rasti GitHub repository. It's a concise, self-contained reference for understanding how models, views, and components fit together in a simple application. Try it live here.

To scaffold a real-world project, use create-rasti.

API Documentation

For detailed information on how to use Rasti, refer to the API documentation.

TypeScript

Rasti ships with TypeScript declarations out of the box. The types are bundled in the package and resolved automatically.

Components

Pass generics explicitly to type the resulting class:

const Header = Component.create<{ handleAddTodo: (title: string) => void }>`
    <header>...</header>
`;

new Header({ handleAddTodo: (t) => console.log(t) }); // ✅

// With a typed model:
const App = Component.create<{}, any, AppModel>`<main>...</main>`;
App.mount({ model: new AppModel() }, document.body);

Without generics, Component.create stays permissive (parity with JS):

const Plain = Component.create`<div></div>`;
new Plain({ anything: 'goes' }); // ✅

When a component is used with inner content (<${Card}>...</${Card}>), rasti injects a renderChildren function into its props at runtime. Declare it in P to use it:

const Card = Component.create<{ title: string; renderChildren?: () => any }>`
    <div class="card">
        <h2>${({ props }) => props.title}</h2>
        ${({ props }) => props.renderChildren?.()}
    </div>
`;

Component.extend adds the object members to the instance type. Inside its methods, this is the extended component, and lifecycle overrides get their parameters typed automatically:

const Counter = Component.create<{ initial: number }>`<div>...</div>`.extend({
    onCreate() {
        this.state = new Model({ count: this.props.initial }); // `this` is typed
    },
    onChange(model, changed) { // parameters typed automatically
        if ('count' in changed) this.render();
    },
    increment() { this.state.count++; },
});

Counter.mount({ initial: 0 }, document.body).increment(); // ✅ increment is typed

To read attributes off a typed state (or model) directly, define it as a named Model subclass with declaration merging and pass it as the S (or M) generic — then there are no casts anywhere:

class ScoreState extends Model<{ points: number }> {}
interface ScoreState { points: number } // exposes this.points

class Scoreboard extends Component<{}, ScoreState> {
    onCreate() {
        this.state = new ScoreState({ points: 0 });
        this.state.points++; // ✅ typed, no cast
    }
}

Models

Type the attributes with Model<YourAttrs>. Use declaration merging to surface the auto-generated getters/setters as instance properties:

import { Model } from 'rasti';

interface TodoAttrs { title: string; completed: boolean; }

class Todo extends Model<TodoAttrs> {
    preinitialize() {
        this.defaults = { title: '', completed: false };
    }
    toggle() { this.completed = !this.completed; }
}
interface Todo extends TodoAttrs {} // Exposes this.title, this.completed

const t = new Todo({ title: 'x' });
t.title.toUpperCase(); // ✅
t.on('change:completed', (m, value) => value && /* boolean */ console.log('done'));

Helper types

import {
    EventHandler,
    RenderExpression,
    ModelAttrs,
    ComponentProps,
    ComponentState,
    ComponentModel,
} from 'rasti';

// `Counter` (defined above with Component.create) is a *value*. To use the name in
// type position, alias it once — now `Counter` is both a value and a type:
type Counter = InstanceType<typeof Counter>;

// Typed event handler with `this` bound to the component
const onClick: EventHandler<Counter, MouseEvent> = function(ev) {
    this.props.initial;
};

// Typed render expression (`(component) => any`)
const renderLabel: RenderExpression<Counter> = ({ props }) => props.initial;

// Extract types from existing classes
type A = ModelAttrs<Todo>;        // Todo extends Model → already a type, no alias
type P = ComponentProps<Counter>; // pass the instance; `ComponentProps<typeof Counter>` is `never`
type S = ComponentState<Counter>;

Components made with Component.create are values, not types. To use one as a type — as with Counter above — add type X = InstanceType<typeof X> next to the definition, or write InstanceType<typeof X> inline. A Model subclass needs no alias, since class already declares both a value and a type.

Typing template interpolations

Functions inside a template are any — rasti can't infer them from the surrounding string. Which type to use depends on how rasti treats the function (quoted attribute or content → run on render; unquoted attribute → passed as-is):

Under strict / noImplicitAny, every interpolation callback must be annotated — an untyped parameter is an error (TS7031/TS7006), not a silent any. In non-strict mode typing is opt-in: annotate where you want safety and leave trivial ones as any.

| Interpolation | What it is | Type to use | |---|---|---| | Content ${fn} or quoted attr attr="${fn}" | Run on render; this and the argument are the component | RenderExpression<C> | | Unquoted onX=${fn} | DOM handler, called (event, component, matched) | EventHandler<C, E> | | Function passed to a child (handler=${fn}) | Becomes the child's prop; typed by the child, not this component | the child's prop signature |

Three ways to apply them:

// `Home` is a value (made with Component.create), so alias it to use the name as a type:
const Home = Component.create<{}, { location: string }>`<div></div>`.extend({
    close() { /* ... */ },
});
type Home = InstanceType<typeof Home>;

// 1. Named const — cleanest for non-trivial handlers
const onClick: EventHandler<Home, MouseEvent> = function(ev, self) {
    ev.preventDefault();
    self.close();
};

// 2. Inline with `satisfies` — checks + types the params without widening
${(({ state }) => state?.location) satisfies RenderExpression<Home>}

// 3. Bare annotation — lightest, just types the argument
${({ state }: Home) => state?.location}

For a function passed to a child, neither helper fits — its type comes from the child's prop. Type it against that prop's declared type (rasti can't connect the attribute to the child, since both live inside the template string):

// where the child was created with Component.create<ToggleAllProps>`...`
handleChange=${((checked) => model.toggleAll(checked)) satisfies ToggleAllProps['handleChange']}

Known limitations

• Template interpolation callbacks are any. Functions in Component.create\...`` templates can't be inferred from the surrounding string — type them opt-in (see Typing template interpolations).
• Model<A> instance keys require declaration merging. TypeScript can't add A's keys to a class extends Model<A> automatically — see the interface Todo extends TodoAttrs {} pattern above.
• this.$() can return null. It mirrors querySelector, so handle the empty case (?.) and pass a type argument to narrow the element: this.$<HTMLInputElement>('input.edit')?.focus(). this.$$() returns a NodeListOf<HTMLElement> (also narrowable).
• this.model / this.state are optional. Both are undefined unless provided, so guard (this.model?.foo) or assert (this.model!) when you know one was passed. Both accept a Rasti Model or a model from another library (e.g. Backbone); Components subscribe to change events automatically when the object exposes on/off.
• state / model are raw generics, props is not. this.props is always a Model built by rasti, so it's typed Model<P> & P (direct access to P's keys). But state and model can be anything you provide — a Rasti Model, a Backbone model, a store, or a plain object — so they stay the raw generic. To read a typed Model state/model directly, define it as a named subclass with declaration merging and pass it as the S/M generic (see the Scoreboard example above) — no casts needed.
• Weak-type error on narrow props. If a component's P has no required keys and you pass only options not declared in it, TypeScript reports "has no properties in common" (weak-type check). Fix: declare those options in P — non-reserved options become props at runtime.
• Instance fields set in .extend hooks need predeclaration. .extend infers the instance type from the object's members only, so a field first assigned in onCreate (this.router = ...) isn't known. Predeclare it in the object: router: null as unknown as Router. For components with many instance fields, class MyComponent extends Component<P, S> is usually cleaner than .extend.

Working with LLMs

For those working with LLMs, there is an AI Agents reference guide that provides API patterns, lifecycle methods, and best practices, optimized for LLM context. You can share this guide with AI assistants to help them understand Rasti's architecture and component APIs.

Changelog

Release history and migration notes for major versions are in CHANGELOG.md.

License

Rasti is open-source and available under the MIT License.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Share feature ideas or report bugs on our GitHub Issues page.