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Introduction

ludic

test codecov Python 3.12 Checked with mypy Documentation Status

Ludic is a lightweight framework for building HTML pages with a component approach similar to React. It is built to be used together with htmx.org so that developers don't need to write almost any JavaScript to create dynamic web services. Its potential can be leveraged together with its web framework which is a wrapper around the powerful Starlette framework. It is built with the latest Python 3.12 features heavily incorporating typing.

Experimental

The framework is in a very early development/experimental stage. There are a lot of half-functioning features at the moment. Contributions are welcome to help out with the progress!

Features

  • Seamless </> htmx integration for rapid web development in pure Python
  • Type-Guided components utilizing Python's typing system
  • Uses the power of Starlette and Async for high-performance web development
  • Build HTML with the ease and power of Python f-strings
  • Add CSS styling to your components with themes

Ideals

This framework allows HTML generation in Python while utilizing Python's typing system. Our goal is to enable the creation of dynamic web applications with reusable components, all while offering a greater level of type safety than raw HTML.

Key Ideas:

  • Type-Guided HTML: Catch potential HTML structural errors at development time thanks to type hints. The framework enforces stricter rules than standard HTML, promoting well-structured and maintainable code.
  • Composable Components: Define reusable, dynamic HTML components in pure Python. This aligns with modern web development practices, emphasizing modularity.

Type-Guided HTML

Here is an example of how Python's type system can be leveraged to enforce HTML structure:

br("Hello, World!")        # type error (<br> can't have children)
br()                       # ok

html(body(...))            # type error (first child must be a <head>)
html(head(...), body(...)) # ok

div("Test", href="test")   # type error (unknown attribute)
a("Test", href="...")      # ok

Composable Components

Instead of using only basic HTML elements, it is possible to create modular components with the support of Python's type system. Let's take a look at an example:

Table(
    TableHead("Id", "Name"),
    TableRow("1", "John"),
    TableRow("2", "Jane"),
    TableRow("3", "Bob"),
)

This structure can be type-checked thanks to Python's rich type system. Additionally, this Table component could have dynamic properties like sorting or filtering.

Quick Example

from ludic.html import b, span
from ludic.web import LudicApp

app = LudicApp()

@app.get("/")
async def homepage() -> span:
    return span(f"Hello {b("world")}!", id="greetings")

Requirements

Python 3.12+

Installation

pip install "ludic[full]"

As similar for Starlette, you'll also want to install an ASGI server:

pip install uvicorn

Contributing

Any contributions to the framework are warmly welcome! Your help will make it a better resource for the community. If you're ready to contribute, read the contribution guide on GitHub.