DEV Community: imed rebhi

The fastest full-stack web framework you gonna meet.

imed rebhi — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 21:59:54 +0000

I built a full-stack web framework where everything lives in one file

Hey 👋

Over the past weeks, I’ve been working on something a bit unusual.

I built a framework called Luxaura that lets you create full-stack web apps using a single file format: .lux.

👉 UI, state, backend logic, and styling — all in one place.

Why I built this

While working with tools like React and other modern frameworks, I kept feeling the same friction:

One feature = multiple files
UI here, state there, API somewhere else
Constant context switching

It works, but it can feel… fragmented.

So I started wondering:

What if everything related to a feature lived in one place?

The idea

A .lux file combines:

canvas → UI
signal → state
receive → inputs
vault → backend logic (server-only)
paint → styling

So instead of jumping between layers, you stay in one readable structure.

Example

Here’s a simple counter:

receive
    title: String = "My Luxaura App"

signal
    count: 0

canvas
    Scene
        Stack
            Headline "<<title>>"
            Body "Clicked <<count>> times"

            Trigger "Click me"
                when click:
                    count = count + 1

Backend… inside the same file

This is the part I found most interesting.

signal
    status: "Send a message"

vault
    action contact(name, email, message):
        if (!name || !email || !message) {
            return "Please fill every field."
        }
        return `Message received from ${name}`

canvas
    Scene
        Stack
            Trigger "Send"
                when click:
                    status = await vault.contact(name, email, message)

👉 Code inside vault runs only on the server.

No separate API routes. No accidental leaks to the client.

What it tries to improve

Reduce file fragmentation
Make full-stack development feel more “local”
Keep backend logic clearly separated and safe
Generate static-first HTML for better performance

CLI & Commands

Luxaura comes with a built-in CLI to make scaffolding and development easy:

luxaura release → create a new project

luxaura ignite → start dev server with live reload

luxaura forge → build production output

luxaura component → scaffold a new component

luxaura service → scaffold server-side service

luxaura module → scaffold shared module

luxaura polish → auto-format .lux files

luxaura shield → run security checks

What it tries to improve

Reduce file fragmentation

Make full-stack development feel more “local”

Keep backend logic clearly separated and safe

Generate static-first HTML for better performance

Provide reusable components and easy scaffolding

What it’s NOT (yet)

I want to be honest:

It doesn’t have the ecosystem of React
It’s still early and experimental
Probably not ready for large production apps

Where I think it could fit

Luxaura might make sense for:

Small-to-medium apps
Dashboards
Internal tools
Rapid prototyping

What I’m testing now

I’m currently comparing it against frameworks like React and Next.js by building the same app in each.

Also working on:

Supporting external libraries (like Bootstrap, Anime.js)
Improving developer experience
Making the syntax clearer

I’d really like your feedback

I’m not trying to “replace React”.

I’m just exploring a different way of building apps.

If you’re curious, you can check it out here:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/luxaura

I’d love to know:

Does this make sense to you?
What feels confusing?
Would you ever try something like this?

Thanks for reading 🙌

I built a full-stack web framework where everything lives in one file

imed rebhi — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:08:27 +0000

I built a full-stack web framework where everything lives in one file

Hey 👋

Over the past weeks, I’ve been working on something a bit unusual.

I built a framework called Luxaura that lets you create full-stack web apps using a single file format: .lux.

👉 UI, state, backend logic, and styling — all in one place.

Why I built this

While working with tools like React and other modern frameworks, I kept feeling the same friction:

One feature = multiple files
UI here, state there, API somewhere else
Constant context switching

It works, but it can feel… fragmented.

So I started wondering:

What if everything related to a feature lived in one place?

The idea

A .lux file combines:

canvas → UI
signal → state
receive → inputs
vault → backend logic (server-only)
paint → styling

So instead of jumping between layers, you stay in one readable structure.

Example

Here’s a simple counter:

receive
    title: String = "My Luxaura App"

signal
    count: 0

canvas
    Scene
        Stack
            Headline "<<title>>"
            Body "Clicked <<count>> times"

            Trigger "Click me"
                when click:
                    count = count + 1

Backend… inside the same file

This is the part I found most interesting.

signal
    status: "Send a message"

vault
    action contact(name, email, message):
        if (!name || !email || !message) {
            return "Please fill every field."
        }
        return `Message received from ${name}`

canvas
    Scene
        Stack
            Trigger "Send"
                when click:
                    status = await vault.contact(name, email, message)

👉 Code inside vault runs only on the server.

No separate API routes. No accidental leaks to the client.

What it tries to improve

Reduce file fragmentation
Make full-stack development feel more “local”
Keep backend logic clearly separated and safe
Generate static-first HTML for better performance

CLI & Commands

Luxaura comes with a built-in CLI to make scaffolding and development easy:

luxaura release → create a new project

luxaura ignite → start dev server with live reload

luxaura forge → build production output

luxaura component → scaffold a new component

luxaura service → scaffold server-side service

luxaura module → scaffold shared module

luxaura polish → auto-format .lux files

luxaura shield → run security checks

What it tries to improve

Reduce file fragmentation

Make full-stack development feel more “local”

Keep backend logic clearly separated and safe

Generate static-first HTML for better performance

Provide reusable components and easy scaffolding

What it’s NOT (yet)

I want to be honest:

It doesn’t have the ecosystem of React
It’s still early and experimental
Probably not ready for large production apps

Where I think it could fit

Luxaura might make sense for:

Small-to-medium apps
Dashboards
Internal tools
Rapid prototyping

What I’m testing now

I’m currently comparing it against frameworks like React and Next.js by building the same app in each.

Also working on:

Supporting external libraries (like Bootstrap, Anime.js)
Improving developer experience
Making the syntax clearer

I’d really like your feedback

I’m not trying to “replace React”.

I’m just exploring a different way of building apps.

If you’re curious, you can check it out here:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/luxaura

I’d love to know:

Does this make sense to you?
What feels confusing?
Would you ever try something like this?

Thanks for reading 🙌