An opinionated Elm framework for building real-world SPAs with code generators and server-side rendering.
Spades is an opinionated framework for Elm designed to help developers quickly build Single Page Applications (SPAs) ready for real-world use. It provides a structured architecture, code generators to reduce boilerplate, and built-in features like server-side rendering and elm-ui integration. The framework solves the problem of organizing and scaling Elm applications while maintaining Elm's simplicity and readability.
Elm developers, especially beginners or teams building production SPAs who want an opinionated structure and tooling to accelerate development. It's also suitable for projects requiring SEO-friendly server-side rendering and organized codebases.
Developers choose Spades for its integrated approach to Elm SPA development, offering code generators to handle verbosity, server-side rendering out of the box, and a curated set of libraries (like elm-ui and RemoteData). Its opinionated structure reduces decision fatigue and ensures apps scale well.
Start an Elm SPA ready to the real world
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CLI tools generate Elm boilerplate for components and routes, reducing verbosity while keeping code readable, as demonstrated in the component and route generators.
Includes an Express server for rendering Elm apps before sending HTML to clients, improving performance and SEO, with the option to disable it using the --serverless flag.
Comes with elm-ui by default, leveraging Elm's type system for a superior layout experience, as recommended in the README.
Follows an opinionated, domain-focused architecture with the NoMap pattern for parent-child communication, ensuring applications scale in an organized manner.
Bundles specific dependencies like elm-ui and elm-return, which may not suit all teams and require effort to replace if alternatives are preferred.
The inclusion of an Express server for SSR introduces backend maintenance and deployment overhead, even though it can be opted out.
The framework plans to reduce features as Elm evolves, which could lead to deprecations or breaking changes in future updates.