BetterHelperjs Framework

BetterHelperjs is a full-stack TypeScript framework with its own JSX runtime, file-based router, nested layouts, loaders, and SSR by Rigby Foundation. The base package has no mandatory runtime dependencies (prod deps = 0).

Attribution

Original idea and base: newHelper-js by MIOBOMB.

Root scripts

npm install
npm run check
npm run test
npm run build
npm run dev         # starts the test SSR site from ./site

CLI

Create a new Vite + SSR project:

npx better-helperjs create my-app

Options:

• --pm npm|pnpm|yarn|bun
• --no-install
• --force

Test Site

The test SSR site is now a separate package: site/package.json.

npm --prefix site install
npm --prefix site run dev
npm --prefix site run build
npm --prefix site run start

Where pages are:

• site/src/layout.tsx
• site/src/pages/index.tsx
• site/src/pages/about.tsx
• site/src/pages/docs/[slug].tsx
• site/src/pages/404.tsx

JSX and router without React/Preact

• JSX runtime: better-helperjs/jsx-runtime, better-helperjs/jsx-dev-runtime, better-helperjs/jsx
• Hooks: useState, useReducer, useEffect, useMemo, useCallback, useRef from better-helperjs/jsx
• Context API: createContext, useContext from better-helperjs/jsx
• Router core: better-helperjs/router
• File-based router helpers: better-helperjs/router/file-based
• State helpers: better-helperjs/core (createCounterRenderState, serializeState, ...)

File-based router extras

• Nested layouts: pages/layout.tsx, pages/docs/layout.tsx, ...
• Route loader: export function loader(ctx) { ... }, data available as ctx.data
• Error entities: pages/error.tsx (global), export const errorBoundary = ... (route-level)
• Not Found entities: pages/404.tsx or pages/not-found.tsx
• notFound() helper for loader/component scenarios
• SPA links: <Link href=\"/route\" /> from better-helperjs/router
• Dev SSR server (better-helperjs/ssr/site-server) requires vite in the application project.

SSR modes

• hydrateMode: 'full' — standard hydration of the entire application
• hydrateMode: 'none' — no-hydration SSR (pure HTML without client entry)
• hydrateMode: 'islands' — partial hydration via islands (defineIsland, hydrateIslands)
• SSR streaming helpers: renderWithRouterStream, createHtmlChunkStream, streamToNodeResponse

Legacy Browser Build

After npm run build, dist/vite/better-helper.iife.js (target: es2015) is additionally built to include the framework in legacy browsers via a plain <script>.

Legacy API (Deprecated)

These APIs are kept for compatibility and will be removed in 3.2.0:

• lang._(...)
• lazy._(...)
• link._cmd
• link._i