Yes. Writing a thin layer is a minor task, compared to say, introducing a client-side store and trying to manage all of the complexity of state synchronization.

If I need to add one boolean variable to a page, in React/Vue land I need to update 7 files and create a mutator and a fetcher and an actor and a dispatcher.

In HTMX land that one added variable requires editing, one file…

I don’t understand what HTMX has to do with state synchronization. If you want to implement a thin client authoritative server architecture in React (or another JS framework), you can just do it that way. React doesn’t have any opinion on how information flows between client and server. State in React is optional, you can do everything with props if you want to.

You’re right. It can be done with React, if your team knows React.

State was just an illustrative example that “writing a thin HTMX layer” is not necessarily a bigger lift than “just use a framework”.

There’s a big gap between “write some small thing in PHP” or whatever your team knows, and “learn React well enough to do it the right way”.

As the person I replied to said, it’s not about what’s possible. It’s about getting something done today.