Ripple, a new UI framework built using TypeScript, is redefining the future of frontend development. What sets Ripple apart isn’t just its innovative technical foundation but also its creator — Dominic Gannaway, the engineer behind InfernoJS, a lightning-fast React-like library. Gannaway’s experience spans contributions to the React core team, Svelte 5, and engineering roles at Vercel, Bloomberg, and now Attio, an AI-native CRM platform.
Despite still being in early development, Ripple is already generating interest across the JavaScript community for its deliberate focus on developer experience and AI awareness — two areas rapidly transforming modern web development.
A Framework Built for the AI-Driven Developer
Ripple was conceived in response to how AI and large language models (LLMs) are reshaping the way developers interact with code. Instead of prioritizing raw performance, Gannaway designed Ripple to enhance the debugging experience and make AI-generated logic easier to read, understand, and maintain.He explained that in an era where much of the code developers review may be written by AI systems, the ability to understand and debug machine-generated logic becomes essential. Ripple, therefore, emphasizes ergonomics, clarity, and composability over complexity.
According to Gannaway, the goal is to give developers code that is “simpler, easier to read, and delightful to debug” while maintaining the expected speed and reactivity of a modern frontend framework.
Ripple as a Language, Not Just a Framework
Ripple’s distinctive approach lies in its structure , it is not just a framework, but a language built on top of TypeScript.
By making Ripple a TypeScript superset, Gannaway ensures compatibility with the existing JavaScript ecosystem while adding new syntax and semantics that make reactive development smoother. This design choice comes with significant engineering requirements, including building a custom language server, syntax highlighting support, and integration with tools like Prettier and ESLint.
To mark its identity, Ripple uses a dedicated .ripple file extension, signaling a new domain of frontend programming purpose-built for AI and reactive development workflows.
Fine-Grained Rendering Without the Overhead
Ripple introduces a fine-grained rendering architecture that differs from traditional virtual DOM mechanisms. Instead of re-rendering entire component trees, Ripple tracks signals and component-level dependencies more precisely.
Each reactive value in Ripple carries a version tag. When updates occur, the framework selectively updates components based on dependency versions rather than triggering a full re-render tree traversal. This leads to greater efficiency and less memory overhead, especially for complex applications.
Gannaway described this as a “hybrid approach” that blends the hierarchical nature of React’s rendering model with the specialized efficiency seen in modern reactive libraries.
No Virtual DOM, Signals, or SSR and for a Reason
Ripple takes a bold stance by rejecting the virtual DOM, signals, and server-side rendering (SSR) architecture — deliberate decisions aimed at simplicity and performance consistency.
Unlike frameworks that depend on a dual model of reactive graphs and DOM virtualization, Ripple’s unified approach eliminates excessive CPU and memory use. The system needs no elaborate cleanup operations or diffing phases, making it lighter and more maintainable for developers.At launch, Ripple will focus exclusively on client-side single-page applications (SPAs) to ensure stability and polish before extending toward server-side hydration strategies.
Compatibility with React and Beyond
One of Ripple’s most promising features is its ability to interoperate with other modern frameworks. Developers will soon be able to use Ripple within React projects, or integrate React components directly inside Ripple-based applications.
A React compatibility adapter is already in the works, with plans to extend similar support for Solid, Svelte, Vue, and other major reactive frameworks. This compatibility-first philosophy empowers teams to adopt Ripple progressively without needing to rebuild their applications from scratch.
Conclusion
Ripple represents a fresh take on frontend development — a framework and language designed not just for humans but also for an era where AI writes, debugs, and shapes code. Its blend of TypeScript extensibility, fine-grained rendering, and focus on developer experience positions it as one of the most forward-thinking tools emerging in the frontend ecosystem.
By rethinking traditional web development patterns, Ripple sets a new tone for how frameworks can evolve alongside AI — prioritizing clarity, maintainability, and performance in equal measure.
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