Combine HTMX (version 2.0.4, about 14KB gzipped) with Alpine.js (version 3.15.9, about 17KB gzipped). You get a full interactive web stack for 31KB total. No Webpack. No Vite. No Node.js. No build step. Drop two <script> tags in your HTML, sprinkle a few attributes on your markup, and let any backend serve HTML fragments. That’s the whole setup.

The split is clean. HTMX drives server-side partial updates. Alpine.js covers light client reactivity. The server returns HTML, not JSON. The browser swaps it into the page. Alpine.js attributes in the markup handle toggles, dropdowns, and modals. No compile step sits between you and your running app.

Pair Meilisearch v1.12’s fast REST API with HTMX 2.0’s hx-get and hx-trigger attributes, and you get a real-time, typo-tolerant search box that returns results in under 50ms. You write no custom JavaScript and pull in no React or Vue. The server renders HTML fragments that HTMX swaps into the DOM, so the whole search box stays under 15 KB of total JS. This post covers the full setup, from Docker Compose to a working search UI with faceted filtering.