TL;DR — Fitz LiveViews is a real-time UI framework for Fitz, a compiled, gradually-typed language where HTTP, WebSockets, auth, and an ORM are part of the syntax. You write single-file components (.fitzv) with state / event / <template>, and the server renders HTML, diffs it, and patches the browser over a WebSocket — no JavaScript build step, no client framework. The same .fitzv can also compile to WebAssembly for offline, zero-round-trip widgets. There's a live component gallery, a course, and a full flagship app (an admin panel with auth + Postgres + Docker) already built with it. Repo: github.com/Thegreekman76/fitz-liveviews · Docs: thegreekman76.github.io/fitz-liveviews
This is the first post in the FitzLiveViews series. I'll start with the pitch and the setup; the following posts build things.
The problem
Building a modern web UI usually means two languages, two type systems, and a build pipeline: a backend (Python / Node / Go) plus a frontend framework (React / Vue / Svelte) plus its toolchain (Vite / Webpack / Babel). You duplicate your types across the wire, you keep two mental models in sync, and node_modules grows a personality of its own.
Phoenix LiveView (Elixir) showed there's another way: render on the server, push diffs over a WebSocket, and let the browser stay dumb. No client framework, no API to hand-write, no JSON serialization dance. Fitz LiveViews brings that model to Fitz — and adds a twist: the same component can also compile to WebAssembly when you want purely client-side, offline interactivity.
