#537: Datastar: Modern web dev, simplified

Talk Python To Me

Michael Kennedy

Technology

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2026

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You love building web apps with Python, and HTMX got you excited about the hypermedia approach -- let the server drive the HTML, skip the JavaScript build step, keep things simple. But then you hit that last 10%: You need Alpine.js for interactivity, your state gets out of sync, and suddenly you're juggling two unrelated libraries that weren't designed to work together. What if there was a single 11-kilobyte framework that gave you everything HTMX and Alpine do, and more, with real-time updates, multiplayer collaboration out of the box, and performance so fast you're actually bottlenecked by the monitor's refresh rate? That's Datastar. On this episode, I sit down with its creator Delaney Gillilan, core maintainer Ben Croker, and Datastar convert Chris May to explore how this backend-driven, server-sent-events-first framework is changing the way full-stack developers think about the modern web.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You love building web apps with Python, and HTMLx got you excited about the hypermedia approach.
0:05.7	Let the server drive to HTML, skip the JavaScript build step, keep things simple, right?
0:10.9	But then you hit that last 10%.
0:12.8	You need Alpinejs for interactivity or your state gets out of sync,
0:16.8	and suddenly you're juggling two unrelated libraries that weren't really designed to work together.
0:21.7	Where if there was a single 11-kilabyte framework that gave you everything HTMLX and
0:26.6	Alpine Jazz did, and more with real-time updates, multiplayer collaboration out of the box,
0:31.8	and perform it so fast you're actually bottlenecked by your monitor's refresh rate.
0:37.0	That's Datastar.
0:38.4	On this episode, I sit down with its creator, Delany Galan,
0:41.7	core maintainer Ben Crocker,
0:43.7	and Datastar convert Chris May to help explore how this
0:47.9	backend-driven service-cent event-first framework
0:51.0	is changing the way full-stack developers think about the modern web.
0:55.8	This is Talk Python to Me.
0:56.9	Episode 537 recorded January 15th, 2026.
1:03.6	Talk Python to me.
1:05.4	Yeah, we ready to roll.
1:06.7	Upgrading the code.
1:08.0	No fear of getting old.
1:09.4	They sink in the air.
1:10.7	New frameworks in sight. Ge geeky rap on deck.
	...

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