Show HN: GolemUI – The new paradigm for JavaScript forms

We're a team of three friends who have been working with forms and Open Source for a decade, and we joined forces together to create something where we can apply all of our experience.

We recently released GolemUI, an Open Source library to generate forms dynamically from JSON definitions, with a typed layer to simplify authoring.

This library has a lot to offer. These are the main characteristics:

1. A JSON engine. The form is governed by a JSON definition that you can store in a DB, version, diff, or generate it with LLMs as a validated JSON.

2. We provide also 28 headless components (and growing) that you can style with CSS variables. We offer APIs so you can drop in Material, Shoelace, or your own components.

3. A DX typed authoring layer on top to write forms programmatically, that generates JSON. So you don't have to write it.

4. The same definition can render the UI components in React, Angular, Vue, Lit, or Vanilla JS.

5. We also have a deterministic MCP that has tools for to validate the model's output, generate JSONs or code, and ensure that the definition returned by the LLM is always valid.

You can find more information here:

Happy to hear any feedback from you and answer any questions!

▲

recursive 8 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

All the field relationships seem to be expressed in strings. This suggests that you might not be able to use auto-complete or build-time syntax or type checking on them. I like the general idea, but that would be a big downside if I'm understanding correctly.

	▲	seattle_spring 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		If done properly, autocomplete w/ Typescript and string literals should work just fine.

▲

manojlds 9 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why the name Golem?

	▲	wtfdeveloper 4 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Golems are mythological creatures that are brought to life with clay. For us, our library is the clay, and the result of what you code with it is the golem.

▲

nu11ptr an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

As someone just starting out with the JS ecosystem, how does this compare to something like SurveyJs?

	▲	wtfdeveloper an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Honest caveat, none of us have really used SurveyJS, so correct me if I'm off. Biggest overlap is the JSON-schema idea, which is our first point here: 1. A JSON engine. The form is governed by a JSON definition that you can store in a DB, version, diff, or generate it with LLMs as a validated JSON. 2. We provide also 28 headless components (and growing) that you can style with CSS variables. We offer APIs so you can drop in Material, Shoelace, or your own components. 3. A DX typed authoring layer on top to write forms programmatically, that generates JSON. So you don't have to write it. 4. The same definition can render the UI components in React, Angular, Vue, Lit, or Vanilla JS. 5. We also have a deterministic MCP that has tools for to validate the model's output, generate JSONs or code, and ensure that the definition returned by the LLM is always valid. But you can see that we do way more...

▲

verdverm an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How is this a new paradigm?

This idea for JSON -> form has existed for a decade, one example: https://github.com/eclipsesource/jsonforms

▲

wtfdeveloper an hour ago | parent [-]

Correct,

But there is more, paraphrasing the post itself:

This library has a lot to offer. These are the main characteristics:

1. A JSON engine. The form is governed by a JSON definition that you can store in a DB, version, diff, or generate it with LLMs as a validated JSON.

2. We provide also 28 headless components (and growing) that you can style with CSS variables. We offer APIs so you can drop in Material, Shoelace, or your own components.

3. A DX typed authoring layer on top to write forms programmatically, that generates JSON. So you don't have to write it.

4. The same definition can render the UI components in React, Angular, Vue, Lit, or Vanilla JS.

5. We also have a deterministic MCP that has tools for to validate the model's output, generate JSONs or code, and ensure that the definition returned by the LLM is always valid.

So we see ourselves as the one shop stop for all your form needs.

▲

tiborsaas an hour ago | parent [-]

This is a good batteries included form framework spec, but not a new paradigm. A new paradigm would be something like not filling forms at all and just process user input via an LLM. Or using voice input in a controlled way. Maybe an adaptive single input field that always knows what you need type.

▲

wtfdeveloper an hour ago | parent [-]

We respect that, we believe is groundbreaking, but also we are aware that as with any other slogan couyld be highly speculative.

However, I think if you look at our offering, perhaps you will agree that there is no one out there that positions themselves as the one stop shop for forms.

	▲	prawnsalad 41 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		"new paradigm", "ground breaking". Yet I remember using JSON backed forms in back around 2010 and there's lots of them since. You've added a few handy UI features on top but it's hardly anything new. You're just ruining the useful features you do have with the overstated nonsense

▲

pavlov an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The overuse of blue and purple gradient fills on the landing page is a telltale sign of AI slop.

I’m sorry, maybe it’s shallow, but that makes me close the tab.

▲

manojlds 10 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Don't judge a book by its cover. In this case, a library by its website.

▲

criticalfault 18 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

i have the same sentiment.

upon opening the site, I immediately got vibed feeling so I closed the tab.

▲

wtfdeveloper an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

haha! Fair point! We are three old school programmers and have no idea on design, so yes for the website ONLY, we let Claude designed for us...

If any designers come over to the comment section, we would love to hear from you! We'd love to improve our website with your advice.

On the other hand, the code, we started coding this more than one year ago and we have poured our souls on it.

If you can bare the AI obvious styling front page, I think you would like the framework

▲

ssalka 43 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

There are lots of skills available that enhance Claude's design capability, eg:

https://www.tasteskill.dev/

https://www.usehallmark.com/

https://layers.jamiemill.com/

https://impeccable.style/

	▲	wtfdeveloper 42 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Oh my god! Thanks so much! We are studying this immediately.

▲

cadamsdotcom an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My main advice would be to get rid of anything extraneous in the site.

Animations should serve a purpose - for example, gamifying with a fireworks animation is useful if you think that communicates what you want about the product.

Engineers know that rainbow borders on boxes are tricksy to implement but a cinch for agents. So rainbow borders are a loud way to say “we didn’t pay close attention to what we were building when we built this” - or to be a bit more kind, “we shipped our first draft”.

It’s just like reading code. Why would you want any distractions?

▲

wtfdeveloper 40 minutes ago | parent [-]

THANKS!

Well, we are very experienced developers, which is code for.. we are old... Old as from the time where websites had banners moving across the page, so that might have influenced our choices.

But these suggestions are gold to us as we have no expertise on design, so thanks AGAIN

	▲	cadamsdotcom 4 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You’re welcome! Happy that it was helpful and not tooooo unkind.. Design can tickle different bits of your brain compared to code! Quite often I can’t pin down and name just what’s wrong (those with the vocab can, of course) But if you can describe the feeling in the back of your mind to an agent you’re golden.

▲

conartist6 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

the feedback is actionable. Fix the styling. It looks awful, like it was made by a middle school student or something

▲

cmoski an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Date range picker doesn't work...

	▲	wtfdeveloper an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		You would be suprised to hear this, but we are actually thrilled to hear this! We are on our first weeks (v1.02), so if you have found a bug we would love to get our hands on it! Would you consider raising an issue here? https://github.com/golemui/golemui/issues You could be the first person to open an issue on this repo (other that the three of us) It goes without saying that this does work in our machines.
	▲	pylotlight an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		worked for me.

▲

typeofhuman an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is there no file input type?

	▲	wtfdeveloper an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Good feedback! Is actually on the roadmap :)

▲

pooplord7 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I hate it.