1/**
2 * @jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0
3 */
4
1# React Hono Val Town Project Starter Template
2
3This is a starter template for a full-stack app in a Val Town Project. The app itself is a simple persistent message board.
1# Frontend
2
3This template is a classic client-side-only React app.
4
5## `index.html`
9This HTML file imports `/frontend/style.css` from `/public/style.css` and `/frontend/favicon.svg` from `/frontend/favicon.svg`. Everything in `/frontend/` is mapped to `/public` by `/backend/index.ts`. This is just a convention. You could import & serve everything out of the same folder name.
10
11This HTML file has a `<div id="root"></div>`, which is where we mount the React app.
12
13This HTML file imports `/frontend/index.tsx` from `/public/index.tsx`, which is the **entrypoint** for all frontend JavaScript, including all the React. It is not a problem that it imports a file with a `.tsx` extension becaues browsers ignore file extensions. They only pay attention to content-types, which is great, because all these files will be returned as transpiled JS with the appropriate JS content type by [stevekrouse/utils/serve-public](https://www.val.town/x/stevekrouse/utils/branch/main/code/serve-public/README.md).)
14
15## `index.tsx`
16
17This file is the **entrypoint** for frontend JavaScript. It imports the React app from `/frontend/components/App.tsx` and mounts it on `<div id="root"></div>`.
18
19It also looks for *bootstrapped* JSON data at `window.__INITIAL_DATA`, and passes that only to the `<App />`.
25## `components/`
26
27This directory is where the React components are stored. They're pretty standard client-side React components.
12## Serving assets to the frontend
13
14This backend HTTP server is responsible for serving all static assets to the browser to render the app, including HTML, JavaScript (including all client-side React), CSS, and even the favicon SVG.
15
16In a normal server environment, you would likely use a middleware [like this one](https://hono.dev/docs/getting-started/nodejs#serve-static-files) to serve static files. Some frameworks or deployment platforms automatically make any content inside a `public/` folder public.
26## CRUD API Routes
27
28This app has two CRUD API routes: for reading and inserting into the messages table. They both speak JSON, which is standard. They import their functions from `/backend/database/queries.ts`. These routes are called from the React app to refresh and update data.
29
30## Errors
8## Migrations
9
10In `backend/database/migrations.ts`, this app creates a new SQLite table `reactHonoStarter_messages` to store messages.
11
12This "migration" runs once on every app startup because it's imported in `index.ts`. You can comment this line out for a slight (30ms) performance improvement on cold starts. It's left in so that users who fork this project will have the migration run correctly.
274 createMemory(
275 "2025-04-13",
276 "Lucas allergic to peanuts - mild reaction only, not anaphylactic.",
277 "telegram",
278 "telegram",
1/** @jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0 */
2import React, {
3 useState,
4 useEffect,
5 useCallback,
6 useMemo,
7} from "https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0";
8import { type Memory } from "../../shared/types.ts";
9
89 }, [fetchMemories]);
90
91 const handleAddMemory = async (e: React.FormEvent) => {
92 e.preventDefault();
93 if (!newMemoryText.trim()) return;
144 };
145
146 const handleUpdateMemory = async (e: React.FormEvent) => {
147 e.preventDefault();
148 if (!editingMemory || !editingMemory.text.trim()) return;
1/** @jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0 */
2import { createRoot } from "https://esm.sh/react-dom@18.2.0/client";
3import { App } from "./components/App.tsx";
4
1/**
2 * @jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0
3 */
4import { blob } from "https://esm.town/v/std/blob";
199- **Storage Strategy:** Only use backend storage if explicitly required; prefer simple static client-side sites
200- For persistence, use Val Town SQLite or Blob storage with `import.meta.url` for keys/table names
201- **React Configuration:** When using React libraries, pin versions with `?deps=react@18.2.0,react-dom@18.2.0` and include the `@jsxImportSource` pragma
202- When facing client-side render issues, check if all React dependencies are pinned to the same version
203- **Styling:** Default to using TailwindCSS via `<script src="https://cdn.twind.style" crossorigin></script>` unless otherwise specified
204
262
263### Frontend Best Practices
264- Structure as a standard client-side React app
265- Use SVG for favicons (Val Town only supports text files)
266- Separate components into individual files
267- Access bootstrapped data from `window.__INITIAL_DATA__`
268- Use React 18.2.0 consistently in all imports and the `@jsxImportSource` pragma
269- Follow the React component pattern from the example project
270- Handle API calls properly with proper error catching
271
289 - Always run table creation before querying
290
2913. **React Configuration:**
292 - All React dependencies must be pinned to 18.2.0
293 - Always include `@jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0` at the top of React files
294 - Rendering issues often come from mismatched React versions
295
2964. **File Handling:**