Minty

Minty is a fresh, ultra-concise, type-safe HTML generation library for Go web applications. It provides a fluent API for creating HTML components without traditional templates, offering compile-time safety and excellent IDE support.

STATUS: PRELIMINAR, VERY BETA

DOCS: Completely out of sync, will be updating soon

Features

• Type-safe HTML generation - Catch errors at compile time, not runtime
• Fluent builder pattern - Intuitive, chainable API
• Dynamic client-side components - Without writing any Javascript by hand
• HTMX integration - First-class support for HTMX attributes and patterns
• Theme system - Pluggable themes (Bootstrap, Tailwind, Bulma, Material Design)
• Domain libraries - Pre-built components for common business domains
• Control flow helpers - If, IfElse, Each, Map, Filter, and more
• Zero dependencies - Pure Go, no external requirements

Installation

go get github.com/ha1tch/minty

Quick Start

package main

import (
    "os"
    mi "github.com/ha1tch/minty"
)

func main() {
    // Create a simple page
    page := func(b *mi.Builder) mi.Node {
        return b.Html(
            b.Head(b.Title("Hello Minty")),
            b.Body(
                b.H1(mi.Class("title"), "Welcome!"),
                b.P("This is a paragraph."),
                b.A(mi.Href("/about"), "Learn more"),
            ),
        )
    }
    
    // Render to stdout
    mi.Render(page, os.Stdout)
}

Package Structure

github.com/ha1tch/minty
├── /                    # Core library (HTML builder, attributes, HTMX)
├── mintytypes/          # Pure business types (Money, Address, Status, etc.)
├── mintyex/             # Extensions (UI helpers, re-exports mintytypes)  
├── mintyui/             # UI component abstractions (Theme interface)
├── domains/             # Business domain libraries (depend only on mintytypes)
│   ├── mintyfin/        # Finance domain (accounts, transactions, invoices)
│   ├── mintycart/       # E-commerce domain (products, carts, orders)
│   └── mintymove/       # Logistics domain (shipments, tracking, vehicles)
├── presentation/        # UI adapters (domain → themed components)
│   ├── mintyfinui/
│   ├── mintycartui/
│   └── mintymoveui/
├── themes/              # Theme implementations
│   ├── bootstrap/       # Bootstrap 5 theme
│   ├── tailwind/        # Tailwind CSS theme
│   ├── bulma/           # Bulma CSS theme
│   └── material/        # Material Design theme
├── examples/            # Example applications
└── docs/                # Comprehensive documentation

Clean Architecture

The dependency graph enforces clean architecture:

        mintytypes (pure - no dependencies)
        ↗          ↖
    minty           domains/*
        ↖          ↗
         mintyex
            ↑
      presentation/*

• mintytypes: Pure business types with zero external dependencies
• domains: Business logic depends only on mintytypes (no UI knowledge)
• mintyex: UI helpers + re-exports mintytypes for convenience
• presentation: Adapts domain data to themed UI components

Core Concepts

The Builder Pattern

All HTML elements are created through the Builder type. Use the global B instance or create your own:

import mi "github.com/ha1tch/minty"

// Using global builder
div := mi.B.Div(mi.Class("container"), "Hello")

// Using builder in templates (most common)
template := func(b *mi.Builder) mi.Node {
    return b.Div(mi.Class("container"),
        b.H1("Title"),
        b.P("Content"),
    )
}

Attributes

Attributes are created using helper functions:

b.A(
    mi.Href("/page"),
    mi.Class("nav-link"),
    mi.Target("_blank"),
    mi.Rel("noopener"),
    "Click me",
)

HTMX Integration

First-class HTMX support:

b.Button(
    mi.Class("btn"),
    mi.HtmxPost("/api/submit"),
    mi.HtmxTarget("#result"),
    mi.HtmxSwap("innerHTML"),
    mi.HtmxIndicator("#spinner"),
    "Submit",
)

Control Flow

Conditional rendering:

mi.If(isLoggedIn, userGreeting)
mi.IfElse(hasItems, itemsList, emptyMessage)
mi.Each(items, func(item Item) mi.H {
    return func(b *mi.Builder) mi.Node {
        return b.Li(item.Name)
    }
})

Themes

Use pre-built themes for consistent styling:

import (
    mi "github.com/ha1tch/minty"
    "github.com/ha1tch/minty/themes/bootstrap"
)

theme := bootstrap.NewBootstrapTheme()

// Use themed components
button := theme.Button("Click me", "primary")
card := theme.Card("Title", content)
form := theme.FormInput("Email", "email", "email")

Documentation

Comprehensive documentation is available in the /docs directory:

1. Introduction - Getting started
2. Design Philosophy - Architecture decisions
3. Architecture - System design
4. Syntax & API - Complete API reference
5. Components - Component library
6. HTMX Integration - HTMX patterns
7. Business Domains - Domain libraries
8. Iterators - Collection utilities
9. Themes - Theme system
10. Presentation Layer - UI patterns
11. JavaScript Integration - JS interop

Examples

Run the simple example:

cd examples/simple
go run main.go

Development Status

All packages compile and tests pass.

Stable (Ready for use)

• Core library (HTML builder, attributes)
• HTMX integration
• Theme system (Bootstrap, Tailwind, Bulma, Material)
• Domain libraries (mintyfin, mintycart, mintymove)
• Extensions (mintyex)
• UI abstractions (mintyui)
• Presentation adapters (mintycartui, mintyfinui, mintymoveui)

Standard Import Aliases

For consistency across the codebase, use these import aliases:

import (
    mi   "github.com/ha1tch/minty"           // Core library
    mt   "github.com/ha1tch/minty/mintytypes" // Pure business types
    miex "github.com/ha1tch/minty/mintyex"   // Extensions (includes mt re-exports)
    mui  "github.com/ha1tch/minty/mintyui"   // UI components
    
    // Domain packages (import mt, not miex)
    mifi "github.com/ha1tch/minty/domains/mintyfin"   // Finance
    mica "github.com/ha1tch/minty/domains/mintycart"  // E-commerce
    mimo "github.com/ha1tch/minty/domains/mintymove"  // Logistics
)

Note: Domain packages import mintytypes directly (as mt) to maintain clean architecture. Presentation layers can import mintyex which re-exports all types for convenience.

License

Apache 2.0

https://github.com/ha1tch/minty?tab=Apache-2.0-1-ov-file

Author

Copyright (C)2026 haitch

h@ual.fi

https://oldbytes.space/@haitchfive