What is este?

Este is a complete starter kit and development setup for building web applications where the same JavaScript code runs on both the server and in the browser. If you're starting a new web project and want a pre-configured environment with best practices already baked in, Este handles all the boring setup work so you can focus on building. The core idea is to use React (a library for building interactive user interfaces) paired with Flux (a pattern for managing how data flows through your app) and immutable data structures, which means once you create a piece of data, you don't modify it, you create a new version instead. This approach makes it easier to track what changed and undo actions if needed. The setup also includes webpack for bundling your code, Babel to write modern JavaScript, live reloading so changes appear in your browser instantly, and built-in testing with Jest. Everything is configured to work the same way on the server (Node.js) and the browser, so you write less duplicate code. Este would appeal to JavaScript developers building single-page web apps or real-time applications who want a fast development experience without wrestling with configuration. Instead of piecing together your own tools, figuring out which linter to use, how to set up hot module reloading, whether to use Redux or Flux, how to share code between client and server, Este comes with all these decisions made. The README emphasizes learning focused libraries (React, Flux, immutable.js) rather than jumping between different frameworks, and suggests the stack itself is documentation since the example code demonstrates the patterns you should follow. The project is opinionated: it prefers functional programming and immutability over object-oriented classes, avoids over-abstracted frameworks, and uses vanilla Flux rather than a wrapper library. It includes niceties like developer notifications, CSS live reloading, form validation, authentication helpers, and localization support out of the box. For Windows users, some setup requires installing Python and Visual Studio because certain dependencies need to be compiled locally.