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What is react-elmish-example?

gaearon/react-elmish-example — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2015-10-04

169HTMLAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

In one sentence

A personal learning example showing how to structure React apps using Elm's single-source-of-truth state pattern, demonstrated with a counter, action log, and undo/redo.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    Core idea
      Top-level state
      Actions flow up
      One update function
    Example features
      Counter component
      List of counters
      Action log
      Undo redo
    Purpose
      Elm architecture study
      Not production ready
      Personal exploration
    Audience
      React developers
      Redux curious devs

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Study a minimal working example of Elm-style state management applied to React.

USE CASE 2

See how routing all state changes through one update function enables undo/redo for free.

USE CASE 3

Learn the conceptual roots of Redux by exploring a smaller, hands-on precursor pattern.

What is it built with?

JavaScriptReactHTML

How does it compare?

gaearon/react-elmish-examplealchaincyf/codex-orange-bookthinkpixeliab/polymarket-ai-trading
Stars169160156
LanguageHTMLHTMLHTML
Last pushed2015-10-04
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/51/53/5
Audiencedevelopervibe codervibe coder

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

So what is it?

This is a learning project that explores how to organize React code using ideas from Elm, a programming language known for having a really clean way to manage application state and updates. The core idea is simple: instead of each component managing its own state independently (which can get messy as apps grow), you put all the state at the top level and pass it down. When something needs to change, components send "actions" upward that describe what happened, and a single function processes those actions and updates the state. It's like having one source of truth for your entire app. The example demonstrates this with a counter component, and then shows how you can build more complex features on top, like a list of counters, keeping a log of every action that happened, and even undo/redo functionality. The author built this to understand Elm's architecture better and to figure out how well those ideas work when applied to React. It's not a library or tool meant for production, it's a personal exploration with one concrete example included. You can run it locally by cloning the repository and starting a development server, or just visit the live version hosted on GitHub Pages. This would appeal to React developers who've heard about Elm or Redux (which borrowed from Elm's ideas) and want to see a minimal, hands-on example of the pattern in action. It's useful if you're curious about state management patterns but don't want to dive into a big framework, you can see the bare-bones idea with just a few components. The ability to track every action and implement undo/redo as a side effect of this architecture is a nice demonstration of why developers find this pattern appealing.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how this project's single update function processes actions to change the app's state.
Prompt 2
Walk me through adding a new counter feature to this example using the same action-based pattern.
Prompt 3
Show me how the undo/redo functionality works as a side effect of this architecture.
Prompt 4
Compare this Elm-inspired pattern to how Redux structures state and actions in React apps.

Frequently asked questions

What is react-elmish-example?

A personal learning example showing how to structure React apps using Elm's single-source-of-truth state pattern, demonstrated with a counter, action log, and undo/redo.

What language is react-elmish-example written in?

Mainly HTML. The stack also includes JavaScript, React, HTML.

Is react-elmish-example actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2015-10-04).

How hard is react-elmish-example to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is react-elmish-example for?

Mainly developer.

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