What is solid-start?

solidjs/solid-start — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-26

★ 5,857TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5Setup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((SolidStart))
    Core Framework
      File-system routing
      Server-side rendering
      SolidJS integration
    Reactivity Model
      Fine-grained updates
      No full re-renders
    Repo Structure
      Core package
      E2E tests
      Test fixtures
    Tooling
      pnpm workspace
      Playwright testing
    Versioning
      Stable branch
      2.0 alpha active
    Resources
      Official docs
      Starter templates

mindmap root((SolidStart)) Core Framework File-system routing Server-side rendering SolidJS integration Reactivity Model Fine-grained updates No full re-renders Repo Structure Core package E2E tests Test fixtures Tooling pnpm workspace Playwright testing Versioning Stable branch 2.0 alpha active Resources Official docs Starter templates

Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Contributing to or extending the SolidStart framework itself with new routing or rendering features.

USE CASE 2

Understanding how file-system routing and SSR are implemented under the hood in a modern JS framework.

USE CASE 3

Running end-to-end tests against SolidStart internals using Playwright during framework development.

USE CASE 4

Tracking the 2.0 alpha to evaluate SolidStart for adoption in upcoming projects.

What is it built with?

TypeScriptSolidJSpnpmPlaywrightNode.jsVite

How does it compare?

	solidjs/solid-start	xtremilicious/projectlearn-project-based-learning	alangpierce/sucrase
Stars	5,857	5,853	5,864
Language	TypeScript	TypeScript	TypeScript
Setup difficulty	hard	easy	easy
Complexity	4/5	1/5	2/5
Audience	developer	vibe coder	developer

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

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

This repo is the framework source, not an app template. Use docs.solidjs.com and solidjs/templates to build apps. Contributors need pnpm and Playwright, main branch is a 2.0 alpha.

So what is it?

SolidStart is the official application framework built on top of SolidJS, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. If you already know what React and Next.js are, the relationship here is similar: SolidJS is the underlying UI library, and SolidStart adds the extra layer that makes it practical to build full web applications, including routing between pages, server-side rendering, and other features that a plain UI library does not provide on its own. The framework uses a file-system routing approach, which means the folder structure of your project determines what URLs your app responds to. You create a file in the right folder and it automatically becomes a page, without having to manually configure routes. It also inherits SolidJS's fine-grained reactivity model, where only the exact parts of the page that depend on changed data re-render, rather than entire component trees. This particular repository is the source code of SolidStart itself, not a template for building apps with it. The README is aimed at contributors who want to modify or test the framework. For developers who just want to use SolidStart to build something, the official documentation at docs.solidjs.com is the right starting point, and the solidjs/templates repository has starter projects. At the time this README was written, the main branch held a 2.0 alpha that was still under active development. The current stable release was tracked on a separate branch. The codebase is organized as a monorepo containing the core package, a landing page, test fixtures, and end-to-end tests. Contributors work with pnpm for package management and Playwright for browser-based testing.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I'm looking at the SolidStart source repo. Explain how its file-system routing maps folder structure to URL routes, with a short example.

Prompt 2

Using the SolidStart framework, help me scaffold a full-stack app with at least two pages and a server-rendered data fetch.

Prompt 3

Compare SolidStart's fine-grained reactivity rendering model to Next.js's approach, what are the practical performance differences for a typical CRUD app?

Prompt 4

I want to contribute to SolidStart. Walk me through setting up the monorepo locally with pnpm and running the Playwright e2e test suite.

Prompt 5

What is the difference between the SolidStart stable branch and the 2.0 alpha? Should I use the alpha for a new production project starting today?

Frequently asked questions