I didn’t quit React because it’s bad.
I quit it because I noticed a pattern.
Every time I wanted to build something small and useful, I ended up building something way too complex.
It always started the same way: “this will be a quick project”.
But then I would open a React setup, add a bundler, think about folder structure, install dependencies, and suddenly the actual tool was no longer the focus.
I was building infrastructure instead of building the thing.
So I tried a constraint
One rule:
No frameworks. No backend. No build tools. No npm.
Just a single HTML file.
Vanilla JavaScript, inline CSS, and localStorage when needed.
Nothing else.
At first it felt limiting. Like I was going backwards.
But something unexpected happened.
I started finishing things again.
The shift was immediate
Ideas stopped getting stuck in setup.
I would open a file and just build.
No architecture decisions.
No dependency rabbit holes.
No configuration fatigue.
Just:
idea → code → done
What I built with this approach
A few real examples:
invoice generators
markdown editors
budget trackers
simple calculators
internal tools for quick work tasks
Each one is just a single HTML file.
It opens instantly in a browser. No install. No setup. No friction.
The real change wasn’t technical
It was mental.
I stopped asking:
“What’s the correct stack for this?”
And started asking:
“What is the simplest thing that actually solves the problem?”
Most of the time, the answer was much simpler than expected.
Not everything should be a framework project
This is not a “React is bad” story.
React is great when you actually need it.
But most small tools don’t.
They just need to exist.
Where this approach breaks
Single-file apps are not meant for everything.
They break when you need:
real-time collaboration
multi-user systems
complex authentication
large-scale applications
But most personal tools and internal utilities never reach that level.
My current rule
Start as a single file.
Add complexity only when it becomes necessary.
Not when the ecosystem expects it.
If you want to try it
Pick one small idea today.
Build it as a single HTML file.
No setup. No frameworks. No excuses.
Just ship it.
If you want to see how I formalized this approach, here’s the project:
https://github.com/DarkenAmber/single-file-app
It’s a small “skill” that pushes AI-assisted coding toward building complete web tools as a single HTML file — fast, minimal, and dependency-free.