Nue applies the UNIX philosophy to web development: small composable tools that do one thing well. You get the entire ecosystem — content rendering, reactive components, state management, syntax highlighting — in a single 1MB global install, without npm, without scaffolding, and without configuration files before you write a single line of code.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/nuejs/nue/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
The problem Nue solves
Modern JavaScript frameworks have drifted far from simplicity. A freshly generated Next.js project pulls in 500MB+ ofnode_modules, requires several configuration files before the dev server starts, and blurs the boundaries between structure, logic, and presentation. Components own their styles, their state, and their markup — creating tight coupling that makes large codebases hard to change.
Nue brings back the three-layer model: business logic in JavaScript modules, structure in HTML, and design in CSS. Each layer is independent and composable. A CSS change never touches JavaScript. A layout refactor never touches your domain logic.
What you can build
Nue supports three project types from a single tool:- Content sites — Blogs, documentation, marketing pages, and front pages. Write in Nuemark (an extended Markdown), add layout modules for structure, and let your design system handle the presentation.
- Single-page apps — Write semantic HTML with dynamic expressions and import pure JavaScript modules for your business logic. No JSX required.
- Full-stack sites — Content sites and SPAs with server-side routes and backend models, all in one project.
Core packages
Nue ships as a set of focused packages. You never install them separately —nuekit orchestrates them all.
nuekit
The build tool and dev server. Handles serving, building, hot reload, and project creation. This is the
nue CLI.nuemark
An extended Markdown dialect with built-in support for sections, grids, tabs, and interactive components — no MDX, no React imports.
nuedom
HTML-first UI assembly without a virtual DOM. Components are declared in HTML and enhanced with JavaScript — direct DOM operations, no diffing overhead.
nuestate
URL-first state management. Application state lives in the URL, so bookmarking and deep-linking work automatically with no extra configuration.
nueglow
CSS-first syntax highlighting for any language. Ships in under 3KB with zero JavaScript execution for the highlight pass.
nueyaml
A lightweight YAML parser used for
site.yaml configuration and frontmatter. Keeps configuration readable and dependency-free.How Nue compares to React and Next.js
Less scaffolding
React projects start with 500MB+ of
node_modules. Nue is a 1MB global install. You start with index.html or index.md — nothing else required.Pure separation of concerns
In React, components mix markup, logic, and styles. In Nue, JavaScript handles logic, HTML handles structure, and CSS handles presentation. Each layer is independently changeable.
Faster builds and pages
Nue builds in milliseconds with universal hot reload — content, CSS, layouts, data, components, and server routes all update instantly on save. Output pages are 10x smaller.
No framework lock-in
Your CSS and HTML are standard web platform code. Your JavaScript modules are plain ES modules. Nothing ties your content or styles to a specific framework version.
Universal hot reload
Every layer of a Nue project reloads instantly without a full page refresh: Markdown content, CSS, HTML layouts,site.yaml configuration, JavaScript components, and server routes. You see changes in the browser the moment you save.
Get started
Quickstart
Create your first Nue project and have it running in under a minute.
Installation
Install Bun and Nue globally, and verify your setup.
Project structure
Learn how Nue organizes files and why the separation matters.
CLI reference
Full reference for
nue serve, nue build, nue create, and every flag.