## Abstract
Rails revolutionized web development and continues to evolve, but its view layer has remained largely unchanged while frontend needs have evolved dramatically. Rails has maintained its relevance by adopting technologies like Turbolinks and now Turbo/Hotwire while preserving its core principles.
But today's developers face challenges the current view layer wasn't designed to solve: complex UI interactions, reactivity, robust tooling for large codebases, intergration with modern UI kits, and modern tooling expectations.
This talk explores how a new HTML-aware ERB parser (Herb) could enable a truly reactive Rails view layer, bringing LiveView-style reactivity while preserving the "HTML-over-the-wire" philosophy. It will integrate with existing LSPs, unlock powerful tooling, and enable reactive server-rendered templates that could be reused client-side.
I'll demonstrate what's possible through proof-of-concepts and early prototypes, showing how we can collectively advance Rails views for modern development.
## Details
This session shares the vision of "ReActionView - Reactive ActionView" - a modern approach for ActionView built on Herb, designed to meet today's frontend demands while maintaining Rails' principles.
### Content
* **Today's Challenges**: Why Rails views need better tooling in the HTML-over-the-wire era
* **The Foundation**: How Herb opens new possibilities by understanding both HTML and ERB simultaneously
* **Developer Experience**: Seamless integration with Ruby, Rails, Stimulus, and Turbo LSPs
* **Modern Tooling**: Formatter, linter, and intelligent code completion for the view layer
* **Reactive Templates**: Server-side templates with LiveView-inspired reactivity without abandoning .html.erb
* **Universal Templates**: How server templates could potentially work client-side through transpilation
### Highlights
* **Technical Breakthroughs**: How advanced parsing enables next-generation view tooling
* **Prototype Demos**: Early demonstrations of the enhanced developer experience
* **Architecture Options**: Approaches for reactivity while maintaining Rails' server-centric philosophy
* **Community Roadmap**: Steps needed to bring these ideas to a production-ready HTML rendering engine