Discussion summary
GolemUI is a declarative form engine that received mixed reactions, with some criticizing its website design and lack of Svelte support. The creators explained the name as a metaphor for their library being like clay that brings code to life.
What the discussion says
- Critics dislike the website design and branding choices.
- Some users are disappointed by the lack of Svelte support.
- Others appreciate the metaphor behind the name Golem.
Comments
Hacker News
Ok, I love it.
Can you simplify how form dynamism works? I skimmed the docs and saw 'states', but it didn't immediately click how it works.
Do we build a tree of rules outside of the components? Are states attached to each component, bottoms-up, and then the form tree is managed by the library?
by nilirl
Wonder why some technical decisions were made. E.g. i can make a dynamic form builder with Zod in ~1 week without AI. Why not do that? Why a custom engine?
by ramon156
How is this a new paradigm?
This idea for JSON -> form has existed for a decade, one example: https://github.com/eclipsesource/jsonforms
by verdverm
Why did your release jump from 0.17.0 (2026-06-08) to 1.0 in such a short time?
If I use Tailwind, BEM or Boostrap, how hard it will be to customise? Flowbite have a few pre-made UI.
Shoelace UI is based on Web Components, now that it got bigger:
by todotask2
As someone just starting out with the JS ecosystem, how does this compare to something like SurveyJs?
by nu11ptr
How much of this is vibe coded? The widget demos about halfway down seem half-baked; the currency input allows letters and letter inputs visually disappear when you unfocus it. The calendar input appears to select the day before the one I clicked. The markdown editor places hashes after the text on the current line rather than making the current line a header. The dropdown search doesn't seem to work (typing "R" shows React and AngulaR, but typing "Re" doesn't show any options).
All of those are fixable of course, and the idea is neat! It's just a bit of a rough showcase, at least on Firefox.
by mattstir
All the field relationships seem to be expressed in strings. This suggests that you might not be able to use auto-complete or build-time syntax or type checking on them. I like the general idea, but that would be a big downside if I'm understanding correctly.
by recursive
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- Hacker News
- Ok, I love it.
Can you simplify how form dynamism works? I skimmed the docs and saw 'states', but it didn't immediately click how it works.
Do we build a tree of rules outside of the components? Are states attached to each component, bottoms-up, and then the form tree is managed by the library?
by nilirl - Wonder why some technical decisions were made. E.g. i can make a dynamic form builder with Zod in ~1 week without AI. Why not do that? Why a custom engine?by ramon156
- How is this a new paradigm?
This idea for JSON -> form has existed for a decade, one example: https://github.com/eclipsesource/jsonforms
by verdverm - Why did your release jump from 0.17.0 (2026-06-08) to 1.0 in such a short time?
If I use Tailwind, BEM or Boostrap, how hard it will be to customise? Flowbite have a few pre-made UI.
Shoelace UI is based on Web Components, now that it got bigger:
by todotask2 - As someone just starting out with the JS ecosystem, how does this compare to something like SurveyJs?by nu11ptr
- How much of this is vibe coded? The widget demos about halfway down seem half-baked; the currency input allows letters and letter inputs visually disappear when you unfocus it. The calendar input appears to select the day before the one I clicked. The markdown editor places hashes after the text on the current line rather than making the current line a header. The dropdown search doesn't seem to work (typing "R" shows React and AngulaR, but typing "Re" doesn't show any options).
All of those are fixable of course, and the idea is neat! It's just a bit of a rough showcase, at least on Firefox.
by mattstir - All the field relationships seem to be expressed in strings. This suggests that you might not be able to use auto-complete or build-time syntax or type checking on them. I like the general idea, but that would be a big downside if I'm understanding correctly.by recursive