We moved away from web components – learnings from a Component-First DevTool

In 2024, Corbado, a JavaScript UI component-first dev tool startup, shifted from web components to framework-specific components for user authentication like passkeys. The move aimed to enhance developer experience and meet evolving needs efficiently. The blog post discusses the transition, reasons behind it, and insights for startups considering a similar shift. It covers the benefits of web components, challenges faced, and strategies for component-first startups. The article also explores scenarios where a component-first strategy is preferred, such as onboarding, authentication, and data visualization. Additionally, it provides recommendations for different company scenarios and lists sample companies in the component-first developer tool space. The piece delves into web components, explaining custom elements and shadow DOM, and offers insights on building web components using Vanilla JavaScript, Lit, Stencil, Angular, and Vue. It highlights the benefits of web components, including framework compatibility, broad browser support, and the ability to enhance existing HTML progressively. The discussion aims to guide developers in choosing the right tech stack and understanding the shift towards framework-specific components in the JavaScript UI component-first startup landscape.