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.