Road Ahead with gluestack-ui: The Successor of NativeBase
Building NativeBase
The coming three to four months will be a bittersweet period. NativeBase is being discontinued. (Support will still be available through an enterprise plan)
However, this marks the beginning of a new chapter with gluestack-ui, a complete rebuild of NativeBase. Development began in December 2022.
This article covers:
- Rationale for rebuilding NativeBase
- Overview of gluestack-ui
- Implications for current NativeBase users
Why Rebuild NativeBase: Performance Issues and Maintainability Difficulties
NativeBase was designed to provide comprehensive tools for React Native development. However, as the library expanded, its initial strengths became liabilities. Performance, usability, and maintainability challenges emerged in late 2022.
Three primary issues emerged:
- Performance — Excessive feature bundling degraded performance relative to pure React Native.
- Maintainability — The intricate styling engine and component library required disparate APIs, complicating maintenance and community contributions.
- Large Bundle Size — Monolithic bundling necessitated tree-shaking for unused components, resulting in substantial bundle sizes.
gluestack-ui: A Complete Rewrite of NativeBase
Initial efforts focused on addressing individual issues. However, this approach proved insufficient. A comprehensive rebuild from foundational principles emerged as the optimal solution, leveraging lessons learned.
gluestack-ui represents a comprehensive reconstruction, retaining positive attributes while eliminating limitations. It delivers universality, optional styling, and exceptional performance, already validated in GeekyAnts' application development projects.
Advantages of gluestack-ui
- Incremental adoption becomes possible. There is no requirement to maintain unnecessary bundling. Developers can selectively implement desired components.
- Performance optimization through unstyled architecture. The styling framework, called gluestack-style, operates independently and is presently in beta. Explore gluestack-style.
- Automated CLI functionality. This streamlines project modifications while maintaining quality standards.
Architectural overview:
What Happens to Existing NativeBase Users
NativeBase users receive sincere gratitude for sustained support. However, gluestack-ui presents enhanced capabilities, warranting migration consideration.
The @gluestack-ui/themed-native-base package provides seamless transition capabilities. Review migration documentation.
NativeBase support continues with priority handling via enterprise support plans. (Coming soon)
Follow @nativebase on Twitter for updates.
Road Ahead: A Full-scale Ecosystem
gluestack-ui and gluestack-style represent components of an expansive universal ecosystem: gluestack. Upon completion, it will offer comprehensive development tools and frameworks designed to accelerate full-stack development and expedite production deployment.
The ecosystem encompasses:
- Fullstack and universal framework with integrated capabilities (APIs, authentication, CRONs)
- DevOps management platform for unified deployment across servers and mobile devices
- Low-code/no-code tools
- Plugin repository
- Design system builder
- Hosting platform
- Universal project runner
- Marketplaces
- LTS and enterprise support options
The vision establishes a self-sustaining model with dedicated roadmap and enterprise offerings extending beyond open-source.
