# DATAOS: DOM As The Authority On State

> A modern approach to web application architecture by Adam Zachary Wasserman

## What this is

DATAOS is an architectural philosophy and ecosystem for building web applications that treat the DOM as the single, authoritative source of application state. Instead of syncing state between JavaScript stores and the DOM, DATAOS eliminates the state management layer entirely. The DOM already holds the data the user sees; DATAOS makes that the system of record.

## Core thesis

State management libraries (Redux, Zustand, MobX, Recoil) exist because frameworks created a shadow state layer that diverges from the DOM. DATAOS argues this entire category of software is unnecessary. The DOM is already observable, queryable, and persistent across interactions. The ecosystem provides three libraries that make this practical: domx (DOM observer), genX (declarative behaviors via HTML attributes), and stateless (React hook that reads from DOM instead of useState).

## Pages

- [Home](https://dataos.software/): Architecture overview and ecosystem introduction
- [Book](https://dataos.software/book.html): Extended explanation of the DATAOS philosophy
- [Blog](https://dataos.software/blog.html): Technical articles
- [DATAOS Explained](https://dataos.software/blog/DATAOS-explained.html): In-depth explanation
- [Classes Broke My Object](https://dataos.software/blog/classes-broke-my-object.html): Why OOP class hierarchies create dishonest state
- [Big State Declarative Interfaces](https://dataos.software/blog/big-state-declarative-interfaces.html): Scaling declarative UI to large applications

## Related projects

- [domx.software](https://domx.software): DOM state observer library (<1KB)
- [genx.software](https://genx.software): Declarative behavior library via HTML attributes (<1KB)
- [stateless.software](https://stateless.software): React hook that reads state from DOM instead of useState
- [honestcode.software](https://honestcode.software): The Honest Code book, which provides the architectural principles underlying DATAOS

## Author

Adam Zachary Wasserman — [adamzacharywasserman.com](https://adamzacharywasserman.com)