Backend-Driven UIs. Simpler, Faster, Smarter.
Mateu is an open-source framework that lets backend developers create complete, responsive web applications using only backend code—no need for HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
With just Java (and soon C# and Python), you can design powerful user interfaces, define workflows, and deploy distributed applications that scale.
🎯 Why Mateu?
Mateu introduces a simple yet powerful UI Domain-Specific Language (DSL) through familiar Java constructs—interfaces, annotations, and classes. The goal: build your UI with the fewest lines of code possible, and let backend developers own the entire application lifecycle.
💡 Key Benefits
- 🚀 Lightning-fast development
- 🧩 Frontend-agnostic architecture (supports multiple frontends)
- 🎯 Focus on business logic, not UI plumbing
- 🔁 Reusable, high-level UI components
- 🛠️ All the benefits of Java — static typing, rich tooling, mature ecosystem
- 🌐 Built for distributed systems — stateless, microservice-friendly
- 🔌 Embeddable anywhere — UI delivered as web components
🤔 Why Not Just Use Vaadin?
Vaadin is a fantastic tool (we even use its design system!), but Mateu offers a different perspective:
| Feature | Vaadin | Mateu |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | UI components | Full application structure |
| Architecture | Stateful | Stateless (ideal for microservices) |
| Microfrontend support | Indirect | First-class citizen |
| Multi-language roadmap | Java only | Java, C#, Python (planned) |
| Frontend flexibility | Coupled | Fully decoupled and swappable |
🛠️ Current Status: Version 3 in Development
Since May 2024, work has begun on Mateu v3, which includes:
- A cleaner, modular architecture
- Improved UX components
- More extension points
- Updated documentation and user manual
- Support for alternate design systems
🚀 Ready to Build Smarter UIs?
👉 Try the live demo
👉 Check out the GitHub repo
👉 Explore the documentation
Made with ❤️ by developers for developers.