From 4f06a4d925def03d15d1e59f27065fd5f0b76355 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Adam Kudrna Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2026 17:23:34 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Add ADR on building our own UI library (#756) --- decisions/0002-build-own-ui-library.md | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+) create mode 100644 decisions/0002-build-own-ui-library.md diff --git a/decisions/0002-build-own-ui-library.md b/decisions/0002-build-own-ui-library.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..782f9674e --- /dev/null +++ b/decisions/0002-build-own-ui-library.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +# 2. Build our own UI library + +Status: Accepted (retrospective) + +## Context + +Before React, the team behind React UI worked at VisionApps, a digital agency. +For its client projects it built and used Bootstrap UI, a custom extension of +Bootstrap. + +When the agency moved to React, it decided to build its own UI library in React +instead of adopting an existing one. That is where the name React UI comes from. + +The agency closed in mid 2018. The library stayed, and its developers continued +working on it as individuals in cooperation with RACOM. React UI has been used in +only a few projects since then. RACOM is by far the largest of them and is the +main reason the library still exists. + +RACOM's applications have two requirements that ready-made libraries did not +meet: full control over the components, and a library that is as lightweight as +possible. + +## Decision + +We develop and maintain our own UI library rather than building on a +third-party one. + +## Consequences + +- We decide the API, the design and what goes in. Nothing changes because an + upstream project changed direction. +- We keep the library small. Size and dependencies are weighed on every change. +- We carry the full cost of maintenance, accessibility, browser support and + documentation ourselves. +- The generic name is hard to search for and says little about the library. + We have kept it.