by Nick Ray Ball and Sienna 4o

April 12, 2025

2092u1)🚀 React and the Future of AI-Driven UI

At Sienna AI, we're building for the future — not just aesthetically, but architecturally. Our systems must work across platforms, support real-time UI adaptation, and interface directly with decentralised CMS architectures and AI-driven menu systems.

To test the boundaries of what's possible and what’s practical, we’ve turned to React — the most widely used JavaScript library for creating modern, interactive user interfaces across the web and native apps.

While our current website runs on PHP, HTML, CSS, and classic JavaScript, the future of Sienna AI — especially its Mothership architecture and dynamic Swapping Menus Function — demands a framework capable of advanced interaction, fast iteration, and scalable component design. React is the natural candidate.

⚛️ What React Is (and What It Isn't)

React is not a CMS. It is not a styling library. It is not a design template.

React is an engine — a JavaScript-powered system for building UI components that respond to state, render dynamically, and can be shared across web and app environments.

In React: a button is a component; a menu is a component; a document page, form, toggle, animation — all components.

React doesn’t define how things look. That’s handled by Tailwind CSS, or your own style layer. React doesn’t run the backend — that’s where Python, Node.js, or another API system lives. React doesn’t use PHP. Once you step into the React system, you leave PHP behind.

🌀 Caveats: Where React Doesn't Fit (for Now)

• React does not mix with PHP directly.
• It expects to control the full frontend, not drop into a legacy stack.
• It does not run on older hosting panels without configuration.
• React is not ideal for quick drop-ins.
• It requires a build process, and cannot be deployed by copy-pasting like jQuery or inline scripts.

🎯 Why We’re Still Choosing React (and Testing It Now)

We are building:

• A CMS that creates both websites and apps
• A system that beams millions of menu structures from a central mothership
• A UI that can be read, swapped, and contextualised by AI
• Interface consistency across desktop, mobile, and app

React enables all of these — especially when used with Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and React Native.

🧠 The Alternatives the Best Developers Use

🎮 4. Svelte / SvelteKit

• No Virtual DOM — compiles directly to efficient JavaScript
• Syntax is beautiful and minimal
• Lightning fast performance
• Used where performance and simplicity rule

🧠 5. SolidJS

• Uses fine-grained reactivity
• Faster than Svelte
• Used by cutting-edge devs for full rendering control

🛠️ So What Are We Doing Right Now?

We are building our sidebar document viewer in React + Next.js. This is a controlled test: a living exploration of React's strengths and constraints. We are learning which parts of the mothership menu system need frontend rethinking, and which aspects of the CMS design will translate across app and web in a truly unified way.

🔮 Summary

React is not perfect. But it is current, powerful, and cross-platform.

If you're building something where:

• Logic must be shared across screens
• Menus must adapt in real time
• Pages must be generated dynamically
• You are preparing for a design system that AI can interact with

Then React — or a framework like Svelte or Solid — is not only appropriate…

It’s the way forward.