just for my techno-non-understanding @Erioldoesdesign is that a point in favour of either framework over the other, a general point, or something we would need to be aware of in how we implement either/both?
General comment on ‘frameworks’ in general and an ‘ask’ of the dev folks to notice and communicate if a framework has a ‘restrictive’ set of components and complicated path for customisation of CSS/Styles.
I for sure, can’t look at a framework and know the above due to not understanding the ‘guts’ of most frameworks so I’ll be relying on devs to choose and be aware of the design need 
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@Matt-Yorkley
It would be really helpful to know your views on this. My BIG fear with Reactive Rails is that we win a few things and get really stuck later with specific requirements. Your POC was an awesome sales pitch for the tool that you wanted, but it left me with a lot of questions. As a senior dev it would be marvellous to know your insights on the risks with Reactive Rails. Under what scenarios would it slow us down later? If your answer is “it won’t” then I implore you to think harder 
@Kirsten
It might be helpful to think of frameworks in the same way we can now view Spree. It made things faster at the start but we’ve now spent years decoupling from Spree as it was significantly holding us back. Reread Eriol’s comments with this analogy in mind
Also, tech folks, I’m aware Spree and Reactive Rails it is an imperfect comparison. But it is not a useless one so please forgive it.
communicate if a framework has a ‘restrictive’ set of components and complicated path for customisation of CSS/Styles
It’s related to previous discussions in this thread: Backoffice Product List table user interface uplift - #11 by Matt-Yorkley
With Reactive Rails we wouldn’t be tied in to any specific component framework, but with React there are various frameworks that could potentially be used, and some of them could end up being restrictive and problematic, so we would have to scutinise those choices very carefully.
I think me and @Erioldoesdesign are in agreement on this point 
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A couple more indecisive thoughts for the pondering:
- In Australia, we are looking at Shopify, implementing a custom e-commerce and wondering how to connect it with OFN. Shopify uses React for extensions which means that using React has more cross-pollination opportunities in that space.
- Facebook is probably React’s biggest user but I constantly hear complaints from my partner about how buggy their user interface is. Long elaborated posts get lost, buttons stop working and sometimes the UI is just not showing stuff that should be there. React may suffer some side-effects of complexity which Facebook can’t resolve appropriately.
I’m still favouring Reactive Rails over React.
I think I am through the API problem, we can build it on the side. I am now convinced it’s a viable approach.
I am now more worried about Stimulus Reflex being a new framework, its v1 is from 2018.
I have read about some adaptations (we need an extra gem) to make it work with rails 5.2. This is initially a challenge because we need to get to rails 5 (probably 5.2, something to check) before we start using it. But it’s an advantage from the durability perspective, if it works today with rails 6 it means it will be ok at least until rails 6 is maintained. 2021 will probably bring Rails 6.2.
2022 can bring rails 7 and, if in two years time stimulus is no longer maintained, that will put us in trouble already in 2023/2024 where rails 7 upgrade would be difficult.
But this is unlikely, if in 2022 there is a rails 7 out, only 2 years from now, there will most probably be someone maintaining stimulus reflex and making it work with rails 7. This means that we would be ok until rails 7 is supported which will get us at least another 2 years, something like 2026.
I think it’s safe to say, even if the framework is new, we can get away with 5 years on it for sure. The question is about after that. In 5 years time something like stimulus can completely fade away. And 5 years is not a lot of time. React has a big advantage here, because it doesnt depend on rails and because it’s so popular it will be around for sure in 5 years time.
I thought this reflection would be useful. I am not so nervous about stimulus as I was before I wrote this post
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