re-frame-template

If you want it to feel more like backend development, give clojurescript a whirl. Best way to do that is start with this template: https://github.com/Day8/re-frame-template Which is based on this library: https://github.com/Day8/re-frame ClojureScript is fantastic. Being immutable as a baseline makes it work so much better in the React world of things. That said, if you haven't used any Lisps it can be a bit intimidating (for me it still is, a bit), but you get to the point fairly quickly where things can be both daunting and productive at the same time. If you prefer to stick with more raw JS, I recommend React without a data-framework until you find you need one. Raw react components are plenty to get you started.