2 months ago
- CrossUI Studio uses static AST analysis instead of runtime introspection to understand React code structure, enabling tool functionality even when the app fails to render.
- Runtime tools like React DevTools rely on a live app, becoming useless during crashes, whereas static tools work on code that never rendered cleanly.
- Static analysis allows editing components that aren't rendering, including those inside .map() loops or imported from other files, by using mock data and AST nodes.
- The approach supports visualizing the dependency graph and code structure during app crashes, making broken pages entry points for debugging.
- Limitations include unresolvable dynamic imports, inability to see runtime values, and dependency on configuration for exotic resolution.
- Features like the canvas, prop inspector, and dependency graph are unified views over the AST, ensuring tool availability when runtime-based tools fail.