Developing on Element should be straightforward for developers who are familiar with React. Element follows standard conventions and strives for a developer-friendly experience.
We use React as the main framework. Our sites use simple components with local state. We don't use state management packages (like Redux or Mobx); you probably won't need one, but you can add one if you want. For component communication, we use a simple PubSub mechanism.
For CSS, we use css-in-js that plays nicely with React. Read about using this technique to style your components here.
To interact with Element, we developed a CLI that makes your workflow easier. The CLI uses git branches to manage multiple versions of your blocks.
When coding, you might need to access ecommerce data and other goodies. Each block will have access to an SDK that will help you get things done in your blocks.
Element is AMP-ready, and we provide tools to keep your site AMP compliant. This is optional, but recommended to get all the benefits of AMP.