02 · Architecture & Hydration 03 / 12

Zero JS by Default

Ship nothing until it matters
Every component starts as static HTML. No framework runtime, no hydration tax — just content rendered at build time.
Hydrate only what's interactive
Carousels, forms, and live counters boot independently. The rest of the page stays inert and lightning-fast.
Any framework, one page
View, Signal, Spark, Loom — islands run their own runtime in isolation. Pick the right tool per component.
Measure what users actually feel
Input readiness drops from seconds to milliseconds. Page health scores become a non-event.
This is the Astro Islands Architecture 2022 design system, applied by Curio Design — a design-style library for AI agents. Full Astro Islands Architecture 2022 guide → designbycurio.com/learn/astro-purple-island-2022