Big news: Hyvä now offers a free license. If you've been curious about trying it but didn't want to commit to the paid version, now's your chance.
We're using the free license to build "Chill Your Beans"—our internal coffee e-commerce project. It's part learning lab, part proof of concept, and honestly, it's been a lot of fun.
Why Hyvä?
If you've worked with Magento themes before, you know the pain: RequireJS module loading, KnockoutJS templates, jQuery UI widgets. It works, but it's not fun to develop with, and it's definitely not fast.
Hyvä throws all of that out and replaces it with Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js. No build step nightmares, no RequireJS config debugging, just modern frontend development.
What We're Building
"Chill Your Beans" is a coffee shop e-commerce site. We're building it from scratch with the Hyvä free license to see what's possible without spending on the paid version.
The free license gives you everything you need for a production-ready storefront—custom components, checkout optimizations, performance tuning, the works. The paid version adds some extra modules and support, but the core is all there.
What We're Learning
Tailwind is fantastic for Magento themes. You can prototype layouts super quickly, and everything is responsive by default. No more fighting with Less variables or overriding Bootstrap classes.
Alpine.js is perfect for the kind of interactivity you need in e-commerce—product filters, cart dropdowns, mobile menus. It's lightweight and feels like writing plain JavaScript with sprinkles of reactivity.
CSP (Content Security Policy) is built-in, which is huge for security. No inline scripts, no eval(), everything's locked down properly.
Performance
Lighthouse scores are in the 90s out of the box. Core Web Vitals are green. The site loads fast, feels responsive, and doesn't ship a megabyte of JavaScript just to render a product page.
What's Next
We're documenting the whole build—from initial theme setup to checkout optimizations, custom components, and deployment. Expect more blog posts, code snippets, and maybe even a GitHub repo once it's polished.
If you're thinking about trying Hyvä, the free license is a no-brainer. Grab it, build something, and see if it clicks. We're happy to chat if you have questions or want to compare notes.