Building Convex OS, a Browser-Based React App with Real-Time Sync

Mike Cann discusses the challenges and innovative solutions in building Convex OS, a browser-based React application with real-time synchronization, focusing on the integration of Stage Hand, a library that uses AI for browser automation. He highlights the difficulties of traditional end-to-end testing, which often requires frequent updates and can become a time-consuming task. Stage Hand, leveraging natural language to control browsers without specifying detailed UI elements, addresses these issues by enabling tests that mimic human interactions more naturally. Cann emphasizes the value of AI in automating quality assurance, especially for smaller companies without dedicated QA teams, by providing a more intuitive and less brittle testing process. He also reflects on the development experience, including the use of Convex's reactivity model to manage state across multiple tabs seamlessly, and the schema design challenges he faced in modeling the OS's components in a database. Cann concludes with insights into the future potential of AI in testing and the broader implications of designing state management systems for web applications, encouraging developers to leverage Convex's backend capabilities to simplify multi-tab synchronization and state persistence.