--- title: Overview description: "Add browser state and server-driven updates to Django templates with labb signals and server actions." keywords: "django reactivity, labb reactivity, django-cotton interactivity, datastar django, django signals, django ajax without javascript" --- labb components handle many interactions without JavaScript. Menus, modals, tabs, and accordions use daisyUI’s CSS. Use labb’s reactive tools when the page needs shared state, live validation, or a server update. They build on [Datastar](https://data-star.dev/). You can use them without learning Datastar, or use its lower-level attributes when you need them. The [`c-lbr.` components](/docs/guide/references/reactivity-reference/) declare signals and trigger actions. [Signals](/docs/guide/reactivity/signals/) hold the named browser state that these components read and update. ## Choose the right tool Start with these questions. 1. **Does a daisyUI or labb component already provide the interaction?** Use it as-is for menus, modals, tabs, and accordions. 2. **Does the interaction need browser state?** Use [signals](/docs/guide/reactivity/signals/) and `data-` attributes for client-only behaviour such as a toggle or value that follows the pointer. 3. **Does the server need to validate, save, search, or paginate?** Use a server action. Both approaches use the same signals. A search field can update client-side feedback as the user types, then request new results from Django. ## Server actions use ordinary views A server action calls an ordinary Django view, which returns the whole page. Datastar compares that response with the current DOM and updates the changed parts. Read browser state from `request.signals`, render the normal template, and keep the view usable for a first load too. ## Load the runtime only where you need it A page using only `c-lb.` components does not load a reactive runtime. `` does not add one on its own. The runtime loads when a page uses one of these features. - a `` declaration, - any `c-lbr.` action (`get`, `post`, `delete`), - a reactive `$`-prop on a plain component, such as `variant="$status:neutral"`, - a reactive chart with `data="$signal"`. The first reactive feature loads the runtime. labb de-duplicates it, so the page loads it once. Hand-written `data-` markup cannot trigger the runtime by itself. Add the `datastar` flag when the page uses those attributes without a reactive labb component. ```html ``` Use this only for raw Datastar attributes on ordinary elements. A `c-lbr.` component or reactive `$` prop already loads the runtime. ## In this section