Vite (build tool) + React is all you need, and a command line away from setting up React with TypeScript. If you don't like how "heavy" it is, you can use Preact. Similarly, for a Node (express) project, all you gotta do is `npm i express`, with additional setup if you want TS and other dev. niceties. Or just use a batteries included framework like Nest/Adonis and skip all that.

It's not that complicated, the frontend targets the browsers, so you have to transpile if you want to ensure compatibility, prevent theft, reduce the size, or not, and you could just wing it using the plain source code.

Again, it's the best for writing APPS. For an app, with complex navigation, features, UI states, it find it asinine that your biggest complains are about the packages.