The Journey to Server Driven UI At Lyft Bikes and Scooters

Lyft Bikes & Scooters was drowning in complexity: 3 vehicle types, multiple markets, and endless switch statements. Their solution? Move the UI logic to the server.

Alex Hartwell and Tim Miko from Lyft's Bikes & Scooters team share their multi-year journey from hardcoded mobile apps to a flexible Server Driven UI architecture. They evolved from simple database models to a sophisticated BFF (backend for frontend) that handles all their product variations.

Key Takeaways

• Started with Server Supplemented UI using boolean flags and configuration
• Built two component types: Declarative (like HTML) and Semantic (client-driven)
• Actions decouple layout from behavior, enabling reuse without app releases
• New features now expand the platform, making future work faster
• Shared SDUI primitives across Lyft teams to avoid duplicate solutions

The article reveals how their atomic component approach creates a snowball effect that makes each new feature exponentially easier to build.