I built my own frontend framework for similar reasons: https://github.com/fresho-dev/mancha. It was meant to adress the lack of lightweight solutions that worked both on the frontend and the backend. The main goal was to start with client side rendering and, only if you reach the point where you need it, switch to server side rendering. It also includes a drop in replacement for TailwindCSS except it won't yell at you for doing everything client side.
What I really wanted was a better maintained version of PetiteVue. But that highlights another problem: I simply can't trust anyone in the frontend JavaScript ecosystem, I've been burned too many times. It took a while to get to the point of it being usable, but now I know no one can pull the rug from under me. I use only the most basic APIs possible, only 1-2 third party dependencies, and as little hacks as possible.
It still has a few warts here and there but I hope to be able to call it a 1.0 stable version soon enough.