An application builder system includes an application builder server and a client side application builder application. The application builder server includes a plurality of node type managers that correspond to different node types that may be included in an instance of a page requested by a user device. The server generates rendering instructions for a requested page using the different node type managers and transmits the rendering instructions to the user device for display at the user device. A user may modify the components of the page, and the client side application builder application modifies the rendering instructions of nodes corresponding to the modified components. The modified rendering instructions may be saved at the application server by the node type managers.