Jetpack Compose shows the power of a custom compiler plugin. But not all the magic happens during compilation. A lot of Compose features are based on a runtime library that doesn't require any compiler support: the snapshot system. It might seem like magic at first, but it's just built on top of things you might already know: ThreadLocals, linked lists, and, yes, even regular old callbacks. Once you understand how Compose thinks about state, you might find ways to use its tools in your own code – even outside of Compose.