XUtils

Slint

Lightweight GUI toolkit for desktop and embedded. [GPL/Free/Proprietary] [website](https://slint.dev/)

C/C++
https://github.com/slint-ui/slint

Demos

Embedded

RaspberryPi STM32 RP2040
[Video of Slint on Raspberry Pi][#1] [Video of Slint on STM32][#2] [Video of Slint on RP2040][#3]

Desktop

Windows macOS Linux
![Screenshot of the Gallery on Windows][#4] ![Screenshot of the Gallery on macOS][#5] ![Screenshot of the Gallery on Linux][#6]

Web using WebAssembly

Printer Demo Slide Puzzle Energy Monitor Widget Gallery
[![Screenshot of the Printer Demo][#7]][#8] [![Screenshot of the Slide Puzzle][#9]][#10] [![Screenshot of the Energy Monitor Demo][#11]][#12] [![Screenshot of the Gallery Demo][#13]][#14]

Get Started

Hello World

The UI is defined in a Domain Specific Language that is declarative, easy to use, intuitive, and provides a powerful way to describe graphical elements, their placement, their hierarchy, property bindings, and the flow of data through the different states.

Here’s the obligatory “Hello World”:

export component HelloWorld inherits Window {
    width: 400px;
    height: 400px;

    Text {
       y: parent.width / 2;
       x: parent.x + 200px;
       text: "Hello, world";
       color: blue;
    }
}

Architecture

An application is composed of the business logic written in Rust, C++, or JavaScript and the .slint user interface design markup, which is compiled to native code.

Architecture Overview

Compiler

The .slint files are compiled ahead of time. The expressions in the .slint are pure functions that the compiler can optimize. For example, the compiler could choose to “inline” properties and remove those that are constant or unchanged. In the future we hope to improve rendering time on low end devices by pre-processing images and text. The compiler could determine that a Text or an Image element is always on top of another Image in the same location. Consequently both elements could be rendered ahead of time into a single element, thus cutting down on rendering time.

The compiler uses the typical compiler phases of lexing, parsing, optimization, and finally code generation. It provides different back-ends for code generation in the target language. The C++ code generator produces a C++ header file, the Rust generator produces Rust code, and so on. An interpreter for dynamic languages is also included.

Tooling

We have a few tools to help with the development of .slint files:

  • A LSP Server that adds features like auto-complete and live preview of the .slint files to many editors.
  • It is bundled in a Visual Studio Code Extension available from the market place.
  • A slint-viewer tool which displays the .slint files. The --auto-reload argument makes it easy to preview your UI while you are working on it (when using the LSP preview is not possible).
  • SlintPad, an online editor to try out .slint syntax without installing anything (sources).
  • An updater to convert the .slint files from previous versions to newer versions.
  • An experimental Figma importer.

Please check our Editors README for tips on how to configure your favorite editor to work well with Slint.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see our separate FAQ.

About us (SixtyFPS GmbH)

We are passionate about software - API design, cross-platform software development and user interface components. Our aim is to make developing user interfaces fun for everyone: from JavaScript, C++, or Rust developers all the way to UI/UX designers. We believe that software grows organically and keeping it open source is the best way to sustain that growth. Our team members are located remotely in Germany.

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