miklabs/ui

A modern, cross-platform UI toolkit for Rust, C, C++ & Python. Inspired by shadcn/ui, React Native, and NativeWind.

✨ Declarative • 🎨 Tailwind-style utilities • 🖼 Themeable • 🌍 Cross-platform • 🔧 Multi-language • ⚖️ MIT/Apache

🚀 Quick Example

Rust

use showcase_common::create_showcase_ui;

fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
    // Create and run a cross-platform UI
    mkui::run!(create_showcase_ui, console)
}

Or build it step by step:

use mkui::prelude::*;

fn main() -> Result<(), MkuiError> {
    let app = Mkui::new()?
        .child(
            View::new()
                .class("flex-1 items-center justify-center")
                .child(Text::new("Hello World!").class("text-xl font-bold"))
                .child(
                    Button::new("Press me")
                        .variant(ButtonVariant::Primary)
                        .on_press(|| println!("Button pressed!"))
                )
        );
    
    app.run()
}

C++

#include "mkui.hpp"

int main() {
    try {
        auto app = mkui::createApp();
        
        app->addView("flex-1 items-center justify-center")
           .addText("Hello World!", "text-xl font-bold")
           .addButton("Press me", mkui::ButtonVariant::Primary)
           .runConsole();
           
    } catch (const mkui::MkuiException& e) {
        std::cerr << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}

C

#include "mkui_c.h"

int main() {
    MkuiApp* app = mkui_app_new();
    if (!app) return 1;
    
    mkui_app_add_view(app, "flex-1 items-center justify-center");
    mkui_app_add_text(app, "Hello World!", "text-xl font-bold");
    mkui_app_add_button(app, "Press me", "", MKUI_BUTTON_PRIMARY);
    
    MkuiResult result = mkui_app_run_console(app);
    mkui_app_free(app);
    
    return result.code == MKUI_SUCCESS ? 0 : 1;
}

Python

import mkui_py

def main():
    try:
        # Create application using the high-level API
        app = mkui_py.create_app()
        
        # Build UI using method chaining
        (app.view("flex-1 items-center justify-center")
            .text("Hello World!", "text-xl font-bold")
            .button("Press me", mkui_py.BUTTON_PRIMARY)
            .run_console())
            
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        return 1
    return 0

if __name__ == "__main__":
    exit(main())

🎨 Styling with Utility Classes

miklabs/ui uses a Tailwind-like utility system for layout, spacing, colors, and typography.

Examples:

flex-1, items-center, justify-between
p-4, mt-2, gap-3
rounded-lg, bg-surface, text-primary

Variants work like shadcn’s cva:

button:
  base: "inline-flex items-center justify-center rounded-lg transition"
  variants:
    intent:
      primary: "bg-primary text-primary-foreground hover:bg-primary/80"
      outline: "border border-input hover:bg-muted"
    size:
      sm: "h-8 px-3 text-sm"
      md: "h-10 px-4 text-base"
      lg: "h-12 px-6 text-lg"
  default:
    intent: "primary"
    size: "md"

🌍 Target Platforms & Languages

Platforms

Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux ✅
Console: Terminal UIs with crossterm ✅
Web: via WebAssembly ✅
Mobile: iOS, iPadOS, Android 🚧 (planned)
Embedded: WGPU on Vulkan/GL ES devices 🚧 (planned)

Language Support

Rust: Native support with full API ✅
C: Complete FFI bindings with manual memory management ✅
C++: Modern C++17 wrapper with RAII and exceptions ✅
Python: PyO3 bindings with method chaining and exception handling ✅
JavaScript/TypeScript: WASM bindings 🚧 (planned)

📊 Comparison

Qt

QApplication app(argc, argv);
QWidget window;
QPushButton *button = new QPushButton("Click me", &window);
QObject::connect(button, &QPushButton::clicked, []() { qDebug() << "Clicked!"; });
window.show();
return app.exec();

miklabs/ui

#include "mkui.hpp"

int main() {
    try {
        auto app = mkui::createApp();
        app->addButton("Click me", mkui::ButtonVariant::Primary, "px-4 py-2 rounded-lg")
           .runConsole();
    } catch (const mkui::MkuiException& e) {
        std::cout << "Clicked!\n";
    }
}

✅ Fewer lines, declarative, and styled with utilities.

🎮 Try the Showcases

Experience miklabs/ui across different platforms and languages:

Rust Showcases

Console Showcase - Terminal UI with crossterm

cargo run --bin console-showcase
# Navigate: ↑↓←→  |  Interact: Space/Enter  |  Quit: q/Esc

Web Showcase - WebAssembly in browser

cd examples/web-showcase
wasm-pack build --target web
# Serve the generated files with any static server

Headless Showcase - Pure logic without rendering

cargo run --bin headless-showcase

C/C++ Examples

C Example - Manual memory management

cd examples/c-example
make run

C++ Example - Modern RAII with exceptions

cd examples/cpp-example  
make run

Python Example

Python Example - PyO3 bindings with exception handling

cd examples/python-example

# Build the Python bindings first
cd ../../crates/mkui-py
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
maturin develop --release

# Run the Python example
cd ../../examples/python-example
python main.py

Key Features Demonstrated

✅ Unified API: Same UI code works across console, web, and native
✅ Error Handling: Proper error propagation with platform-specific types
✅ Memory Safety: Automatic cleanup in Rust/C++, manual in C
✅ Styling: Tailwind-like utility classes work everywhere
✅ Components: Views, Text, Buttons with multiple variants

🔮 Roadmap

✅ Phase 1: Foundation (COMPLETED)

✅ Multi-language Support - Rust, C, C++, and Python APIs with unified interface
✅ Cross-platform Core - Abstract error handling and component system
✅ Builder API - Fluent builder pattern with method chaining
✅ Bridge Architecture - Unified mkui crate with feature-based platform switching
✅ Headless Components - Platform-agnostic logic (state, variants, events)
- ✅ Button component with 6 variants and state management
- ✅ Text component with styling and content management
- ✅ View component for layout and containers
✅ Console Renderer - Terminal UI with crossterm (no ratatui dependency)
✅ Web Renderer - DOM-based with WebAssembly support
✅ C/C++ Bindings - Complete FFI layer with modern C++17 wrapper
✅ Python Bindings - PyO3-based bindings with method chaining and exception handling
✅ Showcases - Working examples across all supported languages and platforms
✅ Memory Management - RAII for C++/Rust, manual cleanup for C
✅ Error Handling - Unified abstract errors with platform-specific conversion
✅ Macro System - mkui::run! macro for platform-agnostic application execution

🚧 Phase 2: Advanced Features (IN PROGRESS)

RSX Macro - JSX-like syntax for declarative UI construction
Layout Engine - Flexbox/CSS Grid-like layout with Taffy integration
Advanced Components - Input fields, Select, Dialog, Popover, Menu
Accessibility - Screen reader support, keyboard navigation, ARIA attributes
Theme System - Live theme switching, custom color palettes
Hot Reload - Development-time live reloading for rapid iteration
Testing Framework - Component testing utilities and assertions

🔮 Phase 3: Platform Expansion (PLANNED)

Native Desktop - WGPU backend for Windows, macOS, Linux
Mobile Support - iOS and Android with platform-specific integrations
Language Bindings - JavaScript/TypeScript (WASM), Go (CGO)
IDE Integration - Language servers, syntax highlighting, code completion
Component Marketplace - Shared component ecosystem and package manager
Production Tools - Profiling, debugging, performance analysis

🎯 Current Focus (v0.2.0)

RSX Syntax - Investigate proc macro for JSX-like syntax
Layout Engine - Integrate Taffy for cross-platform layout
Component Library - Expand beyond basic View/Text/Button
Documentation - Comprehensive guides and API references
Testing - Unit tests, integration tests, example validation

💬 Community

Website: miklabs.com/ui (coming soon)
GitHub Discussions: github.com/miklabs/ui/discussions
Discord: coming soon

⚖️ License

MIT or Apache 2.0 (permissive, no GPL headaches).

mikbry/ui

miklabs/ui

🚀 Quick Example

Rust

C++

C

Python

🎨 Styling with Utility Classes

🌍 Target Platforms & Languages

Platforms

Language Support

📊 Comparison

Qt

miklabs/ui

🎮 Try the Showcases

Rust Showcases

C/C++ Examples

Python Example

Key Features Demonstrated

🔮 Roadmap

✅ Phase 1: Foundation (COMPLETED)

🚧 Phase 2: Advanced Features (IN PROGRESS)

🔮 Phase 3: Platform Expansion (PLANNED)

🎯 Current Focus (v0.2.0)

💬 Community

⚖️ License