A backend agnostic Ruby framework for building reactive desktop apps

In plain words

Hokusai is a Ruby framework for building reactive desktop applications that work across Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides composable UI components, template directives, event handling, slots, and styling capabilities written in C and Ruby with a custom tree sitter grammar. The framework emphasizes custom component creation through a drawing API rather than relying on pre-built components, and includes built-in automation features. It is designed to make desktop app development straightforward and enjoyable.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

hokusai - A Ruby library for authoring GUI applications

Hokusai pocket is a 0 dependency single portable binary that runs hokusai apps. https://github.com/skinnyjames/hokusai-pocket Not interested in maintaining duplicates. If anyone wants to maintain this CRuby library, let me know. gem &#34;hokusai-zero&#34; , &#34;0.2.6&#34; In order to run an application, you will need to install a backend Raylib Install raylib >= 5.0 Write your app Run app with RAYLIB_PATH=/libpath/for/libraylib.(so|dylib) ruby <your app>.rb SDL2 Install the following deps Run app with SDL_PATH=/libpath/for/libsdl.(so|dylib) ruby <your app>.rb require &#34;hokusai&#34; require &#34;hokusai/backends/raylib&#34; class Counter < Hokusai :: Block template <<-EOF [ template ]…from codeberg.org

In the maker’s words, at launch

For a year or two I've been building a UI library with the aim of making desktop applications fun and easy to write. It is currently written in C&#x2F;Ruby and uses a custom tree sitter grammar to describe templates. Features include: composable UI components, template directives, event and prop handling, slots…

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