dear-imgui-rs

dear-imgui-rs is a Rust bindings ecosystem for Dear ImGui, featuring docking support, WGPU/GL backends, and popular extensions (ImGuizmo, ImNodes, ImPlot).

What’s in this repo

Core
- dear-imgui-sys — low‑level FFI via cimgui (docking branch), bindgen against Dear ImGui v1.92.5
- dear-imgui-rs — safe, idiomatic Rust API (RAII + builder style similar to imgui-rs)
- Backends: dear-imgui-wgpu, dear-imgui-glow, dear-imgui-winit, dear-imgui-sdl3
- dear-app — convenient Winit + WGPU application runner (docking, themes, add-ons)
Extensions
- dear-imguizmo — 3D gizmo (cimguizmo C API) + a pure‑Rust GraphEditor
- dear-imnodes — node editor (cimnodes C API)
- dear-implot — plotting (cimplot C API)
- dear-implot3d — 3D plotting (cimplot3d C API)
- dear-imguizmo-quat — quaternion + 3D gizmo (cimguizmo_quat C API)
- dear-file-browser — native dialogs (rfd) + pure ImGui in-UI file browser

All crates are maintained together in this workspace.

Hello, ImGui (Hello World)

use dear_imgui_rs::*;

let mut ctx = Context::create();
let ui = ctx.frame();
ui.window("Hello")
  .size([300.0, 120.0], Condition::FirstUseEver)
  .build(|| {
      ui.text("Hello, world!");
      if ui.button("Click me") { println!("clicked"); }
  });
// Rendering is done by a backend (e.g. dear-imgui-wgpu or dear-imgui-glow)

// Tip: For fallible creation, use `Context::try_create()`

Examples

# Clone with submodules

git clone https://github.com/Latias94/dear-imgui-rs

git submodule update --init --recursive


# Core & docking examples

cargo run --bin game_engine_docking

cargo run --bin dockspace_minimal


# dear-app examples (application runner with docking support)

cargo run --bin dear_app_quickstart

cargo run --bin dear_app_docking


# Extension examples (using wgpu + winit directly)

cargo run --bin imguizmo_basic --features imguizmo

cargo run --bin imnodes_basic --features imnodes

cargo run --bin implot_basic --features implot

cargo run --bin imguizmo_quat_basic --features imguizmo-quat


# implot3d example (uses dear-app)

cargo run --bin implot3d_basic --features implot3d


# SDL3 backends (native)
# SDL3 + OpenGL3 with official C++ backends (multi-viewport via imgui_impl_sdl3/imgui_impl_opengl3)
cargo run -p dear-imgui-examples --bin sdl3_opengl_multi_viewport --features multi-viewport
# SDL3 + Glow (experimental multi-viewport using Rust Glow renderer)
cargo run -p dear-imgui-examples --bin sdl3_glow_multi_viewport --features multi-viewport,sdl3-backends
# SDL3 + WGPU (single-window; multi-viewport is intentionally disabled for WebGPU)
cargo run -p dear-imgui-examples --bin sdl3_wgpu

Tip: The ImNodes example includes multiple tabs (Hello, Multi-Editor, Style, Advanced Style, Save/Load, Color Editor, Shader Graph, MiniMap Callback).

See examples/README.md for a curated index and the planned from‑easy‑to‑advanced layout.

File Browser

# OS-native dialogs (rfd)

cargo run --bin file_dialog_native --features file-browser


# Pure ImGui in-UI file browser

cargo run --bin file_browser_imgui --features file-browser

Installation

Core + Backends

[dependencies]

dear-imgui-rs = "0.6"

# Choose a backend + platform integration

dear-imgui-wgpu = "0.6"   # or dear-imgui-glow

dear-imgui-winit | 0.6.x= "0.6"

Application Runner (Recommended for Quick Start)

[dependencies]

dear-app = "0.5"  # Includes dear-imgui-rs, wgpu backend, and docking support

Extensions

[dependencies]

# Plotting

dear-implot = "0.5"      # 2D plotting

dear-implot3d | 0.6.x= "0.5"    # 3D plotting



# 3D Gizmos

dear-imguizmo | 0.6.x= "0.5"         # Standard 3D gizmo + GraphEditor

dear-imguizmo-quat | 0.6.x= "0.5"    # Quaternion-based gizmo



# Node Editor

dear-imnodes = "0.5"



# File Browser

dear-file-browser | 0.6.x= "0.5"  # Native dialogs + ImGui file browser

Build Strategy

Default: build from source on all platforms. Prebuilt binaries are optional and off by default.
Windows: we publish prebuilt packages (MD/MT, with/without freetype). Linux/macOS may have CI artifacts but are not used automatically.
Opt-in prebuilt download from Release: enable either the crate feature prebuilt or set <CRATE>_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1. Otherwise builds only use prebuilt when you explicitly point to them (e.g., <CRATE>_SYS_LIB_DIR or <CRATE>_SYS_PREBUILT_URL).

Env vars per -sys crate:

<CRATE>_SYS_LIB_DIR — link from a dir containing the static lib
<CRATE>_SYS_PREBUILT_URL — explicit URL to .a/.lib or .tar.gz (always honored)
<CRATE>_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1 — allow auto download from GitHub Releases
<CRATE>_SYS_PACKAGE_DIR — local dir with .tar.gz packages
<CRATE>_SYS_CACHE_DIR — cache root for downloads/extraction
<CRATE>_SYS_SKIP_CC — skip C/C++ compilation
<CRATE>_SYS_FORCE_BUILD — force source build
IMGUI_SYS_USE_CMAKE / IMPLOT_SYS_USE_CMAKE — prefer CMake when available; otherwise cc
CARGO_NET_OFFLINE=true — forbid network; use only local packages or repo prebuilt

Freetype: enable once anywhere. Turning on freetype in any extension (imnodes/imguizmo/implot) propagates to dear-imgui-sys. When using a prebuilt dear-imgui-sys with freetype, ensure the package manifest includes features=freetype (our packager writes this).

Quick examples (enable auto prebuilt download):

Feature: cargo build -p dear-imgui-sys --features prebuilt
Env (Unix): IMGUI_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1 cargo build -p dear-imgui-sys
Env (Windows PowerShell): $env:IMGUI_SYS_USE_PREBUILT='1'; cargo build -p dear-imgui-sys

Compatibility (Latest)

The workspace follows a release-train model. The table below lists the latest, recommended combinations. See docs/COMPATIBILITY.md for full history and upgrade notes.

Core

Crate	Version	Notes
dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs
dear-imgui-sys	0.6.x	Binds Dear ImGui v1.92.5

Backends

Crate	Version	External deps	Notes
dear-imgui-wgpu	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x
dear-imgui-glow	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x
dear-imgui-winit	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x

Application Runner

Crate	Version	Requires dear-imgui-rs	Notes
dear-app	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x

Extensions

Crate	Version	Requires dear-imgui-rs	Sys crate	Notes
dear-implot	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs
dear-imnodes	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs
dear-imguizmo	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs
dear-implot3d	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs
dear-imguizmo-quat	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs
dear-file-browser	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs	0.6.x	dear-imgui-rs

Maintenance rules

Upgrade dear-imgui-sys together with all -sys extensions to avoid C ABI/API drift.
dear-imgui-rs upgrades may require minor changes in backends/extensions if public APIs changed.
Backend external deps (wgpu/winit/glow) have their own breaking cycles and may drive backend bumps independently.

CI (Prebuilt Binaries)

Workflow: .github/workflows/prebuilt-binaries.yml
- Inputs:
  - tag (release) or branch (manual; default main)
  - crates: comma-separated list (all, dear-imgui-sys, dear-implot-sys, dear-imnodes-sys, dear-imguizmo-sys)
- Artifacts (branch builds) or Release assets (tag builds) include .tar.gz packages named: dear-<name>-prebuilt-<version>-<target>-static[-mt|-md].tar.gz
- Release download URLs default to owner/repo configured in tools/build-support/src/lib.rs. Override via env: BUILD_SUPPORT_GH_OWNER, BUILD_SUPPORT_GH_REPO.

Version & FFI

FFI layer is generated from the cimgui “docking” branch matching Dear ImGui v1.92.4.
We avoid the C++ ABI by using the C API + bindgen. The safe layer mirrors imgui-rs style (RAII + builder).

Crates (workspace)

dear-imgui-rs/         # Safe Rust bindings (renamed from dear-imgui)
dear-imgui-sys/        # cimgui FFI (docking; ImGui v1.92.4)
backends/
  dear-imgui-wgpu/     # WGPU renderer
  dear-imgui-glow/     # OpenGL renderer
  dear-imgui-winit/    # Winit platform
dear-app/              # Application runner (Winit + WGPU + docking + themes)
extensions/
  dear-imguizmo/       # ImGuizmo + pure‑Rust GraphEditor
  dear-imnodes/        # ImNodes (node editor)
  dear-implot/         # ImPlot (2D plotting)
  dear-implot3d/       # ImPlot3D (3D plotting)
  dear-imguizmo-quat/  # ImGuIZMO.quat (quaternion gizmo)
  dear-file-browser/   # File dialogs (rfd) + pure ImGui browser

WebAssembly (WASM) support

This workspace includes an import-style WASM build that reuses a separate cimgui provider module (imgui-sys-v0) and shares a single WebAssembly.Memory between the Rust app (wasm-bindgen) and the provider.

Status:

The web demo (dear-imgui-web-demo) is wired up and runs on wasm32-unknown-unknown.
The core UI + WGPU backend are supported; clipboard, raw draw callbacks and multi-viewport remain disabled on wasm for safety.
Font atlas access on wasm is available behind an experimental feature flag.

Prerequisites:

Rust target:
- rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
wasm-bindgen CLI (version must match the crate’s dependency):
- cargo install -f wasm-bindgen-cli --version 0.2.105
wasm-tools (used by xtask web-demo to patch memory imports/exports):
- cargo install -f wasm-tools
Emscripten SDK (emsdk) for building the cimgui provider:
- Install emsdk and run its env script (emsdk_env.*) or set EMSDK so that emcc/em++ are on PATH.

Quick start (web demo):

# 1) Generate wasm bindings for dear-imgui-sys (optional; xtask will also

#    generate them on-demand if missing, using import module name imgui-sys-v0)

cargo run -p xtask -- wasm-bindgen imgui-sys-v0


# 2) Build the main wasm module + JS glue (optionally enable experimental fonts)

cargo run -p xtask -- web-demo --features experimental-fonts


# 3) Build the cimgui provider (emscripten) and import map

cargo run -p xtask -- build-cimgui-provider


# 4) Serve and open in the browser

python -m http.server -d target/web-demo 8080

# Then open http://127.0.0.1:8080

Notes:

The provider build emits:
- target/web-demo/imgui-sys-v0.wasm and imgui-sys-v0.js
- imgui-sys-v0-wrapper.js (ESM wrapper) and an import map entry mapping "imgui-sys-v0" to "./imgui-sys-v0-wrapper.js".
xtask web-demo:
- Patches the wasm-bindgen output to import memory from env.memory and export it.
- Patches the JS glue to pass globalThis.__imgui_shared_memory to env.memory.
Font atlas mutation on wasm is guarded by the feature:
- dear-imgui-rs/wasm-font-atlas-experimental
- examples-wasm/experimental-fonts turns this on for the web demo only.

For more details and troubleshooting, see docs/WASM.md.

Limitations

Multi-viewport support
- SDL3 + OpenGL3: supported via upstream C++ backends (imgui_impl_sdl3 + imgui_impl_opengl3).
  - Example: cargo run -p dear-imgui-examples --bin sdl3_opengl_multi_viewport --features multi-viewport
- winit + WGPU: experimental only; not supported for production use.
  - Test example: cargo run -p dear-imgui-examples --bin multi_viewport_wgpu --features multi-viewport
- SDL3 + WGPU: single-window only; multi-viewport intentionally disabled to match upstream imgui_impl_wgpu.
WebAssembly (WASM): Supported via the import-style build described above; some features (clipboard, raw draw callbacks, multi-viewport) remain disabled on wasm.

Related Projects

If you're working with graphics applications in Rust, you might also be interested in:

asset-importer - A comprehensive Rust binding for the latest Assimp 3D asset import library, providing robust 3D model loading capabilities for graphics applications
boxdd - Safe, ergonomic Rust bindings for Box2D v3.

Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the excellent work of several other projects:

Dear ImGui by Omar Cornut - The original C++ immediate mode GUI library
imgui-rs - Provided the API design patterns and inspiration for the Rust binding approach
easy-imgui-rs by rodrigorc
imgui-wgpu-rs - Provided reference implementation for WGPU backend integration

License

Dual-licensed under either of:

Apache License, Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
MIT license (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

dear-imgui-rs 0.6.0

dear-imgui-rs

What’s in this repo

Hello, ImGui (Hello World)

Examples

File Browser

Installation

Core + Backends

Application Runner (Recommended for Quick Start)

Extensions

Build Strategy

Compatibility (Latest)

CI (Prebuilt Binaries)

Version & FFI

Crates (workspace)

WebAssembly (WASM) support

Limitations

Related Projects

Acknowledgments

License