README.md

June 16, 2026 · View on GitHub

ImGuinz

ImGuinz

This project aims to simply and easily build Dear ImGui (CImGui) / ImPlot (CImPlot), Raylib, rlImGui and many other libaries and examples in Zig with less external dependencies.

ImGui / CImGui version 1.92.8 dock (2026/06)
OS: Windows11 and Linux
Frontends and Backends

GLFW SDL3 Win32
OpenGL3
backend YES YES -
SDLGPU3
backend - YES -
DirectX 11
backend - - YES
Features
- Included Font Awesome Icon fonts.
- Included GLFW 3.4.0 static library (for Windows)
- Included SDL3.4.x libraries (for Windows)
- Included STB libraries (only stb_image) for Load / Save images
- Available ImPlot (CImPlot) / ImPlot3D with ImDrawIdx="unsigned int"
- Enabled Input method (IME) flag with IMGUI_ENABLE_WIN32_DEFAULT_IME_FUNCTIONS

	GLFW	SDL3	Win32
OpenGL3 backend	YES	YES	-
SDLGPU3 backend	-	YES	-
DirectX 11 backend	-	-	YES

Zig fetch

Use zig-0.16.0 or later

Zig fetch imguinz

mkdir myapp
cd myapp
zig init

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/dinau/imguinz

Add dependencies to build.zig
Please insert the following lines above b.installArtifact(exe);.

const imguinz = b.dependency("imguinz", .{});
const dependencies = .{
    "appimgui",      // Simple app framework
    "imspinner",     // ImSpinner
    "imknobs",       // ImKnobs
    "imtoggle",      // ImToggle
 // "another_lib",
};
inline for (dependencies) |dep_name| {
    const dep = imguinz.builder.dependency(dep_name, .{
        .target = target, 
        .optimize = optimize, 
    });
    exe.root_module.addImport(dep_name, dep.module(dep_name));
}
exe.subsystem = .Windows; // Hide console window

You can set dependencies (additional libraries), see imguinz/build.zig.zon

"appimgui"     <- Simple app framework for GLFW and OpenGL backend
"imspinner"    <- ImSpinner
"imguizmo"     <- ImGuizmo
"imknobs"      <- ImKnobs 
"imnodes"      <- ImNodes
"implot"       <- ImPlot
"implot3d"     <- ImPlot3D
"imtoggle"     <- ImToggle
"rlimgui"      <- rlImgui
... snip  ...

Edit src/main.zig

const app = @import("appimgui");
const ig = app.ig;
const spinner = @import("imspinner");
const knobs = @import("imknobs");
const tgl = @import("imtoggle"); // ImToggle

// gui_main()
pub fn gui_main(window: *app.Window) void {
    var col: f32 = 1.0;
    var fspd: bool = false;
    var speed: f32 = 2.0;
    var spn_col: spinner.ImColor = .{ .Value = .{ .x = col, .y = 1.0, .z = 1.0, .w = 1.0 } };
    while (!window.shouldClose()) { // main loop
        window.pollEvents();
        window.frame(); // Start ImGui frame

        ig.igShowDemoWindow(null); // Show demo window
                                   //
        ig.igSetNextWindowSize(.{ .x = 0.0, .y = 0.0 }, 0); // Fit window size depending on the size of the widgets
        _ = ig.igBegin("imguinz", null, 0); // Show Spinner window
        spinner.SpinnerAtomEx("atom", 16, 2, spn_col, speed, 3);
        ig.igSameLine(0.0, -1.0);
        _ = tgl.Toggle("Speed", &fspd, .{ .x = 0.0, .y = 0.0 });
        if (fspd) speed = 6.0 else speed = 2.0;
        if (knobs.IgKnobFloat("Color", &col, -1.0, 1.0, 0.1, "%.1f", knobs.IgKnobVariant_Stepped, 0, 0, 10, -1, -1)) {
            spn_col.Value.x = col;
        }
        ig.igEnd();

        window.render(); // render
    } // end while loop
}

pub fn main() !void {
    var window = try app.Window.createImGui(1024, 900, "ImGui window in Zig");
    defer window.destroyImGui();

    _ = app.setTheme(.dark); // Theme: dark, classic, light, microsoft

    gui_main(&window); // GUI main proc
}

Build and run
```
pwd
myapp

zig build run
```

Try Wasm demo in your browser

Click link for live demo: Click here
alt

Prerequisites

Zig compiler version confirmed
- zig-0.16.0
  Windows: zig-x86_64-windows-0.16.0.zip
  Linux: zig-x86_64-linux-0.16.0.tar.xz
- zig-0.17.0-dev.813 (2026/06)¹
- (zig-0.15.2): Deprecated
WindowsOS
- Windows11
- MSys2/MinGW basic commands (make, rm, cp, strip ...)
```
pacman -S make 
```

Linux OS (Ubuntu / Debian families)

 sudo apt install lib{opengl-dev,gl1-mesa-dev,glfw3,glfw3-dev,xcursor-dev,xinerama-dev,xi-dev} git make

SDL3
install SDL3 manually

Build and run

git clone https://github.com/dinau/imguinz
cd imguinz/examples/glfw_opengl3              # cd one of examples
make run                                      # or  zig build --release=fast run

Available libraries list at this moment

Library name / C lang. wrapper

Additional examples

Raylib, rlImGui (2025/11)

Examples screenshots

ImGui-Toggle / CImGui-Toggle

main.zig

alt

ImGui-Knobs / CImGui-Knobs

main.zig

alt

ImSpinner / CImSpinner

main.zig

alt

Raylib example

First fetch raylib,

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/raysan5/raylib

raylib_basic

alt

raylib_cjk: Showing multi byte(CJK) fonts

alt

Raylib + ImGui + rlImGui

First fetch raylib,

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/raysan5/raylib

main.zig

alt

ImPlot3D / CImPlot3D

ImPlot3d / CImPlot3d

main.zig

alt

ImGuiFileDialog / CImGuiFileDialog

main.zig

alt

ImGuiColorTextEdit / cimCTE

main.zig

alt

ImNodes / CImNodes

main.zig

alt

ImGuizmo / CImGuizmo

main.zig

alt

imgui_markdown / cimgui_markdown

WIP

imgui_markdown / cImgui_markdown

main.zig

alt

Image load

Image load and magnifying glass

glfw_opengl3: main.zig / sdl3_opengl3: main.zig / sdl3_sdlgpu3: main.zig

alt

Showing CJK multi byte fonts and input UTF-8 text

main.zig

alt

Icon font viewer

main.zig, magnifying glass, incremental search

alt

Image load / save

Image load / save and magnifying glass.
Image file captured would be saved in .the folder ./zig-out/bin.
Image can be saved as JPEG / PNG / BMP / TGA file.

main.zig

alt

ImPlot

main.zig

alt

imgui_zoomable_image

Try Wasm live demo in your browser
Click link for live demo: Click here

alt

ImPlot Demo written in Zig lang.

Now work in progress.

Build and run

pwd
examples/imPlotDemo
make run   # or zig build --release=fast run

ImPlot demo source in Zig lang.

demoAll.zig

Plots Tab

LinePlots (Dynamic)

alt

BarGroups

alt

BarStacks

alt

PieCharts

alt

Heatmaps

alt

Histogram2D

alt

Images

alt

Axes Tab / LogScale

alt

Subplots Tab / Tables

alt

Tools Tab / DragRects

alt

Show / Hide console window

Open build.zig in each example folder and
Hide console window: Default,
Show console window: Comment out this line as follows,

... snip ...
//exe.subsystem = .Windows;  // Hide console window
... snip ...

and rebuild example.

SDL libraries

https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases

Similar project ImGui / CImGui

Language		Project
Lua	Script	LuaJITImGui
NeLua	Compiler	NeLuaImGui / NeLuaImGui2
Nim	Compiler	ImGuin, Nimgl_test, Nim_implot
Python	Script	DearPyGui for 32bit WindowsOS Binary
Ruby	Script	igRuby_Examples
Zig, C lang.	Compiler	Dear_Bindings_Build
Zig	Compiler	ImGuinZ

SDL game tutorial Platfromer

ald

Language		SDL	Project
LuaJIT	Script	SDL2	LuaJIT-Platformer
Nelua	Compiler	SDL2	NeLua-Platformer
Nim	Compiler	SDL3 / SDL2	Nim-Platformer-sdl2/ Nim-Platformer-sdl3
Ruby	Script	SDL3	Ruby-Platformer
Zig	Compiler	SDL2	Zig-Platformer

Notes:

Using ImPlot3D / ImPlot with Zig
Zig + ImGui + ImPlot3D / ImPlot demo
Build with ImPlot3D / ImPlot / Raylib / rlImGui
ImPlot3D integration example
This project builds and runs Dear ImGui + ImPlot3D / ImPlot / Raylib / rlImGui using Zig.
ImPlot3D is compiled from source (implot3d.h / implot3d.cpp)
ImPlot is compiled from source (implot.h / implot.cpp)

Developer_mode: Windows11

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Except Raylib examples ↩