README.md

September 7, 2026 · View on GitHub

Auto-generated Odin bindings for the sokol headers.

To include sokol in your project you can copy the sokol directory.

BUILD

Supported platforms are: Windows, macOS, Linux (with X11)

On Linux install the following packages: libglu1-mesa-dev, mesa-common-dev, xorg-dev, libasound-dev (or generally: the dev packages required for X11, GL and ALSA development)

First build the required static link libraries:

cd sokol
# on macOS:
./build_clibs_macos.sh
# on Linux:
./build_clibs_linux.sh
# on Windows with MSVC (from a 'Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt')
build_clibs_windows.cmd
cd ..

Create a build directory and cd into it:
```
mkdir build
cd build
```

Build and run the samples:

odin run ../examples/clear -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/triangle -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/quad -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/bufferoffsets -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/cube -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/noninterleaved -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/texcube -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/shapes -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/offscreen -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/instancing -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/mrt -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/blend -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/debugtext -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/debugtext-print -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/debugtext-userfont -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/saudio -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/sgl -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/sgl-points -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/sgl-context -strict-style -debug
odin run ../examples/vertexpull -strict-style -debug

By default, the backend 3D API will be selected based on the target platform:

macOS: Metal
Windows: D3D11
Linux: GL

To force the GL backend on macOS or Windows, build with -define:SOKOL_USE_GL=true:

odin run ../examples/clear -debug -define:SOKOL_USE_GL=true

The clear sample prints the selected backend to the terminal:

odin run ../examples/clear -debug -define:SOKOL_USE_GL=true
>> using GL backend

On Windows, you can get rid of the automatically opened terminal window by building with the -subsystem:windows option:

odin build ../examples/clear -subsystem:windows

sokol-odin ships bindings for sokol_imgui.h, sokol_gfx_imgui.h and sokol_app_imgui.h under the Odin packages sokol/imgui, sokol/gfximgui and sokol/appimgui. build_clibs_*.sh / .cmd intentionally do not build the corresponding C archives — they need Dear ImGui (C++), which you must supply.

Steps to use them:

Clone dcimgui (an all-in-one Dear ImGui + cimgui.h C-API drop) and build it into a static library your Odin build can link — regular flavour:
```
cd path/to/dcimgui
c++ -c -O2 -std=c++17 src/*.cpp
ar rcs libimgui.a *.o
```
Use src-docking/ instead for the docking flavour.
Compile sokol/c/sokol_imgui.c (and the others as needed) once per config × backend, dropping the resulting .a files where the Odin foreign import block expects them (mirror the naming used by the other sokol/<module>/*.a archives). The backend define (-DSOKOL_METAL below, or -DSOKOL_D3D11/-DSOKOL_GLCORE/ -DSOKOL_GLES3) must match the one used when the corresponding sokol_gfx_*_*.a archive was built — otherwise the imgui renderer picks a different backend than sokol-gfx. Example (macOS arm64 Metal debug):
```
MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=14.0 cc -c -g -x objective-c -arch arm64 \
    -std=c11 -DIMPL -DSOKOL_METAL \
    -I path/to/dcimgui/src \
    sokol/c/sokol_imgui.c
ar rcs sokol/imgui/sokol_imgui_macos_arm64_metal_debug.a sokol_imgui.o
```
import sokol_imgui "sokol/imgui" and use sokol_imgui.setup(...) as normal. Add libimgui.a and -lc++ (macOS) or -lstdc++ (Linux) to your Odin build's extra-linker-flags.

The same flow applies to sokol/gfximgui and sokol/appimgui.