Getting Started

Knave UI applications can run on an existing Wayland or X11 desktop; a Knave session is not required. Install Rust and the system dependencies needed by the window and GPU backends, then check out Knave UI.

The widget gallery is a working application in that checkout:

git clone https://github.com/knave-de/knave-ui.git
cd knave-ui
cargo run -p knave-app --example widget-gallery --locked

To build your own application, depend on knave-app and knave-ui. Implement Application, keep a Scene in your application, and pass it to knave_app::run. Continue with the application model and elements and state.

The gallery is also a reference for public constructors and interaction handling; its source is in crates/knave-app/examples/widget-gallery.rs in the checkout.

Create a small application

Create a Rust binary project with cargo new counter, then add these dependencies to its Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
knave-app = { git = "https://github.com/knave-de/knave-ui" }
knave-ui = { git = "https://github.com/knave-de/knave-ui" }

Replace src/main.rs with:

use knave_app::{AppResult, Application};
use knave_ui::toolkit::{Action, Element, ElementId, Scene, Widget};

struct Counter { scene: Scene, count: u32 }
impl Application for Counter {
    fn scene(&mut self) -> &mut Scene { &mut self.scene }
    fn action(&mut self, action: Action) -> AppResult {
        if action == Action::Activated(ElementId(3)) {
            self.count += 1;
            self.scene.set_text(ElementId(2), format!("Count: {}", self.count))?;
        }
        Ok(())
    }
}
fn main() -> AppResult {
    let root = Element::new(1, Widget::Panel).children(vec![
        Element::new(2, Widget::Text("Count: 0".into())),
        Element::new(3, Widget::Button("Add one".into())),
    ]);
    let app = Counter { scene: Scene::new(root)?, count: 0 };
    knave_app::run("Counter", [400.0, 240.0], app)
}

Run cargo run from the project directory. Each activation increments application-owned state and updates the text element. The example was checked against the current Knave UI source; a running window also requires a working desktop and graphics backend.