impeller-zig

Zig bindings for Impeller's standalone impeller.h API.

Standalone SDK artifacts are packaged in impeller-sdk.

Examples here.

Features

• Linux + Vulkan
• macOS + Metal
• Windows + Vulkan
• Zig wrappers for contexts, surfaces, paints, paths, textures, display lists, typography, and basic geometry

Install

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/impeller-interop/impeller-zig#main

Add the dependency in build.zig:

// ...
const impeller_dep = b.dependency("zig_impeller", .{
    .target = target,
    .optimize = optimize,
});

const exe_mod = b.createModule(.{
    .root_source_file = b.path("src/main.zig"),
    .target = target,
    .optimize = optimize,
    .imports = &.{
        .{ .name = "impeller", .module = impeller_dep.module("impeller") },
    },
});
const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
    .name = "app",
    .root_module = exe_mod,
});
exe.root_module.linkLibrary(impeller_dep.artifact("impeller"));
// ...

Then import it:

const impeller = @import("impeller");

Minimal drawing

Core drawing code:

var builder = try impeller.DisplayListBuilder.init(null);
defer builder.deinit();

var paint = try impeller.Paint.init();
defer paint.deinit();

paint.setColor(impeller.srgb(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0));
builder.drawPaint(paint);

paint.setColor(impeller.srgb(0.2, 0.4, 1.0, 1.0));
builder.drawRect(impeller.rect(120.0, 100.0, 240.0, 160.0), paint);

var list = try builder.build();
defer list.deinit();

try surface.draw(list);
try surface.present();

Examples

Runnable examples now live in the separate impeller-zig-examples repository so this package stays a pure library dependency with no windowing requirement.

Status

• All of impeller.h is wrapped
• zig build test runs unit tests
• FragmentProgram is wrapped, but shader packaging is not documented here yet

Developer Tools

Fetch the current pinned header:

python3 tools/fetch_h.py --current

This updates tools/impeller.h, which is committed alongside build.zig.zon.

Fetch the latest stable header for comparison:

python3 tools/fetch_h.py

Use --sha <engine-sha> to fetch a specific Flutter engine header into tools/impeller_<sha8>.h.

Export the current SDK header surface:

python3 tools/export_h.py

Compare the current SDK header with another SDK:

python3 tools/diff_h.py --new tools/impeller_<sha8>.h

By default diff_h.py compares against tools/impeller.h. Use --old /path/to/old/impeller.h to compare against a specific header.

LICENSE

MIT