1043: I’m Using GPUI For Everything

About this episode

Scott and Wes ditch Electron and Tauri for GPUI, the GPU accelerated Rust UI framework from the Zed team. They get into its React-like API, styling that feels a lot like Tailwind, GPUI Kit components, the community fork drama, and the tiny desktop apps Scott has built with it. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! GPUI 01:24 Electron, Tauri, and the Trouble With Web Views 04:05 Enter GPUI: Why We Don’t Take Money to Talk About Tools 05:32 Brought to you by Sentry.io 05:59 What GPUI Is: GPU Accelerated, Cross Platform, Native All the Way Down 06:50 A React Like API in Rust: Divs, Flex, and Chained Methods 09:35 Components, Props, and State in GPUI Scott’s GPUI Demo Gist 11:21 How Much of CSS Does GPUI Actually Reimplement? 12:52 Flexbox Everywhere, But Where Is CSS Grid? 14:17 Where Does Your App Logic Live? No RPC Layer Needed 15:53 Render vs RenderOnce: Stateful and Static Components 16:57 GPUI Kit: The shadcn of GPUI 18:46 GPUI CE: The Community Fork and Ecosystem Tension 21:29 Apps Scott Built With GPUI: Gendo, File Bro, and Mr. Space 22:48 Why Tiny Utility Apps Should Stay Tiny 24:25 File Bro: File Automations a la Hazel 25:27 Mr. Space: Building a macOS Window Manager 27:05 The Downsides: No Native UI Elements and No Browser DOM Scott’s Rust Best Practices Skill 29:56 Testing GPUI Apps With Jev and the Accessibility Tree gpui-agent 30:39 GPUI Mobile: Experimental, But It Works GPUI Kit Mobile Docs gpui-mobile 31:52 Final Verdict: GPUI for Personal Desktop Software Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads