1043: I’m Using GPUI For Everything

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