Build Ultra-Fast, Truly Native Desktop Applications with Rust + GPU Rendering
If you're tired of slow Electron apps, heavy web-based shells, or platform-locked native frameworks, this book introduces a radically faster way to build desktop software. Using Rust-a safe, high-performance systems language-and GPUI, a next-generation GPU-accelerated UI engine, you'll learn how to create applications that are:
- Blazing fast (120+ FPS, GPU-rendered)
- Fully cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Memory-efficient and secure
- Pixel-perfect and consistent across systems
- Built using modern UI/UX principles
This is the definitive practical guide to GPUI, the UI framework powering the Zed editor. Step-by-step, you'll build Zed-Lite, a complete Markdown editor, from empty project to polished, production-ready desktop app.
Why This Book Matters
Rust is quickly becoming the future of high-performance desktop development. GPUI is the first Rust-native framework that fully leverages GPU rendering to deliver smooth, scalable, state-driven UIs. This book gives you hands-on mastery of this cutting-edge stack-perfect for building developer tools, dashboards, creative software, or cross-platform productivity apps that feel modern, responsive, and incredibly fast.
Who This Book Is For
This book is for developers who want to build fast, modern desktop applications with Rust. It's ideal for Rust programmers moving into native UI development, engineers migrating away from Electron or WebView, and UI/UX developers who need smooth, GPU-rendered interfaces. It also suits programmers building real tools-editors, dashboards, and developer apps-who want a practical, project-focused path. If you want a direct, real-world guide to high-performance app development with Rust and GPUI, this book is for you.
What You'll Learn
Core Concepts
- GPUI render loop, retained-mode UI, SDF vector graphics
- Modern Rust patterns: ownership, lifetimes, concurrency, async
- Layout, styling, and Tailwind-style UI design
- Building responsive, high-FPS interfaces
State & Interactivity
- Model T, AppContext, ViewContext
- Handling keyboard, mouse, and focus events
- Global commands, shortcuts, component communication
- Error handling, notifications, async updates
Performance & Rendering
- GPU pipelines and custom drawing
- High-performance lists and virtualization
- Deterministic execution with Rust (no GC pauses)
Async & System Integration
- Non-blocking file I/O and background tasks
- Networking with reqwest and JSON
- Real-time WebSockets
- Native menus, dialogs, clipboard, drag-and-drop
Shipping & Deployment
- Building optimized release binaries
- Reducing binary size
- Packaging installers for macOS, Windows, and Linux
- Code signing and application security
