dear-imgui-rs is a Rust bindings ecosystem for Dear ImGui, featuring docking support, WGPU/GL backends, and popular extensions (ImGuizmo, ImNodes, ImPlot).

• Core
  • dear-imgui-sys — low‑level FFI via cimgui (docking branch), bindgen against Dear ImGui v1.92.4
  • dear-imgui-rs — safe, idiomatic Rust API (RAII + builder style similar to imgui-rs)
  • Backends: dear-imgui-wgpu, dear-imgui-glow, dear-imgui-winit
  • dear-app — convenient Winit + WGPU application runner (docking, themes, add-ons)
• Extensions
  • dear-imguizmo — 3D gizmo (cimguizmo C API) + a pure‑Rust GraphEditor
  • dear-imnodes — node editor (cimnodes C API)
  • dear-implot — plotting (cimplot C API)
  • dear-implot3d — 3D plotting (cimplot3d C API)
  • dear-imguizmo-quat — quaternion + 3D gizmo (cimguizmo_quat C API)
  • dear-file-browser — native dialogs (rfd) + pure ImGui in-UI file browser

All crates are maintained together in this workspace.

use dear_imgui_rs::*;

let mut ctx = Context::create();
let ui = ctx.frame();
ui.window("Hello")
  .size([300.0, 120.0], Condition::FirstUseEver)
  .build(|| {
      ui.text("Hello, world!");
      if ui.button("Click me") { println!("clicked"); }
  });
// Rendering is done by a backend (e.g. dear-imgui-wgpu or dear-imgui-glow)

// Tip: For fallible creation, use `Context::try_create()`

# Clone with submodules
git clone https://github.com/Latias94/dear-imgui-rs
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Core & docking examples
cargo run --bin game_engine_docking
cargo run --bin dockspace_minimal

# dear-app examples (application runner with docking support)
cargo run --bin dear_app_quickstart
cargo run --bin dear_app_docking

# Extension examples (using wgpu + winit directly)
cargo run --bin imguizmo_basic --features imguizmo
cargo run --bin imnodes_basic --features imnodes
cargo run --bin implot_basic --features implot
cargo run --bin imguizmo_quat_basic --features imguizmo-quat

# implot3d example (uses dear-app)
cargo run --bin implot3d_basic --features implot3d

Tip: The ImNodes example includes multiple tabs (Hello, Multi-Editor, Style, Advanced Style, Save/Load, Color Editor, Shader Graph, MiniMap Callback).

See examples/README.md for a curated index and the planned from‑easy‑to‑advanced layout.

# OS-native dialogs (rfd)
cargo run --bin file_dialog_native --features file-browser

# Pure ImGui in-UI file browser
cargo run --bin file_browser_imgui --features file-browser

[dependencies]
dear-imgui-rs = "0.5"
# Choose a backend + platform integration
dear-imgui-wgpu = "0.5"   # or dear-imgui-glow
dear-imgui-winit = "0.5"

[dependencies]
dear-app = "0.5"  # Includes dear-imgui-rs, wgpu backend, and docking support

[dependencies]
# Plotting
dear-implot = "0.5"      # 2D plotting
dear-implot3d = "0.5"    # 3D plotting

# 3D Gizmos
dear-imguizmo = "0.5"         # Standard 3D gizmo + GraphEditor
dear-imguizmo-quat = "0.5"    # Quaternion-based gizmo

# Node Editor
dear-imnodes = "0.5"

# File Browser
dear-file-browser = "0.5"  # Native dialogs + ImGui file browser

• Default: build from source on all platforms. Prebuilt binaries are optional and off by default.
• Windows: we publish prebuilt packages (MD/MT, with/without freetype). Linux/macOS may have CI artifacts but are not used automatically.
• Opt-in prebuilt download from Release: enable either the crate feature prebuilt or set <CRATE>_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1. Otherwise builds only use prebuilt when you explicitly point to them (e.g., <CRATE>_SYS_LIB_DIR or <CRATE>_SYS_PREBUILT_URL).

Env vars per -sys crate:

• <CRATE>_SYS_LIB_DIR — link from a dir containing the static lib
• <CRATE>_SYS_PREBUILT_URL — explicit URL to .a/.lib or .tar.gz (always honored)
• <CRATE>_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1 — allow auto download from GitHub Releases
• <CRATE>_SYS_PACKAGE_DIR — local dir with .tar.gz packages
• <CRATE>_SYS_CACHE_DIR — cache root for downloads/extraction
• <CRATE>_SYS_SKIP_CC — skip C/C++ compilation
• <CRATE>_SYS_FORCE_BUILD — force source build
• IMGUI_SYS_USE_CMAKE / IMPLOT_SYS_USE_CMAKE — prefer CMake when available; otherwise cc
• CARGO_NET_OFFLINE=true — forbid network; use only local packages or repo prebuilt

Freetype: enable once anywhere. Turning on freetype in any extension (imnodes/imguizmo/implot) propagates to dear-imgui-sys. When using a prebuilt dear-imgui-sys with freetype, ensure the package manifest includes features=freetype (our packager writes this).

Quick examples (enable auto prebuilt download):

• Feature: cargo build -p dear-imgui-sys --features prebuilt
• Env (Unix): IMGUI_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1 cargo build -p dear-imgui-sys
• Env (Windows PowerShell): $env:IMGUI_SYS_USE_PREBUILT='1'; cargo build -p dear-imgui-sys

The workspace follows a release-train model. The table below lists the latest, recommended combinations. See docs/COMPATIBILITY.md for full history and upgrade notes.

Core

Backends

Application Runner

Extensions

Maintenance rules

• Upgrade dear-imgui-sys together with all -sys extensions to avoid C ABI/API drift.
• dear-imgui-rs upgrades may require minor changes in backends/extensions if public APIs changed.
• Backend external deps (wgpu/winit/glow) have their own breaking cycles and may drive backend bumps independently.

• Workflow: .github/workflows/prebuilt-binaries.yml
  • Inputs:
    • tag (release) or branch (manual; default main)
    • crates: comma-separated list (all, dear-imgui-sys, dear-implot-sys, dear-imnodes-sys, dear-imguizmo-sys)
  • Artifacts (branch builds) or Release assets (tag builds) include .tar.gz packages named: dear-<name>-prebuilt-<version>-<target>-static[-mt|-md].tar.gz
  • Release download URLs default to owner/repo configured in tools/build-support/src/lib.rs. Override via env: BUILD_SUPPORT_GH_OWNER, BUILD_SUPPORT_GH_REPO.

• FFI layer is generated from the cimgui “docking” branch matching Dear ImGui v1.92.4.
• We avoid the C++ ABI by using the C API + bindgen. The safe layer mirrors imgui-rs style (RAII + builder).

dear-imgui-rs/         # Safe Rust bindings (renamed from dear-imgui)
dear-imgui-sys/        # cimgui FFI (docking; ImGui v1.92.4)
backends/
  dear-imgui-wgpu/     # WGPU renderer
  dear-imgui-glow/     # OpenGL renderer
  dear-imgui-winit/    # Winit platform
dear-app/              # Application runner (Winit + WGPU + docking + themes)
extensions/
  dear-imguizmo/       # ImGuizmo + pure‑Rust GraphEditor
  dear-imnodes/        # ImNodes (node editor)
  dear-implot/         # ImPlot (2D plotting)
  dear-implot3d/       # ImPlot3D (3D plotting)
  dear-imguizmo-quat/  # ImGuIZMO.quat (quaternion gizmo)
  dear-file-browser/   # File dialogs (rfd) + pure ImGui browser

• Multi-viewport support: Currently not supported (experimental code exists but is not production-ready)
  • A test example exists: cargo run --bin multi_viewport_wgpu --features multi-viewport
  • This feature is work-in-progress and may have bugs or incomplete functionality
• WebAssembly (WASM): Currently not supported

If you're working with graphics applications in Rust, you might also be interested in:

• asset-importer - A comprehensive Rust binding for the latest Assimp 3D asset import library, providing robust 3D model loading capabilities for graphics applications
• boxdd - Safe, ergonomic Rust bindings for Box2D v3.

This project builds upon the excellent work of several other projects:

• Dear ImGui by Omar Cornut - The original C++ immediate mode GUI library
• imgui-rs - Provided the API design patterns and inspiration for the Rust binding approach
• easy-imgui-rs by rodrigorc
• imgui-wgpu-rs - Provided reference implementation for WGPU backend integration

Dual-licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)