# decaf-emu/decaf-emu

Researching Wii U emulation.

Repository: https://github.com/decaf-emu/decaf-emu
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/decaf-emu
Language: C++
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: emulator, cpp, wii-u, decaf-emu
Last push: 2024-09-03T21:16:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4125, "days_push": 729, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1278, forks 147 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:13.366510+00:00)

## What it is
decaf-emu is a research-oriented Wii U emulator written in C++, providing a Qt GUI frontend (decaf-qt) and an SDL command-line frontend. It is an in-development project with no user support, distributed as GPLv3+ source with Windows and Linux binaries via GitHub Actions.

## Use cases
- play Wii U games on Windows or Linux
- research how Wii U hardware emulation works
- run Wii U titles from the command line with decaf-sdl
- contribute to an open-source console emulator codebase
- test Wii U game compatibility on PC

## When to choose
- you want an open-source, GPLv3 Wii U emulator to experiment with or contribute to
- you need a CLI-driven emulator for scripting or testing
- you are researching PowerPC/GPU emulation techniques

## When to avoid
- you want a polished emulator with user support and high game compatibility
- you need macOS builds
- you want a stable, production-ready gaming experience

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: experimental
- function: simulation, graphics, gui, cli
- domain: gaming-tools, simulation, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp
- tags: wii-u, emulator, vulkan, sdl, qt, research, linux

## Member repositories
- decaf-emu/decaf-emu (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:13.366510+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:02:45.139026+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/decaf-emu/decaf-emu (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:13.366510+00:00, sha 8892b32cb8a2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.