# vercel-labs/native

Toolkit for building native desktop apps

Repository: https://github.com/vercel-labs/native
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/native
Homepage: https://native-sdk.dev
Language: Zig
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-25T22:31:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 81/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 8
- inputs: {"age_days": 117, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 9, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 43}
- flags: young
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7587, forks 308 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:01.784721+00:00)

## What it is
Native SDK is a toolkit for building native desktop applications with declarative .native markup views and app logic written in TypeScript (compiled to native at build time) or Zig. Its own Zig-based engine renders every pixel into real OS windows with no browser, WebView, or JS runtime in the shipped binary.

## Use cases
- build a native desktop app without electron
- create cross-platform gui apps with typescript
- build lightweight desktop apps with no webview
- scaffold and package a native app from the cli
- write desktop ui with declarative markup and elm-style state
- ship a small fast native binary instead of a web runtime
- extend a ui toolkit with custom zig widgets

## When to choose
- you want native performance and small binaries without embedding a browser or JS engine
- you prefer a predictable model-msg-update state loop over reactive frameworks
- you want one codebase targeting macOS, Linux, and Windows with experimental mobile support
- you want beautiful default styling via design tokens that is fully customizable
- you want AI-agent-friendly tooling with versioned skill documents

## When to avoid
- you need a vast third-party ecosystem of web-based UI libraries
- your team is not comfortable with TypeScript subset constraints or Zig for deep customization
- you need mature iOS/Android support today (still experimental)
- you rely on heavy web content as the core of your app rather than an occasional WebView
- you need long-term stability guarantees from a very mature toolkit

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: gui, desktop-framework, ui-components, templating, cli, build-tool, graphics
- domain: cross-platform, desktop-applications, web-development, developer-tools, graphics
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: native-rendering, no-webview, declarative-markup, elm-architecture, typescript, zig, gpu-rendering, design-tokens, hot-reload, agent-skills, macos, linux, ios, android, nodejs

## Member repositories
- vercel-labs/native (main) score 81

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:01.784721+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 2026-08-29T17:36:53.950641+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vercel-labs/native (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:01.784721+00:00, sha 3c822fe06f9f)
  - homepage: https://native-sdk.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.516070+00:00, sha 6e31c645e045)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/cli (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.531563+00:00, sha 601a617af31a)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/app-zon (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.534287+00:00, sha 29ff95c3c377)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/skills (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.536590+00:00, sha 933e7c65de5b)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/app-model (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.538322+00:00, sha d4c1539765cc)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/typescript (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.540224+00:00, sha 82a621d9e74b)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/introduction (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.525683+00:00, sha 8871087372db)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/components (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.527656+00:00, sha dbd12b83ff00)
  - site_page: https://native-sdk.dev/docs/quick-start (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:21.529409+00:00, sha 73ddfa5a916e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.