# Recommended GUI library/framework for a Markdown note-taking application? **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Tags:** gui\ **Created:** [June 11, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081 "2026-06-11T12:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/tynk-m/32/8356_2.png) [@TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/u/TynK-M)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/1 "2026-06-11T12:20:42Z")
Hi everyone, I’m planning to build a Markdown-based note-taking application in Zig with Vim-style editing and keyboard-driven navigation. I’m looking for recommendations on GUI libraries or frameworks that would be a good fit for this type of project. One of my main concerns is text rendering quality, as the application will spend most of its time displaying and editing text. I also need good Markdown rendering capabilities and support for modern font features. Some features I’d eventually like to support include: - Markdown editing and preview - High-quality font and text rendering - Rich Markdown rendering - Multiple panes/views - File explorer/sidebar - Vim-style keybindings - Cross-platform desktop support I would prefer a Zig-native GUI library. However, I’m also open to Zig bindings or wrappers around C/C++ libraries, as long as the Zig API is well designed and I don’t have to interact directly with `@cImport` or write C/C++ code myself. I’m still exploring the Zig ecosystem, so I’d appreciate hearing about the available options, their strengths and weaknesses, and any projects that might serve as good references. What GUI library would you recommend for a project like this, and why? ---
**Author:** ![Southporter](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/southporter/32/2500_2.png) [@Southporter](https://ziggit.dev/u/Southporter)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:27pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/2 "2026-06-11T14:27:56Z")
[DVUI](https://david-vanderson.github.io/) - [repo](https://github.com/david-vanderson/dvui) is a great one that I have used. It is actively maintained and has all the widgets you would need to get started. This would be my recommendation. [Fizzy](https://fizzyed.it/) is built using DVUI, so it is a proven system. There have been a few more created recently that you can find in Ziggit. There have been a couple posts in #Showcase. I can’t vouch for those as I have not personally looked into them. [Knots](https://ziggit.dev/t/knots-a-library-for-building-guis-with-zig/15244) looks promising as well ---
**Author:** ![fearedbliss](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/fearedbliss/32/8875_2.png) [@fearedbliss](https://ziggit.dev/u/fearedbliss)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/3 "2026-06-11T14:56:36Z")
I’ve been using DVUI to build a full rewrite of one of my apps into Zig and it’s been a good experience overall. In less than a week I basically re-implemented most of the frontend which was the part I was most concerned about. So I’ll be continuing to use DVUI for all of my GUI projects that use Zig, and I’m starting to implement the backend soon. I’m very excited about it. ---
**Author:** ![JacobCrabill](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/jacobcrabill/32/1316_2.png) [@JacobCrabill](https://ziggit.dev/u/JacobCrabill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:45pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/4 "2026-06-11T15:45:55Z")
It’s not the GUI part, but if you need a Markdown parser, I have one here: [GitHub - JacobCrabill/zigdown: Markdown toolset in Zig ⚡ · GitHub](https://github.com/JacobCrabill/zigdown/) I have renderers for plain ANSI console output, HTML, a formatter, and Neovim. I’m also considering splitting out the core parser into its own library (separate from the CLI and renderers) to keep that dependency-free and make it easier to use in other applications. ---
**Author:** ![lukeflo](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/lukeflo/32/7514_2.png) [@lukeflo](https://ziggit.dev/u/lukeflo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/5 "2026-06-11T16:08:43Z")
Tbh it sounds like a cool idea I also have in mind for one of my projects. However, since Markdown files are plain text, I’d think of a TUI as more natural fit than a GUI… (At least I would prefer a TUI… 😄 ) ---
**Author:** ![TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/tynk-m/32/8356_2.png) [@TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/u/TynK-M)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/6 "2026-06-11T19:36:43Z")
I was thinking about a GUI mostly because the whole project idea started when I’ve seen [ZenNotes](https://github.com/ZenNotes/zennotes). I liked the idea, so a note taking app using vim motion as main, but not the way it was implemented: Electron, so bloat of crap inside bundled with it. So I tought about re-doing it in Zig as a project, if it goes on also a TUI version would’t be bad ---
**Author:** ![lukeflo](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/lukeflo/32/7514_2.png) [@lukeflo](https://ziggit.dev/u/lukeflo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/7 "2026-06-11T19:40:54Z")
Yes, why not. I’m simply a terminal-first guy who wants to leave my `foot` instance for as few applications as possible. Thus, I also wrote a simple vim-like note taking TUI for my personal usage (based on `fff`). However, I would like to see a more advanced approach. But thats not your wish to fulfill 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/tynk-m/32/8356_2.png) [@TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/u/TynK-M)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/8 "2026-06-11T19:47:27Z")
Thank you so much, I’ll look into them. By a fast look DVUI looks really good ---
**Author:** ![TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/tynk-m/32/8356_2.png) [@TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/u/TynK-M)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/9 "2026-06-11T19:47:58Z")
That will surely be really usefull, thank you so much for sending 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/tynk-m/32/8356_2.png) [@TynK-M](https://ziggit.dev/u/TynK-M)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/10 "2026-06-11T19:49:10Z")
Really happy to hear this, both for the suggestion and for hearing a rewrite in Zig, keep it up, you are doing great ---
**Author:** ![xsawyerx](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/xsawyerx/32/8579_2.png) [@xsawyerx](https://ziggit.dev/u/xsawyerx)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 3:06pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/11 "2026-06-12T15:06:57Z")
There’s a library called Slint to which I wrote Zig bindings: [https://codeberg.org/xsawyerx/slint-zig](https://codeberg.org/xsawyerx/slint-zig). It’s pretty slick. ---
**Author:** ![Anthon](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/anthon/32/8967_2.png) [@Anthon](https://ziggit.dev/u/Anthon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 5:48am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/12 "2026-06-13T05:48:42Z")
Take a look at Loris’ SuperMD library for the markdown part, it is part of Zine. It replaces the need for HTML embedding, by using tiny scripting language (Scripty) > **[GitHub - kristoff-it/supermd: SuperMD is an extension of Markdown used by...](https://github.com/kristoff-it/supermd)** > > SuperMD is an extension of Markdown used by https://zine-ssg.io ---
**Author:** ![xsawyerx](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/xsawyerx/32/8579_2.png) [@xsawyerx](https://ziggit.dev/u/xsawyerx)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 7:55am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/recommended-gui-library-framework-for-a-markdown-note-taking-application/16081/13 "2026-06-23T07:55:23Z")
Replying to myself on Slint. While it’s genuinely slick, its licensing was a headache for a real project I needed to build with it and I ended up going with DVUI. Honestly, good stuff. 😃