# Zigspinner: minimal terminal spinners for Zig (timed, ticked, no-std friendly)

**URL:** <https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090>\
**Category:** Showcase\
**Tags:** unicode, cli\
**Created:** [April 21, 2026, 7:29am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090 "2026-04-21T07:29:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/andrew-velox/32/8408_2.png) [@Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/u/Andrew-Velox)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 7:29am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/1 "2026-04-21T07:29:35Z")

</div>

Hi everyone, I built Zigspinner, a small spinner library for Zig focused on clean API, compile-time friendly presets, and cross-platform terminal output.

![Screen Recording 2026-04-21 043045](https://ziggit.dev/uploads/default/original/2X/0/031ac2d04dc925070fec4b8a9071f0d03754fd46.gif)

### What it includes:

- Timed spinners based on elapsed nanoseconds

- Ticked spinners for manual frame driving

- Reverse direction and offset support

- Presets: arrows, ascii, braille, emoji

- Works in no-std style loops

### Quick install:

`zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/Andrew-Velox/Zigspinner.git`

#### Build integration:

```zig
const dep = b.dependency("Zigspinner", .{});

const zigspinner_mod = dep.module("Zigspinner");

exe.root_module.addImport("Zigspinner", zigspinner_mod);

```

#### Minimal usage:

```zig
const std = @import("std");

const sp = @import("Zigspinner");

pub fn main() !void {

    const spinner = sp.presets.ascii.simple_dots_scrolling();

    const start = std.time.nanoTimestamp();

    while (true) {

        const elapsed: u64 = @intCast(std.time.nanoTimestamp() - start);

        std.debug.print("\r{s}", .{spinner.frameAt(elapsed)});

        std.Thread.sleep(30_000_000);

    }

    std.debug.print("\rDone\n", .{});

}

```

Repo: [https://github.com/Andrew-Velox/Zigspinner](https://github.com/Andrew-Velox/Zigspinner)

Would love feedback on API shape, naming, and missing presets.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Anthon](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/anthon/32/8967_2.png) [@Anthon](https://ziggit.dev/u/Anthon)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/2 "2026-04-21T14:20:36Z")

</div>

Given the recent release of Zig 0.16.0, I suggest indicate whether this works with that version or not (yet). Or what part can be used c.q. is tested with 0.16.

I looked at the source online and did see `std.fs.File`, so I suspected errors with Zig 0.16, and  
when cloned, the source would not build out-of-the-box with Zig 0.16 (on the macOS M1 machine where I tried this). I am not complaining that it failed, as that is perfectly understandable, but I assume that others would want to know whether they can use it in 0.16, or not, before trying.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sze](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/sze/32/496_2.png) [@Sze](https://ziggit.dev/u/Sze)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/3 "2026-04-21T14:52:30Z")

</div>

I guess you can look at the `.minimum_zig_version = "0.15.2",` in the `build.zig.zon` as an indicator (but not full confirmation) that it might only support `0.15.2` currently.

There are some packages that support multiple versions of Zig at the same time, for those Zig 0.16.0 might work too. Or some packages might just happen to work with newer Zig versions because they weren’t affected by the changes.

I also think it makes sense to use the version tags of ziggit.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mnemnion](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/mnemnion/32/2478_2.png) [@mnemnion](https://ziggit.dev/u/mnemnion)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/4 "2026-04-21T14:54:41Z")

</div>

I want to throw in a plug for @marler8997’s [anyzig](https://github.com/marler8997/anyzig), which has made this upgrade (which I’ve barely started) so much more pleasant than it would otherwise have been.

Picks the Zig binary for a project based on the `.minimum_zig_version` string. Brilliant stuff.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KilianHanich](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/kilianhanich/32/8254_2.png) [@KilianHanich](https://ziggit.dev/u/KilianHanich)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 4:15pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/5 "2026-04-21T16:15:59Z")

</div>

I just played around a bit with it.

Looks great.

Also, it does work with 0.16.0 too since, at least the stuff related to the library, not the calls to nanoTimestamp, sleep and the example.

But if there’s a specific release for 0.16.0, a change from a raw number to `std.Io.Timestamp` and `std.Io.Duration` would be a nice touch.

Also, there’s an empty `braile.zig` file (one `l` instead of two) next to the `braille.zig` file in the repository.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/andrew-velox/32/8408_2.png) [@Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/u/Andrew-Velox)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/6 "2026-04-21T17:02:35Z")

</div>

Great point, and thanks for raising it.  
You were right that compatibility needed to be explicit. I’ve now validated both Zig 0.15.2 and Zig 0.16.0 with build + tests, and updated the project docs so users can see support status before trying.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/andrew-velox/32/8408_2.png) [@Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/u/Andrew-Velox)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/7 "2026-04-21T17:07:39Z")

</div>

Thanks, this is a really good clarification.  
I agree that `.minimum_zig_version` should be treated as a lower bound, not full confirmation. I now test against both 0.15.2 and 0.16.0, and I updated the README to reflect verified versions more clearly. Also agreed on Ziggit version tags, I’ll follow that.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/andrew-velox/32/8408_2.png) [@Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/u/Andrew-Velox)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/8 "2026-04-21T17:08:58Z")

</div>

That looks super useful, thanks for sharing this.  
Using `anyzig` with `.minimum_zig_version` is a great workflow for reducing version friction, especially while supporting multiple Zig versions. I’ll mention this approach for others too.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/andrew-velox/32/8408_2.png) [@Andrew-Velox](https://ziggit.dev/u/Andrew-Velox)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/zigspinner-minimal-terminal-spinners-for-zig-timed-ticked-no-std-friendly/15090/9 "2026-04-21T17:10:38Z")

</div>

Thanks for testing and for the detailed notes.  
Good catch on the duplicate empty `braile.zig` file, that has been removed.  
And yes, I agree on your `std.Io.Timestamp` / `std.Io.Duration` suggestion for a cleaner 0.16-focused pass.