this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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Programming

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GUI library for C? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/programming@programming.dev
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There are some times that I make something and the terminal isn't enough. I want to make it user-friendly and add buttons and dropdowns and stuff. I mainly write C, so I want a well-known and good GUI library for C. I have tried learning Qt but the documentation was awful and all the examples were for C++ or Python. I also am aware about libraries like imgui but it's more for debugging UIs I think and not for normal applications that end users use.

I also would like the library to be platform-agnostic, or at least just work with Linux because that's what I am using.

If you also code in C, what do you use to make GUIs? What do you suggest me to use?

Thanks in advance.

Also, if anyone suggests Electron or anything involving a browser, I will find them and remove one electron from each atom of theirs, turning them into smoke.

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[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Raylib+raygui is my favorite for getting started because how simple they are. I also heard good things about clay.

For professional UI libraries with buttons etc similar to qt, I know of GTK, EFL, and iup portable.

GTK is the main one I can vouch for. Google sometimes gives gtk-3 docs and sometimes gtk-4 docs so just remember to use docs' searchbar.

Also consider TUI instead of GUI if you really want C. These libraries usually support mouse too.