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ntk

ntk is a node.js desktop UI toolkit for X11: a set of wrappers around the low level node-x11 module that simplify X Window UI programming — window creation, DOM-style event handling, 2d/3d graphics — using API concepts you already know from the web:

  • browser-style events (mousedown, keydown, expose, …) on windows
  • an HTML canvas-like 2d context backed by the XRender extension — composition, gradients, blur and glyph drawing happen server-side
  • a webgl-ish opengl context over indirect GLX (OpenGL 1.4 command serialization, no client GL library)

Everything, including font rasterization, is pure JavaScript: npm install never compiles anything.

Install​

npm install ntk

Requires Node.js >= 20.19 and an X server (any Linux desktop, Xvfb, XQuartz on macOS, …).

Hello, window​

import { createClient } from 'ntk';

const app = await createClient();
const wnd = app.createWindow({ width: 500, height: 300, title: 'Hello' });
wnd.on('mousedown', (ev) => wnd.setTitle(`click: ${ev.x},${ev.y}`));
wnd.map();

Drawing works like an HTML canvas:

const ctx = wnd.getContext('2d');
ctx.fillStyle = 'red';
ctx.fillRect(10, 10, 100, 100);
ctx.font = '24px sans-serif';
ctx.fillStyle = '#1c4e80';
ctx.fillText('Hello from ntk', 10, 160);

Try it in your browser​

No X server at hand? The Playground runs ntk demos entirely in your browser: the code talks to a pure-JavaScript X server (with the XRender extension) composited to a canvas — the same code you would run in node against a real display.

Where to go next​

  • Getting started — requirements, first window, headless/CI setup
  • API reference — the full public API surface: App, Window, the 2d context, fonts and text, images, widgets, OpenGL, resource management
  • Playground — live, editable demos in your browser