GoKawiilNew Ada GUI toolkit Adi2 brings CSS styling and XML layouts to SDL3
Adi2 is a newly released GUI library for the Ada programming language, built on top of SDL3, that offers a widget toolkit with CSS-like styling, live reload, declarative XML-based UI layouts, animations, SVG/Lottie graphics, internationalization, and asset bundling. The project is already used in production but the developers caution that its APIs may still change before a stable release.
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Ada is typically associated with safety-critical and embedded systems, where modern UI tooling has historically lagged far behind web and mobile ecosystems. A library that brings web-style CSS workflows and declarative XML UI definitions to Ada could make it far more practical to build polished desktop interfaces without leaving the language's strict typing and reliability guarantees, potentially broadening Ada's appeal beyond niche industrial use.
- Adi2 is a new Ada GUI library layered on SDL3 with CSS-style theming and live reload support.
- It supports both XML-declared layouts and equivalent handle-based Ada widget construction.
- Already used in production, but its API is not yet stable and may change before a formal release.
Programming in Ada 2012 by John Barnes — If a modern Ada GUI toolkit like Adi2 has you curious about the language, John Barnes' Programming in Ada 2012 is the canonical reference for learning it properly. It covers the language's strong typing, packages and concurrency features that make projects like this possible, and it's a solid desk companion while you experiment with SDL3-backed widgets.
See Programming in Ada 2012 by John Barnes on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: github.com, 2026-08-24
Published there as: “Show HN: A Modern GUI Library for Ada: CSS Styling, XML UI, SDL3”
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