Start with the output
Little experiments, real runtime
Shaders, clocks, synths, games, MIDI, small tools, WebAssembly sketches. A small script can quickly become something you can touch, hear or remix.
Budo is a small multi-platform runtime for creative coding, 2D/3D/audio tools, game development and quick prototypes. Your application code uses a convenient API to control Graphics, Audio, Midi, Text/Mouse/Gestures input and more. Multiple languages are supported: Typescript (*), Javascript, Lua and Web Assembly. The same code runs on Desktop, Web and Mobile. Budo is LLM ready with a small 30kb instruction file to guide your agents, leaving their context free for creativity.
Open-source MIT core. Early-stage. Built by a solo developer.
Start with the output
Shaders, clocks, synths, games, MIDI, small tools, WebAssembly sketches. A small script can quickly become something you can touch, hear or remix.
What Budo is
Budo exists for the moment you have a visual idea, a synth toy, an educational project, a shader sketch or a weird prototype you want to run on desktop, mobile or web. It's also perfect when you want to teach programming to your kids!
Budo provides an immediate mode graphic 2D API, 3D GL primitives and a handful
of native systems: canvas drawing, GL shaders and primitives, audio, MIDI,
db layer, files, networking, LLM inference (llamacpp) and ONNX inference.
Although similar or at least inspired from, the Budo API is different from the Web Browser APIs:
there is no DOM nor CSS for instance. All the available functions are organized under the sys global object, designed with simplicity
in mind.
The Budo CLI is multipurpose. It executes your JavaScript, Lua or WebAssembly code right away on Desktop. It can also package your code as an Android aplication or export it for the web.
It is intentionally small and hackable. The project is early-stage, actively maintained, and built by a solo developer who cares about keeping the code maintainable and well structured.
STARTER
A Budo application can begin with a small main.js file like this
one:
(you don't have to install the desktop version to try it, you can simply
use the run button on the top right of the code just below)
function frame(t) {
const w = sys.window.getWidth();
const h = sys.window.getHeight();
const pulse = 40 + Math.sin(t * 0.006) * 18;
sys.canvas.clear('#111216');
sys.canvas.setFillColor('#f7a84c');
sys.canvas.drawCircle(w * 0.5, h * 0.5, pulse);
sys.canvas.setFillColor('#9b8aff');
sys.canvas.drawText('change me', 32, 56, 28);
sys.animation.requestFrame(frame);
}
sys.animation.requestFrame(frame);Does this code feel natural? That's because many of the software bricks used by Budo are also used in Web technologies! But keep in mind that we are not using Web APIs here. There is no DOM, no CSS, no HTML, no browser view wrapping in desktop mode or Android. Budo has its own execution model.
There are plenty more APIs than drawing text and circles, use the getting started guide and the playground to get familiar with the capabilites.
Why it feels different
Budo comes with characteristics that make it perfect in many situations. Support for multiple languages on desktop/mobile/web platforms for 2D/3D, drawing, audio, persistence, AI out of the box are one of those.
The 2D graphic API is really close to the Web Canvas API. Everything goes through the provided
sys.canvas object.
The mental model is closer to ImGui than to a frontend framework.
GLSL shaders, and many other 3D primitives are available to compose with the main application scene. Shader passes can be applied after UI rendering, in between or in the other way around.
Here is a list of available modules in the API: 2D Graphics (backed by Skia), 3D Graphics (WebGL like), Audio/Midi/Synth, Device (orientation, compass, magneto, ...), Persistence (SQLite), File, Networking, Llamacpp (LLMs supported out-of-the-box), ONNX neural models inference,
Use JavaScript or TypeScript when you want quick scripting, Lua when you want tiny expressive code, and WebAssembly when you want a lower-level path.
The same application code can be deployed to Desktop (Linux and MacOS), Web and Android. Future support for Windows and iOS is planed.
AI-assisted coding
Budo ships with budo-llm.md, a compact markdown file that documents the API,
runtime rules and common traps for coding assistants.
That matters. When the API surface is small and the documentation fits in one small file, assistants are much less likely to invent APIs or imaginary engine calls, and they generate better code.
To generate the text to add in your agent/llm context when you work on a Budo application,
use this command: budo budo-llm.md. In the case of projects generated with the
init command, this file is already generated.
Open core, clear boundaries
The part that runs your app is open. You can inspect it, modify it, fork it, learn from it and build on it without vendor lock-in.
The core runtime is MIT licensed. Transparency is part of the design, especially while the project is young.
The Android APK/AAB packager is paid tooling. It helps fund development and removes the most annoying Android Studio and Gradle work from small projects.
The packager generates Android build artifacts. You still own signing choices, testing and Play Console submission.
Under the hood
Budo is built on battle-tested pieces: Skia for 2D/GPU rendering, SDL2 for windowing and input, QuickJS for JavaScript, Lua 5.4 for scripting, Wasmtime for WebAssembly, SQLite for persistence, ONNX Runtime and llamacpp for on-device ML, Emscripten for the web build, and the Android NDK for native mobile runtime.
Current state
Budo is usable today, and still early. APIs may evolve while the runtime finds its cleanest shape.
Feedback is welcome, especially from people building visual sketches, audio toys, shader studies, tiny tools, teaching demos and AI-generated prototypes. Sharp bug reports and small contributions are genuinely useful at this stage.
The roadmap is deliberately practical: better docs, more examples, steadier platform builds, tighter LLM context, improved packaging and a runtime that stays pleasant to hack on.
Try it locally
A self-contained runtime for quick experiments with 2D/3D/audio/midi/storage/AI capabilites. Pick a build, open the docs, and start with a small script.
Command line installation for Linux and MacOS:
curl -fsSL https://budo-platform.dev/install.sh | bash
Linux/macOS CLI installer. No root, no shell profile edits. Installs to ~/.local/bin/budo.