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Top 23 C++ Desktop Projects
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My "Notepad++ for Mac" so far has been NotepadNext (https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext). I will give this one a try as well, and wish them best of luck. I hope they release the Linux version as well.
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nodegui
A library for building cross-platform native desktop applications with Node.js and CSS 🚀. React NodeGui : https://react.nodegui.org and Vue NodeGui: https://vue.nodegui.org
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Windows UI Library
WinUI: a modern UI framework with a rich set of controls and styles to build dynamic and high-performing Windows applications.
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Project mention: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-08-02
No, it implements its own functionality. As an example consider one of the most basic controls which is available pretty much everywhere (i.e. no need for polyfill), the push button: the source code[0] for QPushButton clearly implements the behavior itself, it does not rely on any native button.
Compare with wxWidgets' equivalent to QPushButton, wxButton, where there is a backend-specific header[1] and implementation[2] where 99% of the wxButton functionality is there (there is a `btncmn.cpp` under `common` that is shared across backends but that has very little code itself).
[0] https://github.com/qt/qtbase/blob/dev/src/widgets/widgets/qp...
[1] https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/blob/master/include/w...
[2] https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/blob/master/src/msw/b...
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ProjectReunion
The Windows App SDK empowers all Windows desktop apps with modern Windows UI, APIs, and platform features, including back-compat support, shipped via NuGet.
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Project mention: Release 0.4 Final: Reflecting on My Open Source Contributions for release 0.4 | dev.to | 2025-12-12
Issue: https://github.com/nextcloud/desktop/issues/9197
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DirectXTK
The DirectX Tool Kit (aka DirectXTK) is a collection of helper classes for writing DirectX 11.x code in C++
Project mention: MonoGame: A .NET framework for making cross-platform games | news.ycombinator.com | 2026-03-07It is kind of nice for indie games, unfortunately it is kind of stuck in what XNA 4.0 had as API surface.
And it used to be there was still some dependency on old XNA plugins for assets pipeline on Visual Studio.
No idea where this stands now.
However it was yet another example of community standing up for the anti-.NET sentiment at Windows/XBox teams, when the persons involved left XBox team, XNA was quickly replaced by DirectX TK.
"The billion dollar decision that launched XNA"
https://youtu.be/wJY8RhPHmUQ?is=jwDBVae8AhBH-ANB
https://walbourn.github.io/directxtk/
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DirectXMath
DirectXMath is an all inline SIMD C++ linear algebra library for use in games and graphics apps
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DirectXTK12
The DirectX Tool Kit (aka DirectXTK12) is a collection of helper classes for writing DirectX 12 code in C++
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xtd
Free open-source modern C++20 framework to create console (CLI), forms (GUI like WinForms) and unit test (xUnit) applications and libraries on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, FreeBSD, Haiku, and SerenityOS.
Project mention: Xtd: Modern C++20 framework (CLI, GUI, unit tests) | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-11-26 -
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octos
Create and share web-based interactive, animated wallpapers on Windows :rocket: Available on the Microsoft Store
Project mention: Show HN: Create and share animated, interactive wallpapers with HTML/CSS/JS | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-08-23 -
avogadrolibs
Avogadro libraries provide 3D rendering, visualization, analysis and data processing useful in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas.
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flutter_everywhere
Template Flutter Project for iOS, Android, Fuschica, MacOS, Windows, Linux, Web, Command Line, Chrome Extension
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shell
:shell: Convergent shell for desktops, phones and tables built with QtQuick, Wayland and Material Design (by lirios)
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NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
C++ Desktop discussion
C++ Desktop related posts
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WinUI 3 Performance: A Leap Forward
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# Release 0.4 Week 2: Fixing a Windows Bug in Nextcloud Desktop Client
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Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders
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A Note on Fil-C
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OctaneGUI – a renderer agnostic multi-window multi-platform UI library for C++
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Show HN: Create and share animated, interactive wallpapers with HTML/CSS/JS
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Show HN: Octos – web-based dynamic wallpaper engine
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A note from our sponsor - SaaSHub
www.saashub.com | 7 Jun 2026
Index
What are some of the best open-source Desktop projects in C++? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NotepadNext | 14,211 |
| 2 | nodegui | 9,220 |
| 3 | Windows UI Library | 7,658 |
| 4 | wxWidgets | 7,160 |
| 5 | ProjectReunion | 4,583 |
| 6 | desktop | 3,731 |
| 7 | corona | 2,838 |
| 8 | AirPodsDesktop | 2,824 |
| 9 | DirectXTK | 2,814 |
| 10 | nheko | 2,427 |
| 11 | DirectXMath | 1,778 |
| 12 | DirectXTK12 | 1,726 |
| 13 | kotatogram-desktop | 1,320 |
| 14 | xtd | 1,153 |
| 15 | rbfx | 1,007 |
| 16 | octos | 767 |
| 17 | avogadrolibs | 636 |
| 18 | ValliStart | 477 |
| 19 | flutter_everywhere | 405 |
| 20 | phantomstyle | 334 |
| 21 | shell | 248 |
| 22 | Native System Automation | 217 |
| 23 | TensorVox | 213 |
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