zackradisic

zackradisic / tgpu

Public

Experimenting with rendering 3D graphics in the terminal

x.comzack_overflowstatus2035921425341763756
22
0
100% credibility
Found Mar 25, 2026 at 21 stars -- GitGems finds repos before they trend. Get early access to the next one.
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AI Analysis
Rust
AI Summary

tgpu is an experiment that renders interactive 3D demos and custom shaders directly inside compatible terminals.

How It Works

1
🔍 Discover tgpu

You hear about this fun experiment that puts 3D graphics right inside your terminal window.

2
🚀 Fire it up

Download and launch it in your compatible terminal with one easy command.

3
✨ See 3D worlds appear

Animated scenes like waving cloth or bubbling shapes come alive smoothly in your terminal.

4
🖱️ Look around

Drag your mouse to orbit the view and scroll to zoom closer or pull back.

5
Choose your adventure
🎨
Built-in demos

Switch to physics playgrounds, glowing balls, or ocean waves.

⚡
Custom shaders

Drop in a shader file and watch your creation render live.

🎉 Terminal becomes a 3D canvas

Interactive graphics fill your screen, feeling like a game right in your everyday terminal.

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Star Growth

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AI-Generated Review

What is tgpu?

tgpu renders interactive 3D graphics directly in your terminal using Rust and wgpu for GPU acceleration, leveraging the Kitty graphics protocol for pixel-perfect display. Fire it up with `cargo run --release` to cycle through demos like cloth simulations, metaballs, and seascapes, or run Shadertoy GLSL shaders via `cargo run --release -- --shadertoy shader.glsl`. It solves the itch for real-time graphics experimenting without leaving the CLI, capped at 60 FPS with mouse controls and an ImGui overlay for scene switching.

Why is it gaining traction?

Unlike terminal ASCII art or basic plots, tgpu delivers full GPU-powered rendering—think marching cubes metaballs or animated skins—with smooth orbit camera and physics. The Shadertoy mode stands out for quick gpu test and shader prototyping in terminals like Ghostty, no browser needed. Developers dig the raw thrill of seeing wgpu crank out terminal-native 3D, perfect for gpu compare sessions or just vibecoding graphics effects.

Who should use this?

Rust graphics hackers wanting a gpu benchmark playground in the terminal, or Shadertoy fans tired of tab-switching for quick renders. Terminal purists experimenting with kitty-protocol apps, or backend devs demoing gpu ranking visuals during remote pair sessions. Avoid if you're on non-Kitty terminals or need cross-platform stability.

Verdict

Fun weekend experiment (19 stars, 1.0% credibility)—try it for terminal graphics inspiration, but it's macOS/Ghostty-only with no vsync. Great for gpu tweak 3 vibes or rust-based prototyping, less so for production.

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