raylib README

The project's README from github.com/raysan5/raylib. As one markdown file: README.md.

raylib is a simple and easy-to-use library to enjoy videogames programming.

raylib is highly inspired by Borland BGI graphics lib and by XNA framework and it's especially well suited for prototyping, tooling, graphical applications, embedded systems and education.

NOTE for ADVENTURERS: raylib is a programming library to enjoy videogames programming; no fancy interface, no visual helpers, no debug button... just coding in the most pure spartan-programmers way.

Ready to learn? Jump to code examples!


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features

limitations

raylib presents some limitation by design for code simplicity, some forks, alternatives and samples are available to overcome most of them but it's up to the users to modify the library for their specific needs.

basic example

This is a basic raylib example, it creates a window and draws the text "Congrats! You created your first window!" in the middle of the screen. Check this example running live on web here.

#include "raylib.h"

int main(void)
{
    InitWindow(800, 450, "raylib example - basic window");

    while (!WindowShouldClose())
    {
        BeginDrawing();
            ClearBackground(RAYWHITE);
            DrawText("Congrats! You created your first window!", 190, 200, 20, LIGHTGRAY);
        EndDrawing();
    }

    CloseWindow();

    return 0;
}

build and installation

raylib binary releases for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and HTML5 are available at the Github Releases page.

raylib is also available via multiple package managers on multiple OS distributions.

Installing and building raylib on multiple platforms

raylib Wiki contains detailed instructions on building and usage on multiple platforms.

Note that the Wiki is open for edit, if you find some issues while building raylib for your target platform, feel free to edit the Wiki or open an issue related to it.

Setup raylib with multiple IDEs

raylib has been developed on Windows platform using Notepad++ and MinGW GCC compiler but it can be used with other IDEs on multiple platforms.

Projects directory contains several ready-to-use project templates to build raylib and code examples with multiple IDEs.

Note that there are lots of IDEs supported, some of the provided templates could require some review, so please, if you find some issue with a template or you think they could be improved, feel free to send a PR or open a related issue.

learning and docs

raylib is designed to be learned using the examples as the main reference. There is no standard API documentation but there is a cheatsheet containing all the functions available on the library a short description of each one of them, input parameters and result value names should be intuitive enough to understand how each function works.

Some additional documentation about raylib design can be found in raylib GitHub Wiki. Here are the relevant links:

contact and networks

raylib is present in several networks and raylib community is growing everyday. If you are using raylib and enjoying it, feel free to join us in any of these networks. The most active network is our Discord server! :)

contributors

license

raylib is licensed under an unmodified zlib/libpng license, which is an OSI-certified, BSD-like license that allows static linking with closed source software. Check LICENSE for further details.

raylib uses internally some libraries for window/graphics/inputs management and also to support different file formats loading, all those libraries are embedded with and are available in src/external directory. Check raylib dependencies LICENSES on raylib Wiki for details.

raylib (raysan5/raylib)

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35.2K ·GitHub
Raylib
What is this?raylib is a simple and easy-to-use C library (C99) for videogames programming, inspired by Borland BGI and the XNA framework — you write code, and it handles windows, graphics, inputs and audio.
So is it a full engine with an editor, or a library I write code against?It is a plain programming library with no editor: no fancy interface, no visual helpers, no debug button — just a C API you call from your own code.
How do I get it installed?Take a prebuilt binary from the GitHub Releases page, install it through your OS package manager, or build from source; the wiki has per-platform guides and ready IDE project templates.
Do I need to install other libraries or SDKs first?None — raylib has zero external dependencies, all required libraries for windowing, OpenGL, inputs, audio and file-format loading are bundled inside the library.
What are the biggest gotchas once I'm deep in a project?By design: a single window with one OpenGL context (no multi-window), resizing or moving the window pauses the render loop, RenderTextures come out flipped vertically, and text has no RTL, ligature or emoji support.
Is it only good for games, or can I build other things with it?It is aimed at videogames but explicitly well suited for prototyping, tooling, graphical applications, embedded systems and education, and its 140+ examples double as a graphics-programming course.
Where will my finished game actually run?Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android and HTML5 in the browser, plus targets like Chrome OS and FreeBSD covered by wiki build guides.
Can I sell a closed-source game made with it?Yes — it uses an unmodified zlib/libpng license, a BSD-like OSI-certified license that explicitly allows static linking into closed-source software.
Will it run on an old laptop with integrated graphics?Most likely: rendering needs only OpenGL 1.1 at the low end, and there is even a software-renderer backend (rlsw) that works with no OpenGL at all.
Do I have to write C, or can I use another language?raylib itself is written in plain C99, but there are bindings to more than 70 programming languages, so you can use it from many ecosystems — the C API remains the canonical one.
How am I supposed to learn it if there is no API documentation?That is intentional: raylib is designed to be learned from its collection of 140+ code examples, plus a cheatsheet listing every function with parameters and result names; deeper design notes live in the GitHub wiki.
What media formats can it load out of the box?Fonts: TTF, OTF, FNT, BDF and sprite fonts; textures including compressed DXT, ETC and ASTC; 3D models: IQM, M3D and glTF with skeletal animation; audio: WAV, QOA, OGG, MP3, FLAC, XM and MOD with streaming.
What are similar projects?bgfx, Craft, ebiten, egui, sokol, benilla, tidewater, 3d-game-shaders-for-beginners
Which topics is it in?win32, riscv, shaders, esp32, opengl, webassembly, game-engine, gamedev, iot, raspberry-pi, rendering, embedded
Creator
raysan5
Size
406.5 MB
Stars
35.2K
Updated
CommitOct 16Release6.2Oct 15
Age
12y
Commits · 90 Days