Zaroxi Studio — AI-First Rust IDE
GPU-rendered from scratch — no Electron, no web view.
Most AI editors wrap a chatbot around VS Code's Electron shell. Zaroxi renders every pixel itself — the editor, the AI cockpit, and the layered 145-crate architecture are built for AI-native workflows from the kernel up, not bolted on afterward.
What it is
Zaroxi Studio is a native code editor built as a layered Rust workspace — drawn end to end on the GPU using winit, wgpu, vello, and cosmic-text. A dedicated intelligence layer and application-owned AI service ports sit alongside the editor engine, so AI is part of the architecture rather than an add-on.
Why it matters
- AI-first by design — a dedicated intelligence layer (agents, planning, context, memory, tools, safety) and application-owned AI service ports with inline-AI primitives in the editor core.
- Native, not a web wrapper — the desktop shell renders entirely through Rust GPU crates. No web view, no JavaScript runtime, no embedded browser.
- Crate-first and layered — strict
Kernel → Core → Domain → Application → Interfaceboundaries keep the engine, orchestration, and UI independently testable. - Real editor foundations — GPU text rendering, transactional buffers, piece-table backend for large files, and Tree-sitter highlighting from pinned grammars.
- Engineered for trust —
unsafeis forbidden by policy (forbid(unsafe_code)), cross-platform CI, andcargo-audit/cargo-deny/ CodeQL in the pipeline.
How it compares
| Zaroxi Studio | VS Code + Copilot | Cursor | Zed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rendering | Native GPU (wgpu) | Electron / Chromium | Electron / Chromium | Native GPU |
| Language | Rust (unsafe-forbidden) | TypeScript + native | TypeScript + native | Rust |
| AI approach | First-class intelligence layer | Extension (Copilot) | Built-in (closed) | Built-in |
| Open source | Yes (MIT) | Partial | No | Yes (GPL) |
Current status
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Core text editing | Working — GPU rendering, buffers, undo |
| Large file support | Working — piece-table for files ≥ 1 MB |
| Syntax highlighting | Working — Tree-sitter (Rust, TOML, Markdown, Nix) |
| Git integration | In progress — line-level diff engine |
| AI cockpit | In progress — panel and context building |
| LSP support | Planned |
| Extensions / plugins | Planned |
Architecture
apps/ # runnable binaries (desktop harness)
crates/
zaroxi-kernel-* # IDs, traits, primitives
zaroxi-core-* # editor, engine, and rendering
zaroxi-domain-* # value objects and models
zaroxi-application-* # orchestration and use cases
zaroxi-interface-* # desktop shell, GPU draw, layout
zaroxi-intelligence-* # agents, planning, context, memory, tools
Quick start
git clone https://github.com/ZaroxiHQ/zaroxi.git
cd zaroxi
cargo run -p zaroxi-interface-desktop --bin gui_shell
The first build compiles the workspace dependency graph and takes a few minutes. Subsequent builds are incremental and fast.
Built with
- wgpu — cross-platform GPU access
- vello — GPU 2D vector rendering
- winit — windowing
- cosmic-text — text shaping and layout
- tree-sitter — incremental parsing
- tokio — async runtime
I'm building Zaroxi Studio through Zaroxi Studio — my company for software development, AI engineering, and developer tools. If you're interested in Rust systems programming, GPU rendering, or AI-native developer tools, star the repo to follow progress. Forks and PRs are welcome.