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Vix UI Roadmap

This roadmap describes the planned evolution of vix::ui.

Vix UI is a web-first UI foundation for Vix.cpp applications. It starts with server-rendered views, HTML helpers, asset helpers, forms, live UI fragments, PWA/mobile helpers, and app shell primitives.

Desktop and mobile support are added progressively through WebView-based app shells.

v0.1.0 — UI foundation

Status: done.

Focus:

  • core view abstraction
  • template-compatible view context
  • rendered view result
  • HTML escaping helpers
  • HTML attribute helpers
  • small HTML generation helpers
  • transport-neutral HTML response
  • asset descriptors
  • asset manifests
  • asset manager
  • basic form and field helpers
  • validation error model
  • platform descriptor
  • shell configuration
  • lightweight app shell state
  • examples
  • unit tests

Goal:

Create the first stable UI module foundation without introducing native desktop or mobile complexity too early.

v0.2.0 — Vix web integration

Status: done.

Focus:

  • integration with the Vix HTTP response wrapper
  • ResponseWrapper::ui(const vix::ui::HtmlResponse &)
  • ResponseWrapper::ui(const vix::ui::View &)
  • rendering vix::ui::View through the configured template engine
  • returning vix::ui::HtmlResponse through normal HTTP responses
  • automatic Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
  • X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff for UI HTML responses
  • support for normal HTTP status handling
  • support for 204 No Content and 304 Not Modified
  • improved examples using real Vix response flow

Example:

app.get("/", [](Request &, ResponseWrapper &res)
{
  auto view = vix::ui::View("home.html")
      .set_title("Home")
      .set("name", "Gaspard");

  res.ui(view);
});

Goal:

Make Vix UI work directly inside normal Vix web applications, not only standalone examples.

v0.3.0 — Desktop shell MVP

Status: done.

Focus:

  • Linux-first desktop shell
  • local Vix server launch support
  • WebView window integration
  • load http://127.0.0.1:<port>
  • shell lifecycle: start, stop, restart
  • window title, size, resizable, fullscreen, and devtools options
  • basic desktop examples

Goal:

Run a Vix web application as a desktop app without rewriting the UI.

Model:

Vix app
  -> HTTP server
  -> templates / vix::ui
  -> local URL
  -> desktop WebView window

v0.4.0 — Desktop shell expansion

Status: done.

Focus:

  • improved Linux shell support
  • backend abstraction
  • descriptor shell backend
  • Linux WebView shell backend
  • shell error reporting
  • better platform detection
  • local server readiness checks
  • configurable startup timeout
  • desktop app metadata
  • icon path support
  • basic packaging direction

Goal:

Move from proof of concept to a more usable desktop app shell.

v0.5.0 — Live UI helpers

Status: done.

Focus:

  • WebSocket-friendly UI helpers
  • partial HTML fragments
  • small component update conventions
  • server-driven UI update patterns
  • helpers for dashboards and internal tools
  • flash messages
  • toast rendering helpers

Goal:

Make Vix UI useful for dynamic dashboards, admin panels, monitoring pages, and internal tools.

v0.6.0 — Forms and validation improvements

Status: done.

Focus:

  • richer field types
  • select options
  • checkbox state
  • radio groups
  • textarea helpers
  • file input helpers
  • form data binding
  • old input values
  • field-level rendering helpers
  • form error summaries
  • CSRF helper integration point

Goal:

Make server-rendered forms more practical for real applications.

v0.7.0 — Asset pipeline helpers

Status: done.

Focus:

  • asset versioning
  • manifest lookup
  • hashed asset paths
  • CSS and JS grouping
  • preload helpers
  • module script support
  • production/development asset modes
  • AssetMap
  • AssetMode
  • improved asset examples

Goal:

Make static assets easier to manage in Vix UI applications.

v0.8.0 — Mobile/PWA direction

Status: done.

Focus:

  • PWA-oriented helpers
  • mobile viewport helpers
  • safe-area CSS helpers
  • web app manifest metadata
  • installable web app support
  • mobile meta tag helpers
  • future mobile WebView preparation
  • Android shell planning direction

Added primitives:

  • vix::ui::Viewport
  • vix::ui::SafeArea
  • vix::ui::WebAppManifest
  • vix::ui::PwaMeta

Goal:

Prepare Vix UI applications to run well on mobile browsers and future mobile WebView shells.

v1.0.0 — Stable UI foundation

Status: planned.

Focus:

  • stable public API
  • stable module structure
  • complete tests
  • complete examples
  • production-ready docs
  • stable Vix response integration
  • stable view rendering flow
  • stable asset helpers
  • stable form helpers
  • stable live UI helpers
  • stable PWA helpers
  • stable app shell configuration
  • desktop shell baseline
  • clear migration notes from 0.x

Goal:

Provide a reliable, simple UI foundation for Vix.cpp applications.

Future direction after v1.0.0

Possible future work:

  • deeper route-level helpers
  • cleaner controller examples
  • template layout conventions
  • desktop packaging helpers
  • Windows WebView backend
  • macOS WebView backend
  • Android WebView shell research
  • service worker helper direction
  • installable app examples
  • dashboard starter examples
  • admin panel starter examples

These should only be added if they keep the API simple.

Non-goals

Vix UI is not trying to be:

  • a React clone
  • a Flutter clone
  • a Qt replacement
  • a native widget toolkit
  • a complex virtual DOM engine
  • a heavy frontend framework
  • a JavaScript bundler
  • a CSS framework
  • a full desktop packaging system

The direction is:

server-rendered UI first
WebView app shell later
native UI only if truly needed

Design principles

  • keep the API small
  • build on top of Vix templates
  • avoid duplicate rendering engines
  • prefer explicit data flow
  • keep desktop/mobile as shells, not as a new UI system
  • make simple web apps easy
  • make dashboards and admin panels practical
  • make future desktop apps possible
  • make mobile/PWA readiness simple
  • avoid adding complexity before it is truly needed