native-sdk

$npx mdskill add vercel-labs/native/native-sdk

Discovers the Native SDK for building native desktop apps with TypeScript and .native markup.

  • Answers what the Native SDK is and how to build, scaffold, or configure apps.
  • Depends on Bash(native:*) and Bash(npx @native-sdk/cli:*) tools.
  • Routes queries to relevant docs based on task like UI authoring or packaging.
  • Provides guidance and commands for creating, testing, and automating Native SDK apps.

SKILL.md

.github/skills/native-sdkView on GitHub ↗
---
name: native-sdk
description: Discovery skill for the Native SDK, the complete toolkit for building native desktop applications. Apps are authored in TypeScript + declarative Native markup (.native) by default and compiled to native code with no JS runtime in the binary; Zig cores are an explicit alternative, and WebViews are the optional web-content path. Use when the user asks what the Native SDK is, how to build a Native SDK app, author native UI, scaffold an app, configure app.json or legacy app.zon, add bridge commands, embed web content, package an app, test a running app, or automate a Native SDK app.
allowed-tools: Bash(native:*), Bash(npx @native-sdk/cli:*)
hidden: true
---

# Native SDK

The Native SDK is the complete toolkit for building native desktop applications. **The primary authoring path is TypeScript app logic in `src/core.ts` plus declarative Native markup in `.native` files.** The TypeScript core is checked and compiled ahead of time to native code, so the shipped binary contains no browser, WebView, JS runtime, or interpreter. Zig is how the toolkit itself works and is a first-class, explicitly chosen app-core alternative (`--template zig-core`); it is not the default inferred from the SDK's implementation. Every app embeds a deterministic automation server, so agents can snapshot, drive, and screenshot the running window. Desktop is the mature surface (macOS deepest, Linux and Windows exercised in CI); mobile embedding is experimental. WebView surfaces coexist as the optional path for embedding web content or hosting an existing web frontend.

## Start here

This file is a discovery stub for agents that installed the Native SDK once with a skills installer such as `npx skills add native-sdk`. Before implementing or explaining Native SDK app work, use the installed CLI to discover and load the current skill content:

```bash
native skills list
native skills get core
native skills get native-ui
native skills get ts-core
```

Use `native skills get core` for initial orientation. For the default app-authoring path, load **both** `native-ui` (views, bindings, the app loop) and `ts-core` (the TypeScript subset, effects, subscriptions, and modules) before implementing. Load `ts-services` too when the tree has `src/services/` or ordinary TypeScript needs filesystem/process/JSON/regex/Map/Date/class work behind `Cmd.request`. Use `native skills get core --full` when work reaches lower-level runtime wiring, WebViews, bridge/security, native capabilities, packaging, or debugging. Use `native skills get automation` when testing a running app, taking snapshots, requesting reloads, or using the built-in automation server. Use `native skills get zig` only for an existing Zig core, a toolkit extension, SDK implementation work, or a Zig 0.16 compile error.

## Quick orientation

```bash
npm install -g @native-sdk/cli
native init my_app
cd my_app
native dev
```

`native init my_app` generates the primary three-file app: `app.json`, `src/app.native` (the markup view), and `src/core.ts` (`Model`, `Msg`, `update`). Existing `app.zon` manifests remain supported. Inspect the tree before editing an existing app and preserve the core language it already uses. `src/main.zig` means the app explicitly uses the Zig-core template; web-frontend shells additionally carry `frontend/` and usually owned build/runtime wiring.

More from vercel-labs/native

SkillDescription
automationAutomation and verification guide for running Native SDK apps. Use when the user asks to test a running app, inspect runtime state, list windows, wait for readiness, drive widgets, take deterministic screenshots, send bridge commands, debug why automation is not connected, create smoke tests, or verify a Native SDK example in a GUI-capable session.
native-uiAuthoring guide for the Native markup (.native) view tier of native-rendered Native SDK apps. TypeScript cores are the default and use this skill together with ts-core; Zig cores are an explicit alternative and this guide labels their lower-level UiApp recipes. Use when building or modifying native UI (widgets, layout, bindings, messages), writing .native files, wiring views to Model/Msg/update, testing markup views, or verifying a native app through the automation harness.
ts-coreAuthoring guide for the primary Native SDK app-logic path: TypeScript app cores - Model, Msg, update, and the pure functions they call, written in the closed app-core subset, checked by the @native-sdk/core frontend, and compiled ahead-of-time to native code by the external core compiler. Use for new apps unless the user explicitly chose Zig, when writing or modifying a src/core.ts app core, fixing subset checker errors (NS1001-NS1069), or deciding how to express state, messages, text (bytes and the byte-text string methods), text input, continuous controls (sliders, scroll), effects (Cmd), subscriptions (Sub), the host-event wiring channels (frameMsg, keyMsg, pinchMsg, dropMsg, appearanceMsg, chromeMsg, envMsgs, app manifest assets), derived values, the view_unbound lint opt-out, local mutation of owned arrays, or how to split a core into modules under src/ (relative imports, namespace imports, @native-sdk/core/text, @native-sdk/core/events). Use ts-services alongside this guide for src/services work.
ts-servicesAuthoring guide for Native SDK TypeScript services under src/services: ordinary scriptc static-tier TypeScript reached through generated typed Cmd clients, shared record shapes, hermetic vendored npm, streaming, deadlines, cancellation, devhost simulation, authority, replay, and the two carriers (in-process thread pool, child subprocess). Use when adding or modifying src/services modules, moving Node/JSON/regex/Map/Date/class work out of a core, or fixing NS1065-NS1067.
zigZig 0.16 idioms for Native SDK code, indexed by compile error. Load when `zig build` fails on std APIs with errors like "struct 'fs' has no member named 'cwd'", "struct 'array_list.Aligned(u8,null)' has no member named 'init'", "struct 'std' has no member named 'io'", "no member named 'GeneralPurposeAllocator'", "no member named 'getEnvMap'", or "invalid format string" - the signature of code written for Zig 0.15 or earlier. Covers main(std.process.Init), std.Io file IO and writers, ArrayList, process spawning, environment, clocks and sleep, sockets, custom formatting, and build.zig module shapes, each as this SDK writes them.