A1a1o·Oct 19, 2023
I really wish Akira (https://github.com/akiraux/Akira) had worked out :/
In Just paying Figma because nothing else worksakiraux
Akira
Vala2018–2023
akiraux / Akira
Akira
Native Linux App for UI and UX Design built in Vala and GTK
14Distinct people
16Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
5.3KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Native Linux App for UI and UX Design built in Vala and GTK
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
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No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year16 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-10-01 10:39:20 UTC to 2023-10-19 20:53:06 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
16 sourcesAkira is a native Linux Design application built in Vala and GTK
3 points · Open discussionThat blog is just one developer's opinion, not an official statement. Although I will say I share the opinion, Glade messes up my ui files and I can't recommend using it if you want to use any newer widgets. It has always had those problems, but now with GTK4 it's no longer really worth it to try to work around them.
Also, Glade is not really even used by GNOME designers that much, what they do is make mockups in some other tool (usually Inkscape) and then have the developers implement it. I don't know about other GTK based desktops, though I think some Elementary developers are working on this: https://github.com/akiraux/Akira
In Are we GUI Yet? The state of building user interfaces in RustI want a linux phone. But you know what I want first?
I want a Visual Studio level IDE that I can develop Linux GUI application in. GTK is an amazing piece of software, and there are some beyond amazing GTK based applications that I found and started using.
As someone who has not done linux GUI development before, the biggest issue is getting started. Android has first class development support, and so does iOS. Linux has Glade for GTK and QtCreator for QT apps.
Vala is an amazing first step, and the code makes design & development super easy. But there is still a disconnect between design and development that hinders adoption. If there was a nice "all in one" application where development can be done like. You could see the hype, and then disappointment, when https://github.com/akiraux/Akira was announced and it looked like such an IDE.
Read the rest
But alas.
The Rust GTK Bindings also look really good, but I think the biggest hurdle that needs to be overcome is making Glade either more user friendly and making it tie into an IDE like Builder, or have an IDE like IntelliJ support it.
I only heard of Akira. Put I'm not sure it will hit production state at any point as it never reached its crowdfunding financing goals.
https://github.com/akiraux/Akira
In Ask HN: How to Block Apple's Spyware on BigSur?there is also https://github.com/akiraux/Akira , still in early development
In UXBOX, the open-source solution for design and prototypingAkira: Native Linux App for UI and UX Design Built in Vala and GTK
3 points · Open discussionShow HN: Akira UX,A Viable Open Source UI/UX Design Tool
3 points · Open discussionAkira, the Linux Design Tool – Native App for UI/UX Design Built in Vala and GTK
5 points · Open discussionThere's a huge gap for a good UX design app in the Linux world. I hope Akira[0] can fill it, but I find for web stuff, with the right prototyping setup and frameworks, I can build stuff very rapidly to test out.
[0] https://github.com/akiraux/Akira
In The future of design toolsAkira – Native Linux App for UI and UX Design Built in Vala and Gtk
1 points · Open discussionAkira: Native Linux App for UI and UX Design
2 points · Open discussionNative Linux App for UI and UX Design Built in Vala and Gtk (PoC)
5 points · Open discussionAfaik that is still the case — they seem to have stuck with the web version. I used Gravit for a while, but they got bought by Corel and the application has gone from free to $100 for the "fully-featured" version (which given it's basically a beta and is missing what I consider key features, is a bit much). Akira [1] looks like it could possibly be the answer, but it's still a way off (though usable)
[1] https://github.com/Alecaddd/Akira
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