aethium

README

Aethium

A minimal, high-performance UI framework where the UI is written entirely in Go, rendered via an immediate-mode canvas, and deployed to web, mobile, and desktop targets using Flutter as the primary rendering engine.

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Framework Overview

Feature	Web (Flutter)	Mobile (Flutter)	Desktop (Flutter)
Toolchain	Flutter + Go	Flutter + Go	Flutter + Go
Rendering	Flutter Web	Flutter Native	Flutter Native
Binary Size	≤ 2 MB	≤ 50 MB	≤ 100 MB
Platform Support	All modern browsers	Android & iOS	Windows, macOS, Linux
Hot Reload	✅	✅	✅
Rich Widgets	✅	✅	✅
Native Performance	✅	✅	✅

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Why Aethium? (The Go-First Model)

Aethium's key differentiator is its unified Go programming model with Flutter as the rendering engine. Unlike other frameworks that force a split between "frontend" and "backend", Aethium lets you build the entire application, including the UI, in pure Go while leveraging Flutter's rich widget ecosystem and native performance.

Comparison Table

Feature	Aethium (Flutter)	React Native	Flutter	Wails	Tauri	Electron
UI Language	Go	JavaScript/TypeScript	Dart	JS/TS/CSS	JS/TS/CSS	JS/TS/CSS
Backend Language	Go	JavaScript/TypeScript	Dart	Go	Rust	JS/TS (Node)
Rendering Engine	Flutter	Native	Flutter	Web DOM	Web DOM	Web DOM
Cross-Platform	✅ (Web, Mobile, Desktop)	✅ (Mobile)	✅ (Mobile, Web, Desktop)	✅ (Desktop)	✅ (Desktop)	✅ (Desktop)
Hot Reload	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Native Performance	✅	✅	✅	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️
Binary Size	Small (≤ 100MB)	Medium	Medium	Small	Small	Large (120MB+)
JS Engine	None	Required	None	Required	Required	Required

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Core Principles

• Single Codebase: Write once in Go, run on the web and desktop with identical visuals.
• Immediate-Mode: No DOM, no widget tree. Pure draw command stream for maximum performance.
• Fine-Grained Reactivity: Signal-based updates ensure only the necessary parts of the UI re-render.
• Zero Dependencies: The core framework is built entirely on the Go standard library and JS built-ins.

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Quick Start

# Install the CLI
go install github.com/A-Solo-Engineer/aethium/cmd/aethium@latest

# Create a new project
aethium new --module example.com/myapp

# Build for your target
aethium build --target web      # For Web (Flutter)
aethium build --target android  # For Android (Flutter)
aethium build --target ios      # For iOS (Flutter)
aethium build --target windows  # For Windows (Flutter)
aethium build --target macos    # For macOS (Flutter)
aethium build --target linux    # For Linux (Flutter)
aethium build --target all      # For all platforms

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Documentation

Guide	Description
Architecture	Technical design, Flutter integration, and system diagrams.
State Management	Signals, computed values, effects, and memory pooling.
Usage Guide	API reference, component lifecycle, and Flutter examples.
Build System	Flutter builds, platform-specific configurations, and deployment.

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Project Structure

graph TD
    A[App Code] --> B[Reactive Context]
    A --> C[Scene Graph]
    B --> D[Runtime]
    C --> D
    D --> E[DrawList]
    E --> F[Flutter Backend]
    F --> G[Flutter Web]
    F --> H[Flutter Mobile]
    F --> I[Flutter Desktop]

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Flutter Integration

Aethium now uses Flutter as its primary rendering engine, providing:

🎨 Rich Widget Ecosystem

• Access to all Flutter widgets and components
• Material Design and Cupertino support
• Customizable themes and styling
• Animation and gesture support

🚀 Cross-Platform Support

• Web: Deploy to any modern browser
• Mobile: Native Android and iOS apps
• Desktop: Native Windows, macOS, and Linux applications

🔧 Development Experience

• Hot reload and hot restart
• Comprehensive debugging tools
• Rich developer tools and inspector
• State management integration

Example: Flutter Integration

package main

import (
    "github.com/A-Solo-Engineer/aethium/platform/flutter_unified"
    "github.com/A-Solo-Engineer/aethium/runtime"
)

func main() {
    // Create Flutter backend for web
    backend := flutter_unified.NewFlutterUnifiedBackend(800, 600, flutter_unified.PlatformWeb)
    
    // Create runtime
    rt := runtime.NewRuntime(backend)
    
    // Run your application
    // ...
}

License

AGPL-3.0