Electrobun DOOM

This repo demonstrates two DOOM implementations inside Electrobun to showcase Electrobun’s robust WGPU integration.

It’s intentionally pragmatic: a real game rendering in a native GPU window (no webview) and a second implementation in pure TypeScript. Both are playable; the C version is fully functional, and the TypeScript port is playable but still a work in progress.

Thanks to Electrobun’s batteries-included packaging and differential update system, the shipped .dmg (containing both implementations) is only 29.5MB, and updates can be as small as 4KB when rolling out new features.

Details

Project home: https://github.com/blackboardsh/electrobun

Video Demo: https://x.com/YoavCodes/status/2028499038148903239

What This Demo Shows

Electrobun can open a native GPU window (gpuWindow) backed by a Metal layer on macOS. In that window, Bun/TypeScript can talk directly to WGPU via FFI — no webview in the rendering pipeline.

This repo provides:

• A C implementation (based on DoomGeneric) rendered into a GPU window.
• A TypeScript port of DOOM that renders into the same kind of GPU window, using Electrobun’s WGPU APIs from Bun.

There is also a launcher webview window that lets you choose between the two demos.

How It’s Wired

GPU Window

• A native Electrobun gpuWindow is created.
• It is backed by a native Metal surface.
• Rendering is done with WGPU (via Electrobun), no webview involved.

C Version (Native)

• A small native bridge loads libdoom.dylib.
• The DoomGeneric framebuffer is copied into a WGPU texture each frame.
• Input is passed from the Electrobun window to the native library.
• This version is fully functional.

TypeScript Version

• A pure TypeScript port of DOOM runs inside Bun.
• It renders to WGPU directly via Electrobun’s APIs.
• Input is handled in TS and forwarded into the game loop.
• This version is playable but still in progress.

Setup

From repo root:

bun install

Build the native Doom library (macOS only for now):

bun run build:native

Run the app:

bun start

Notes

• The C version is the reference implementation and is fully playable.
• The TypeScript version is actively being ported and improved.
• Audio and mouse input are currently out of scope; keyboard input is supported.