Create your first app

You will create a small message app, change its text from the preview URL, and save a final WebP.

Create a project

niblet apps init desk-message --name "Desk Message" --author "Your name"
cd desk-message

Add the app code

Replace main.star with the following:

load("render.star", "render")

def main(config):
    message = config.get("message") or "hello niblet"
    return render.Root(
        child = render.Box(
            width = 64,
            height = 32,
            color = "#0d1117",
            child = render.Text(
                content = message,
                color = "#ff745b",
            ),
        ),
    )

Start the local preview

niblet serve .

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Try a different message

Add a message value to the preview URL:

http://localhost:8080?message=good%20morning

Reload the page to see the new text.

Check and save the app

Validate the project, then save its rendered output:

niblet apps validate .
niblet apps preview . -o preview.webp

How it works

load imports the runtime’s render module.
main(config) is the app entry point.
render.Box creates the background and centers its child.
render.Text draws one line using a bundled pixel font.
render.Root supplies the final widget tree to the encoder.

Inspect preview.webp at its actual size and zoomed in. A browser preview helps while building, but a physical display is the final check for color and readability.

Last modified on August 29, 2026

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Create your first app

How it works

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How it works