BevelDesk is a beveled desktop environment built entirely with Dear ImGui's DrawList API, offering a nostalgic Windows 95 and NeXT Night experience with real file management and an interactive shell.

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License

MIT

Last updated

2026-07-09

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FR-AI / ANALYSIS

Why it is worth attention

It faithfully reproduces the 1995 visual language (palette, bevels, icon rendering) and provides a live, interactive shell via a POSIX pty, all in a single binary with runtime theme switching and a WebAssembly demo.

Who it is for

  • Retro computing enthusiasts
  • UI/UX developers exploring ImGui
  • Software engineers interested in low-level rendering
  • Educators demonstrating real-time UI systems

Use cases

  • Running a fully functional retro desktop on modern hardware
  • Studying authentic Win95/NeXTSTEP UI reproduction
  • Testing ImGui's capabilities for complex, custom-rendered interfaces
  • Using as a lightweight desktop environment for nostalgic or educational purposes

Strengths

  • Authentic visual reproduction based on research of Win95 palette and bevel conventions
  • Real filesystem access via Explorer and a working shell (terminal emulation)
  • Runtime theme switching between Silver and NeXT Night with live repainting
  • WebAssembly demo allows instant browser testing without installation

Considerations

  • MS-DOS Prompt works only on POSIX systems (macOS/Linux); Windows uses a placeholder
  • The macOS binary is unsigned, requiring extra steps on first launch
  • Only two built-in themes; adding a third requires coding a new Palette and Style

README quick start

BevelDesk

A beveled desktop environment that actually works — built entirely with Dear ImGui's DrawList API. One binary, two moods: silver Windows 95 and dark NeXT Night, switchable at runtime.

Try the live demo in your browser  (WebAssembly, no install)

Beveled chrome, a real file manager over your actual filesystem, and an MS-DOS Prompt running a live shell (your zsh) through a pty — every bevel, caption bar, scrollbar and icon drawn by hand, pixel by pixel. No stock ImGui styling, no image assets, no web views.

BevelDesk borrows from the two great beveled desktops — Win95 and NeXTSTEP — which share one visual philosophy (3D edges, light from the top-left, per-window chrome). So the dark NeXT Night mode isn't a reskin engine; it's a second Palette + Style the same drawing code reads. Flip it in Display Properties ▸ Appearance and the whole desktop — chrome, dialogs, taskbar, icons — repaints live. It's BevelDesk's own dark design language, not a NeXTSTEP replica.

Windows 95NeXT Night

Features

  • Theme95 rendering layer — the 1995 visual language reproduced from research: the 16-color system palette (#C0C0C0 chrome, #000080 captions, #008080 desktop), the four 3D bevel conventions (raised, pressed, sunken field, window frame — each with its distinct edge-color order), 18px captions, 16×14 caption buttons, procedurally drawn icons.
  • Real window management — drag, resize, minimize to taskbar, maximize/restore with saved geometry, double-click captions, and the full system menu on the caption icon (double-click it to close, like the original).
  • Explorer — browse your real filesystem: Details view with sortable columns (folders first, KB sizes right-aligned), Large Icons view, Up button, address well, status bar, custom Win95 scrollbars with arrow buttons and dithered tracks. Open as many windows as you like.
  • MS-DOS Prompt — a genuine interactive shell ($SHELL) on a POSIX pty in an authentic fixed 80×25 terminal: VT100/xterm-subset emulation, 16-color SGR (with 256-color mapping), OSC window titles, scrollback, Ctrl+C that actually interrupts. The window

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