Veauty

A Virtual DOM implementation for Unity. Build UIs declaratively with a React-like API — virtual tree diffing and patching keep your GameObjects in sync efficiently.

Requirements

• Unity 6000.5 or later (Unity 6)

Install

Add to Packages/manifest.json:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "com.uzimaru.veauty": "https://github.com/uzimaru0000/Veauty.git"
  }
}

Package structure

Veauty is split into four packages:

Package	Role
com.uzimaru.veauty (this package)	VTree types, Diff algorithm, Hooks, [Component] attribute
com.uzimaru.veauty-gameobject	Renderer, Patch applicator, VeautyObject entry point
com.uzimaru.veauty-ugui	uGUI widgets, Presets API (V.Text, V.Button, etc.)
com.uzimaru.veauty-uitoolkit	UI Toolkit elements, VeautyElement entry point, style attributes

VTree types

• Node<T> / Node<T,U> — basic node with tag, attributes, and children. U is the Unity component type.
• KeyedNode<T,U> — keyed node for efficient list diffing.
• FunctionComponentNode — function component, created via [Component] attribute or FunctionComponents.Create().

Hooks

APIs for managing state and lifecycle inside function components.

// State — triggers re-render on change
var count = Hooks.UseState(0);
count.Set(x => x + 1);

// Ref — mutable value that does NOT trigger re-render
var renderCount = Hooks.UseRef(0);
renderCount.Current++;

// Effect — runs on mount/unmount or when dependencies change
Hooks.UseEffect(() =>
{
    Debug.Log("mounted");
    return () => Debug.Log("unmounted");  // cleanup
}, new object[] { /* dependencies */ });

[Component] attribute

Mark a static method with [Component] to turn it into a function component. An ILPostProcessor wraps the method body in FunctionComponents.Create() at compile time, so callers invoke it like a regular method.

// Definition
[Component]
static IVTree Timer(float interval)
{
    var elapsed = Hooks.UseState(0f);
    Hooks.UseEffect(() => { /* ... */ }, new object[] { interval });
    return new Node<GameObject>("Timer", /* ... */);
}

// Call site — no wrapping needed
Timer(1.0f)

Without [Component], hooks would run in the caller's scope and would not have their own lifecycle (mount/unmount).

Building the ILPostProcessor

Source lives in SourceGenerator~/. To rebuild after making changes:

cd SourceGenerator~
dotnet build -c Release
cp bin/Release/netstandard2.1/Veauty.CodeGen.dll ../CodeGen/

Diff / Patch

Diff<T>.Calc(oldTree, newTree) computes patches; Patch.Apply() applies them to the existing GameObject tree.

Patch type	Behavior
Redraw	Replace the node
Attrs	Apply attribute diff
Attach	Change the typed component
Append	Append children
RemoveLast	Remove trailing children
Remove	Remove the node
Reorder	Reorder keyed children

Documentation

• Manual — getting started, architecture, hooks, function components, diffing
• API reference — every public type and member
• Agent guide — rules, patterns and pitfalls for coding agents
• Changelog