Lime
A foundational Haxe framework providing unified APIs for cross-platform development across native, web, and mobile targets.
What is Lime?
Lime is a foundational Haxe framework that provides unified APIs for cross-platform development. It abstracts platform-specific functionality for windowing, input, audio, rendering, and networking, allowing developers to write once and deploy to multiple targets including native desktop, mobile, web, and legacy platforms. It solves the problem of platform fragmentation by offering consistent interfaces while maintaining access to native capabilities.
Haxe developers building applications that need to run on multiple platforms including desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), mobile (Android, iOS), web (HTML5), and legacy systems (Flash, AIR).
Developers choose Lime for its lightweight, flexible approach to cross-platform development that doesn't impose a specific rendering engine while providing direct access to platform capabilities. It offers the broadest target support in the Haxe ecosystem with consistent APIs across all platforms.
Overview
A foundational Haxe framework for cross-platform development
Use Cases
Best For
- Building 2D/3D games that need to deploy to desktop, mobile, and web
- Creating cross-platform desktop applications with native performance
- Developing tools and utilities that work across multiple operating systems
- Porting existing Flash/AIR applications to modern platforms
- Educational projects teaching cross-platform development concepts
- Prototyping applications that may later target specific platforms
Not Ideal For
- Projects needing a full game engine with built-in physics and animation tools
- Teams wanting extensive pre-built UI components without custom development
- Applications targeting only a single platform where cross-platform abstraction adds overhead
- Developers unfamiliar with Haxe who prefer more mainstream ecosystems like JavaScript or C#
Pros & Cons
Pros
Lime supports an extensive range of targets including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5, Flash, AIR, Neko, and HashLink, as listed in the targets section, enabling true write-once-deploy-anywhere development.
It provides consistent interfaces for windowing, input, events, audio, rendering, networking, and asset management across all platforms, simplifying cross-platform code maintenance.
Lime exposes contexts like Cairo, Canvas, DOM, Flash, and GL based on WebGL standards, allowing developers to leverage different rendering methods without being locked into one.
The audio API offers OpenAL access for advanced processing on native targets, ensuring performance while abstracting platform differences.
Cons
Installation requires Haxe, haxelib commands, and for source builds, managing submodules and dependencies like format and hxp, which can be cumbersome for new users.
As a low-level layer, Lime lacks pre-built rendering or UI components, forcing developers to implement or integrate additional libraries for complex applications.
Being part of the Haxe ecosystem, Lime has fewer resources, tutorials, and third-party libraries compared to popular frameworks like Unity or React Native.
Building for targets like iOS or Android requires external tools and setups, adding to the complexity and potential for configuration issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
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