pydafruit_gfx

a python tool to quickly prototype Adafruit_GFX displays. Uses an SDL2 backend and pybind11. SDL2 does not need to be downloaded, should be built into the wheels

layout

pydafruit_gfx/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── wheels.yml          github wheels CI
├── Adafruit-GFX-Library/       git submodule
├── pydafruit_gfx/
│   └── __init__.py
├── CMakeLists.txt              wheel build
├── GFXDisplay.h
├── GFXDisplay.cpp
├── gfxdisplay_py.cpp           pybind11
├── pyproject.toml
├── hello_world.py
└── README.md

Install

Option 1 — download, pip install

Pre-built wheels for macOS, Linux, and Windows Actions tab.

1. Click the latest successful Build wheels run.
2. Scroll to Artifacts at the bottom and download the zip for your platform:
   • wheels-macos-latest — macOS arm64 + x86_64, Python 3.9–3.12
   • wheels-ubuntu-latest — Linux x86_64, Python 3.9–3.12
   • wheels-windows-latest — Windows x64, Python 3.9–3.12 (SDL2 bundled)
3. Unzip and install:

pip install pydafruit_gfx-*.whl

How I tested on my Mac (windows and linux should be similar)

1. uname -m gave arm64
2. python3 --version gave Python 3.11.5
3. python --version gave Python 3.11.5
4. pip install pydafruit_gfx-0.1.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_15_0_arm64.whl

I have a arm64 mac with python 3.11.5 so i used

• Wheel: pydafruit_gfx-0.1.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_15_0_arm64.whl

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Option 2 — Build from source

# 1. Clone with the Adafruit submodule
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/chrismars91/PydafruitGFX.git
cd pydafruitGFX

# 2. Install SDL2
#    macOS:  brew install sdl2
#    Linux:  sudo apt install libsdl2-dev
#    Win:    vcpkg install sdl2:x64-windows

# 3. Build + install
pip install scikit-build-core pybind11
pip install -e . --no-build-isolation -Cbuild-dir=_build

# 4. Run the hello-world example
python hello_world.py

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