{"slug": "stb", "name": "stb", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.862, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-05", "latest": "2026-05-29", "why": "stb libraries [0] which are near-ubiquitous in game development", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "stb libraries [0] which are near-ubiquitous in game development", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/nothings/stb", "official_url": "https://github.com/nothings/stb", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["stb"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 773193888, "item_id": 48324618, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48324618", "by": "justin66", "date": "2026-05-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "stb libraries [0] which are near-ubiquitous in game development", "excerpt": "Sean Barrett, author of the stb libraries [0] which are near-ubiquitous in game development, is known among other things for still using visual c++ 6. [1] [0] https://github.com/nothings/stb [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrzB5P5NPE", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Let's compile Quake like it's 1997"}, {"id": 757894752, "item_id": 47368422, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47368422", "by": "throwaway2027", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that's the primary reason for his STB libraries", "excerpt": "You hit the nail on the head. It's the same with employees who work for their employer but also want to reuse that code when they go work for other people and don't want to rewrite the exact same thing again. Even though everyone else can benefit from it too, Sean \"nothings\" Barrett said that's the primary reason for his STB libraries. https://github.com/nothings/stb", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Carmack about open source and anti-AI activists"}, {"id": 753715025, "item_id": 47107189, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47107189", "by": "a_e_k", "date": "2026-02-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was inspired by the STB header ibraries", "excerpt": "Author here. What a pleasant surprise to see this trending on the front page! (I did post a Show HN at the time of the original release, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33148540, but it never gained traction.) Just to answer some comments that I see: 1. This was absolutely not vibecoded! I'd originally started with a different version control system and was still getting used to Git and GitHub at the time that I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Canvas_ity: A tiny, single-header <canvas>-like 2D rasterizer for C++"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["image loading in c"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48318522", "title": "Let's compile Quake like it's 1997", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47367463", "title": "John Carmack about open source and anti-AI activists", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47103506", "title": "Canvas_ity: A tiny, single-header <canvas>-like 2D rasterizer for C++", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45816673", "title": "Grayskull: A tiny computer vision library in C for embedded systems, etc.", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 773193888, "item_id": 48324618, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48324618", "by": "justin66", "date": "2026-05-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "stb libraries [0] which are near-ubiquitous in game development", "excerpt": "Sean Barrett, author of the stb libraries [0] which are near-ubiquitous in game development, is known among other things for still using visual c++ 6. [1] [0] https://github.com/nothings/stb [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrzB5P5NPE", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Let's compile Quake like it's 1997"}, {"id": 757894752, "item_id": 47368422, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47368422", "by": "throwaway2027", "date": "2026-03-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that's the primary reason for his STB libraries", "excerpt": "You hit the nail on the head. It's the same with employees who work for their employer but also want to reuse that code when they go work for other people and don't want to rewrite the exact same thing again. Even though everyone else can benefit from it too, Sean \"nothings\" Barrett said that's the primary reason for his STB libraries. https://github.com/nothings/stb", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "John Carmack about open source and anti-AI activists"}, {"id": 753715025, "item_id": 47107189, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47107189", "by": "a_e_k", "date": "2026-02-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was inspired by the STB header ibraries", "excerpt": "Author here. What a pleasant surprise to see this trending on the front page! (I did post a Show HN at the time of the original release, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33148540, but it never gained traction.) Just to answer some comments that I see: 1. This was absolutely not vibecoded! I'd originally started with a different version control system and was still getting used to Git and GitHub at the time that I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Canvas_ity: A tiny, single-header <canvas>-like 2D rasterizer for C++"}, {"id": 733128866, "item_id": 45820554, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45820554", "by": "aadv1k", "date": "2025-11-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I was using stb for handling the images", "excerpt": "Hey, this is great :) I attempted to do something similar a while back https://github.com/aadv1k/deimos basically trying to build many of OpenCV's functions from scratch in C from first principles, though I was using stb for handling the images. I ended up putting the project on hold, primarily because I lost interest in computer vision at the time. For a while I went deep into OCR, and built a rather rudimentary str", "context": "", "use_case": "image loading in C", "switched_from": "", "story": "Grayskull: A tiny computer vision library in C for embedded systems, etc."}]}