Type-safe HTML templating in Zig with `zt`
Original: Type-safe HTML templating in Zig
Why This Matters
Brings typed, compile-time-safe HTML templating to systems-level Zig web stacks.
Developer Lukáš Lalinský built `zt`, a Zig templating library inspired by Go's Templ, offering compile-time type safety, XSS-safe defaults, and zero-allocation output via std.Io.Writer.
Lukáš Lalinský, who has worked with PHP, Python, Perl, and JavaScript templating over two decades, recently built `zt`, a compile-time HTML templating library for Zig. The project is modeled on Templ for Go and draws syntax inspiration from Ziex, a JSX-like WASM framework for Zig.
Templates in `zt` are written in `.templ` files and transpiled to Zig code during `zig build`. They can import app code directly, meaning all template parameters are fully typed and compiler-checked. Runtime template errors are eliminated by design. Output is written directly to a `std.Io.Writer`—no allocations, no intermediate buffers unless the developer explicitly wants them.
XSS protection is baked in: all variable interpolations are escaped by default. The syntax supports Zig control flow (if/else, optional unwrapping) inside HTML, child slot composition via `@children`, and typed URL interpolation. Lalinský notes that Zig's `comptime` and arena allocators make web development more tractable than it first appears, especially when paired with htmx or Datastar for interactivity without JavaScript. The library complements his earlier work on `zio` and `Dusty`.