Show HN: Production-ready Zig template for Flipper Zero apps

6 points

7 months ago

If you've debugged a null pointer exception on a Flipper Zero, you know the pain - the device crashes, you reflash, add print statements, repeat. Memory bugs in embedded C are brutal because they only surface at runtime on the actual hardware.

This template lets you write Flipper Zero applications in Zig, giving you:

- Memory safety and compile-time error checking

- Bounds-checked arrays and explicit error handling

- Clean build system that works cross-platform

- Integration with UFBT for packaging and deployment

- No special IDE required - just Zig, UFBT, and your editor

The interesting technical challenge was bridging Zig's build system with the Flipper SDK's ARM Cortex-M4 target. The two-stage compilation process (Zig -> object file -> UFBT packaging) required careful handling of calling conventions and ABI compatibility. The compile-time safety catches issues before they become device crashes. Optional pointers and explicit allocator tracking eliminate entire classes of bugs that C would miss entirely.

Feedback welcome, especially on:

- SDK coverage (I manually declare some functions Zig's C translator can't handle)

- Optimization strategies for binary size

- Debugging workflow improvements