Rotor Framework

Rotor is a modular, ViewModel-first UI framework for Roku applications built with BrighterScript and SceneGraph. It is lightweight and designed to intuitively speed up development time while simplifying both the implementation and long-term maintenance process. It features a rich ViewBuilder system and a Roku-friendly implementation of the MVI (Model-View-Intent) design pattern. It helps developers structure large-scale apps with reusable components, state-driven logic, and optimized rendering.

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🚀 Key Features

• ViewBuilder system: Declarative and extensible view construction with a flexible, code-based template system, automatic full lifecycle management, and a virtual node tree abstraction.
• Roku-friendly MVI design pattern: Predictable state, clear separation of concerns, and cross-thread compatibility.
• Component-based UI: Isolated, reusable UI widgets and view models.
• i18n support: Locale-aware interface with flexible language resource injection.
• Integrated Animate Library

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🎯 Quick Start with Starter Template

Want to get started quickly? Check out rotor-starter - a ready-to-use project template with Rotor Framework pre-configured, sample components, and best practices built in.

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📦 Installation

Prerequisites

Rotor Framework requires BrighterScript v1. Install the latest version:

npm install --save-dev brighterscript@next @rokucommunity/bslint@next

Install Rotor Framework

Manual installation:

1. Download the latest rotor-framework.zip from GitHub Releases
2. Extract the ZIP into your project's source/ directory (this will create a rotor-framework/ folder)
3. Import Rotor in your main file:

ROPM install:

• Note: You must install without prefix by adding this to package.json
• Don't worry everything is in the Rotor namespace by default, so this is the only name reserved by the framework.

ropm install rotor-framework

"ropm": {
    "noprefix": ["rotor-framework"]
}

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⚡ Quick usage

import "pkg:/source/RotorFramework.bs"

frameworkInstance = new Rotor.Framework()

frameworkInstance.render([
    {
        id: "helloLabel", ' optional
        nodeType: "Label",
        fields: {
            text: "Hello World!",
            color: "#CCCCCC"
        }
    }
])

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Token-efficient documentation for AI

You can find 🌱 symbols in all documentation pages. These symbols link to AI-optimized summaries of the respective documentation.

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📚 Learn More

Framework Core

• Framework Initialization - Configuration, task synchronization

ViewBuilder Reference

• ViewBuilder Overview - High-level architecture and core concepts
• Widget Reference - Complete Widget properties, methods, and usage patterns
• ViewModel Reference - Complete ViewModel structure, lifecycle, and state management

ViewBuilder Plugins

• ViewBuilder Fields Plugin - Field management and binding
• ViewBuilder FontStyle Plugin - Typography and styling
• ViewBuilder Observer Plugin - State observation patterns
• ViewBuilder Focus Plugin - Focus management system

MVI Documentation

• Cross-Thread MVI design pattern - State management across threads

i18N Documentation

• Internationalization support - Locale-aware interface implementation

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🔧 Requirements

• Roku SceneGraph (firmware 10.5+ recommended)
• BrighterScript V1

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📄 Licensing

Rotor Framework is available under a dual license model:

Open Source License (Apache 2.0)

The source code is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. This is a permissive open source license that allows you to:

• Use Rotor Framework in commercial and non-commercial applications
• Modify the source code for your own purposes
• Distribute your applications without sharing your application source code
• Include Rotor Framework in proprietary products

The Apache 2.0 license requires you to:

• Include a copy of the license in distributions
• Provide attribution in a NOTICE file (if included) or documentation
• State any modifications you made to the framework source files

Commercial License

A separate commercial license is available for organizations that require:

• Use of the "Rotor Framework" trademark in product branding or marketing
• White-label or OEM distribution arrangements
• Resale or redistribution of the framework as a standalone product
• Official support, warranty, or indemnification

For commercial licensing inquiries, please contact the maintainer.

Trademark

"Rotor Framework" is a trademark. Use of the name is governed by our Trademark Policy, which is separate from the code license. In summary:

• You may state that your product is "built with Rotor Framework"
• You may not imply official endorsement or use the name in your product branding without permission

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Attribution (Optional)

Attribution is not required under the Apache 2.0 license for applications built with Rotor Framework. However, if you find this framework useful, we encourage you to include a voluntary attribution such as:

Built with Rotor Framework

or

Powered by Rotor Framework

This helps others discover the project and supports the open source community. Thank you for considering it.

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Copyright © 2025-2026 Balazs Molnar

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