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Python Desktop GUI Libraries

Name Github stars License
Tkinter - PSF
PySimpleGUI 12.2k LGPL-3.0
Kivy 3.1k MIT
PyQT - GPL v3; Riverbank Commercial License
wxPython/Phoenix 500+ wxWindows Library Licence

Other libs: PyGTK, PySide, PyForms GUI.

For now, I am interesting in Tkinter and related libraries (i.e. PySimpleGUI).

Tkinter and Co.

  • CustomTkinter is a python UI-library based on Tkinter, which provides new, modern and fully customizable widgets
  • Tkinter Designer was created to speed up the GUI development process in Python. It uses the well-known design software Figma to make creating beautiful Tkinter GUIs in Python a piece of cake
  • ttkbootstrap is a supercharged theme extension for tkinter that enables on-demand modern flat style themes inspired by Bootstrap

Python3 is not configured for Tk

From the official documentation:

Running python -m tkinter from the command line should open a window demonstrating a simple Tk interface, letting you know that tkinter is properly installed on your system, and also showing what version of Tcl/Tk is installed, so you can read the Tcl/Tk documentation specific to that version.

➜ python3 -m tkinter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 189, in _run_module_as_main
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 148, in _get_module_details
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 112, in _get_module_details
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.11/3.11.5/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.11/lib/python3.11/tkinter/__init__.py", line 38, in <module>
    import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'

See more details about this issue on SO Why does tkinter (or turtle) seem to be missing or broken? Shouldn’t it be part of the standard library?

Fix log on MacOS:

You need to install python-tk@3.11.

➜ python3 -m tkinter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 189, in _run_module_as_main
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 148, in _get_module_details
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 112, in _get_module_details
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.11/3.11.5/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.11/lib/python3.11/tkinter/__init__.py", line 38, in <module>
    import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'

➜ python3 -V
Python 3.11.5

➜ brew install python-tk@3.11
Running `brew update --auto-update`..
...

➜ python3 -V
Python 3.11.6

➜ python3 -m tkinter

tkinter demo