What is Glisp used for?

Glisp is an experimental Lisp-based vector design tool that combines direct manipulation with creative coding for generative and computational art. It is a good fit for creating generative art with code and GUI together, and prototyping new design tool ideas.

Is Glisp open source?

Yes. Glisp is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at baku89/glisp and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Glisp is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Glisp?

Yes. Glisp can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What are some alternatives to Glisp?

Similar open-source tools in the Design category include Penpot, Graphite and vue-fabric-editor. SaaS products in the same category include Concepts, Lottielab and The Noun Project.

Is Glisp actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Glisp was on 11 May 2026. The project has 1.2k stars on GitHub.

Glisp: open-source design

About Glisp

Glisp, short for Graphical Lisp, is a prototype design tool that asks what happens when a graphics editor meets creative coding. At a glance it resembles a mix of Illustrator and the Processing IDE, offering direct manipulation on a canvas as well as a programming language. It is aimed at artists, designers and creative coders who want to build generative or computational work.

Projects are written in a customized dialect of Lisp, so the project file is itself the program that produces the output, expressed as a tree resembling a list of SVG-like shapes. Because many of the app's built-in features use the same syntax, users can extend or reshape the tool. The author calls this purpose-agnostic design: the tool is not optimized for one genre such as print or app UI.

Glisp was created by Baku Hashimoto and is licensed under MIT. A web demo runs in Chrome only, and documentation is provided in English and Japanese. The README keeps a wish list of future features, including better viewport selection and touch support, so treat it as an experimental project.

Key features

Lisp-based project files that are also programs
Direct manipulation canvas editing
Generative and computational art support
SVG-like shape tree output
Extensible built-in features
Browser demo and documentation

Good fit for

→Creating generative art with code and GUI together
→Prototyping new design tool ideas

Built with: TypeScript
Tags: design; lisp; generative-art; creative-coding; vector; svg; computational-art; typescript

Glisp: questions and answers

What is Glisp used for?: Glisp is an experimental Lisp-based vector design tool that combines direct manipulation with creative coding for generative and computational art. It is a good fit for creating generative art with code and GUI together, and prototyping new design tool ideas.
Is Glisp open source?: Yes. Glisp is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at baku89/glisp and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Glisp free?: Yes. Glisp is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Glisp?: Yes. Glisp can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What are some alternatives to Glisp?: Similar open-source tools in the Design category include Penpot, Graphite and vue-fabric-editor. SaaS products in the same category include Concepts, Lottielab and The Noun Project.
Is Glisp actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Glisp was on 11 May 2026. The project has 1.2k stars on GitHub.