Building a UI for a SciML biological model: Genie.jl (Web App) vs. Makie.jl (Local GUI)?

Luca_Maria_Moccia
Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:42:49 +0000
General Usage

Hi everyone,

My colleague and I are currently doing our Master’s internship, and we are working on a synaptic plasticity model built with the SciML ecosystem.

Our main goal right now is to build a user-friendly interface so that biologists can easily run simulations, tweak parameters (like temperature,ions concentration, etc.), and visualize the results without having to write a single line of Julia code.

We are currently at a crossroads regarding the architecture of this interface, and we would love to get your feedback and advice. We are hesitating between two approaches:
1. A Local GUI using Makie.jl (with Observables)

The idea: Building a standalone local app.

Pros: Extremely fast and responsive once loaded; great for heavy, complex interactive plotting; very useful for our own day-to-day research.

Cons: Requires the end-user (biologists) to install Julia locally and deal with the “Time To First Plot” / precompilation times (which can be a bit scary for non-coders).

2. A Web Application using Genie.jl (GenieBuilder )

The idea: Deploying the model on a server so users access it via their browser.

Pros: Zero installation required for the end-user; extremely accessible and easy to share.

Cons: Might be harder to maintain for a small team; potentially less interactive/responsive for heavy real-time plot updates compared to Makie.

Our questions for the community:

1. As a potential user (or a scientist sharing tools with non-coders), what would you prefer? Installing a local Julia environment to get a highly responsive Makie GUI, or having a ready-to-use web app, even if it has some limitations?

2. For those of you who have built interfaces for differential equation models, which path did you choose and why ? Which one did you find more maintainable in the long run ?

3. Is there a way to achieve both without rewriting everything? For example, is there a recommended workflow or framework that allows sharing the core UI logic to deploy both a local app and a web dashboard ?

Any insights, feedback, or shared experiences would be incredibly helpful for us to make the right decision.

Thanks in advance for your help!

18 posts - 13 participants