Retained mode

Retained mode in computer graphics is a major pattern of API design in graphics libraries, in which

• the graphics library, instead of the client, retains the scene (complete object model of the rendering primitives) to be rendered and
• the client calls into the graphics library do not directly cause actual rendering, but make use of extensive indirection to resources, managed – thus retained – by the graphics library. It does not preclude the use of double-buffering.

Immediate mode is an alternative approach. Historically, retained mode has been the dominant style in GUI libraries; however, both can coexist in the same library and are not necessarily exclusionary in practice.