webview

@webviewjs/webview

https://github.com/webviewjs/webview/actions

Robust cross-platform webview library for Node.js written in Rust. It is a native binding to winit and wry allowing you to create native desktop windows from JavaScript and TypeScript.

Highlights

preview

[!CAUTION] This library is still in development and not ready for production use. Feel free to experiment with it and report any issues you find.

See the full documentation for API references, guides, platform notes, and runnable examples.

Documentation

Getting started

   
Installation System requirements and setup
Quick Start Your first window in minutes
Event Loop How the non-blocking pump works

API reference

   
Application Root object — event loop, windows, menus
BrowserWindow OS window, size, position, cursor, decorations
Webview Embedded browser — navigation, cookies, script, bounds
WebContext Shared browser data, profiles, and automation
System Tray Tray icons, menus, updates, and pointer events
Menu Native menu bar construction
Types Shared interfaces and enums

Guides

   
Building Executables Compile to .exe / binary with node, deno, bun
IPC Messaging Page ↔ Node communication
Menus Building menu bars with roles and accelerators
Multiple Windows Managing several windows
Cookies & Storage Reading, writing, and clearing cookies
Custom Protocols Serving local content to the webview

Platform notes

   
Windows WebView2, taskbar, DPI
macOS WebKit, main-thread requirement, app menu
Linux WebKitGTK, Wayland/X11, menu limitations
iOS Orientation, status bar, and gestures
Android Content rectangle and configuration

Installation

npm install @webviewjs/webview

Supported platforms

Platform OS Arch Supported
x86_64-pc-windows-msvc Windows x64 ✅
i686-pc-windows-msvc Windows x86 ✅
aarch64-pc-windows-msvc Windows arm64 ✅
x86_64-apple-darwin macOS x64 ✅
aarch64-apple-darwin macOS arm64 ✅
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu Linux x64 ✅
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu Linux arm64 ✅
armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf Linux armv7 ✅
i686-unknown-linux-gnu Linux x86 ⚠️ (no CI)
aarch64-linux-android Android arm64 ⚠️ (experimental)
armv7-linux-androideabi Android armv7 ⚠️ (experimental)
x86_64-unknown-freebsd FreeBSD x64 ⚠️ (no CI)

Examples

Load external url

import { Application } from '@webviewjs/webview';
// or
const { Application } = require('@webviewjs/webview');

const app = new Application();
let mainWindow = null;
let mainWebview = null;

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  mainWindow = app.createBrowserWindow();
  mainWebview = mainWindow.createWebview({ url: 'https://nodejs.org' });
});

Event pumping

app.whenReady() starts the non-blocking event pump by default:

await app.whenReady({ interval: 16, ref: true });

For manual startup, disable auto-run:

const ready = app.whenReady({ autoRun: false });
app.run({ interval: 16, ref: true });
await ready;

interval defaults to 16 milliseconds and ref defaults to true. Use app.pumpEvents() for manual pumping.

System tray

Keep a strong JavaScript reference when you need to call tray methods or keep its listeners reachable:

let tray = null;

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  tray = app.createTrayIcon({
    id: 'main',
    icon: { data: rgba, width: 16, height: 16 },
    tooltip: 'My application',
    menu: { items: [{ id: 'quit', label: 'Quit' }] },
  });

  tray.on('click', (event) => console.log(event));
});

See the system tray reference and runnable tray example.

IPC and exposed functions

The webview page can send messages to Node through window.ipc.postMessage():

const webview = window.createWebview({ ipcName: 'bindings' });
webview.onIpcMessage((message) => console.log(message.body.toString()));

ipcName adds an alias, so the page can use window.bindings.postMessage(...); window.ipc remains available.

For typed request/response style calls, expose a namespace:

webview.expose('native', {
  version: '0.1.4',
  readConfig: async () => JSON.parse(await readFile('./config.json', 'utf8')),
});

In the page:

console.log(window.native.version);
const config = await window.native.readConfig();

Every exposed function returns a Promise in the page. Values, arguments, and results must be JSON-serializable. Violations use SerializationError.

Asynchronous custom protocols

Register a protocol before creating its webview:

window.registerProtocol('app', async (request) => {
  const filePath = join(process.cwd(), 'dist', new URL(request.url).pathname);
  try {
    return new Response(await readFile(filePath), {
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'text/html; charset=utf-8' },
    });
  } catch {
    return new Response('Not found', {
      status: 404,
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain; charset=utf-8' },
    });
  }
});

window.createWebview({ url: 'app://localhost/index.html' });

See Custom Protocols, IPC, and the runnable custom protocol and expose examples for more details.

WebviewJS provides a cross-platform menu system that works on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Basic Menu Setup

import { Application } from '@webviewjs/webview';

const app = new Application();

// Set global application menu
app.setMenu({
  items: [
    {
      label: 'File',
      submenu: {
        items: [
          { id: 'new', label: 'New', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+N' },
          { id: 'open', label: 'Open', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+O' },
          { role: 'separator' },
          { id: 'quit', label: 'Quit', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+Q' },
        ],
      },
    },
    {
      label: 'Edit',
      submenu: {
        items: [{ role: 'copy' }, { role: 'paste' }, { role: 'cut' }, { role: 'selectall' }],
      },
    },
  ],
});

const window = app.createBrowserWindow();
const webview = window.createWebview({ url: 'https://nodejs.org' });

app.run();

import { Application } from '@webviewjs/webview';

const app = new Application();

// Handle menu events
app.on('custom-menu-click', ({ customMenuEvent: menuEvent }) => {
  console.log(`Menu item clicked: ${menuEvent.id}`);
  console.log(`From window: ${menuEvent.windowId}`);

  // Handle specific menu items
  switch (menuEvent.id) {
    case 'new':
      console.log('Creating new document...');
      break;
    case 'open':
      console.log('Opening file...');
      break;
    case 'quit':
      app.exit();
      break;
  }
});

// Set up menu...
app.setMenu({
  /* ... */
});

Window-Specific Menus

const app = new Application();

// Create window with custom menu
const window = app.createBrowserWindow({
  title: 'Custom Window',
  menu: {
    items: [
      {
        id: 'window-action',
        label: 'Window Action',
        accelerator: 'Ctrl+W',
      },
    ],
  },
});

// Or check if window has a menu
if (window.hasMenu()) {
  console.log('This window has a menu');
}

Predefined Menu Roles

IPC

const app = new Application();
const window = app.createBrowserWindow();

const webview = window.createWebview({
  html: `<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
        <head>
            <title>Webview</title>
        </head>
        <body>
            <h1 id="output">Hello world!</h1>
            <button id="btn">Click me!</button>
            <script>
                btn.onclick = function send() {
                    window.ipc.postMessage('Hello from webview');
                }
            </script>
        </body>
    </html>
    `,
  preload: `window.onIpcMessage = function(data) {
        const output = document.getElementById('output');
        output.innerText = \`Server Sent A Message: \${data}\`;
    }`,
});

if (!webview.isDevtoolsOpen()) webview.openDevtools();

webview.onIpcMessage((data) => {
  const reply = `You sent ${data.body.toString('utf-8')}`;
  webview.evaluateScript(`onIpcMessage("${reply}")`);
});

app.run();

Closing the Application

You can close the application, windows, and webviews gracefully to ensure all resources (including temporary folders) are cleaned up properly.

const app = new Application();
const window = app.createBrowserWindow();
const webview = window.createWebview({ url: 'https://nodejs.org' });

app.on('application-close-requested', () => {
  console.log('Application is closing, cleaning up resources...');
});

app.on('window-close-requested', () => {
  console.log('Window close requested');
});

// Close the application gracefully (cleans up temp folders)
app.exit();

// Or hide/show the window
window.hide(); // Hide the window
window.show(); // Show the window again

// Or reload the webview
webview.reload();

For more details on closing applications and cleaning up resources, see the Closing Guide.

Keep strong references

Retain BrowserWindow, Webview, WebContext, and TrayIcon wrappers for as long as you need to call their methods or retain their JavaScript listeners. Avoid discarded temporary handles:

const windows = [];

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  const window = app.createBrowserWindow();
  const webview = window.createWebview({ url: 'https://example.com' });
  windows.push({ window, webview });
});

The root Application owns native resources created through it. app.exit(), app[Symbol.dispose](), and application garbage collection dispose those resources in shutdown order. Retained wrappers then report isDisposed() === true, and method calls fail with a disposed error. Individual windows, webviews, contexts, and tray icons also support dispose() and Symbol.dispose.

Check out examples directory for more examples:

Run any example with: node examples/menu-system.mjs (after building the project)

Building executables

[!WARNING] The CLI feature is very experimental and may not work as expected. Please report any issues you find.

The webview CLI compiles your app into a single self-contained executable. The runtime is auto-detected (Bun → bun, Deno → deno, otherwise Node.js), or you can override it:

# Auto-detected runtime
webview --build --input ./path/to/your/script.js --output ./dist --name my-app

# Explicit runtime
webview --build --runtime node --input ./src/index.js --name my-app
webview --build --runtime deno --input ./src/index.ts --name my-app
webview --build --runtime bun  --input ./src/index.ts --name my-app
Flag Default Description
--runtime / -R auto-detected node, deno, or bun
--input / -i ./index.js Entry file
--output / -o ./dist Output directory
--name / -n webviewjs Executable name
--resources / -r — JSON asset map (node only)

For the full compilation guide including cross-compilation and code signing, see Building Executables.

Development

Prerequisites

Setup

bun install

Build

bun run build
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