Installation

WebviewJS ships a platform-specific N-API addon as an optional dependency. Install the package with the manager for your runtime; a Rust toolchain is not needed when a matching prebuilt addon is available.

Install the packageCopy Anchor Link

Node.js (Node.js 24 or newer):

npm install @webviewjs/webview

Bun:

bun add @webviewjs/webview

Deno 2:

deno add npm:@webviewjs/webview

Node.js and Bun use a bare package import:

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

Deno uses an npm specifier:

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

The package declares Node.js >=24. Bun and Deno load the same platform addon through their Node/N-API compatibility layers; their package installation and command-line behavior differ.

Running with DenoCopy Anchor Link

Deno needs a local node_modules directory to load this N-API package and --allow-ffi permission for the native addon. Configure deno.json before installing:

{
  "nodeModulesDir": "auto"
}

Then install and run your app. Add the filesystem or other permissions required by your own application:

deno add npm:@webviewjs/webview
deno run --allow-ffi --allow-read src/main.ts

See Deno's Node-API guidance for its native-addon requirements. See platform notes for native targets. Deno executable builds require Deno 2; see Building standalone executables.

System requirementsCopy Anchor Link

The embedded browser engine is supplied by the operating system. The app does not include a browser runtime.

On Debian and Ubuntu, install the packages used by the repository's Linux build:

sudo apt install pkg-config libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libsoup-3.0-dev \
  libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev libpango1.0-dev libatk1.0-dev \
  libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libxdo-dev

Other Linux distributions need equivalent WebKitGTK 4.1, libsoup 3, GTK 3, and XDoTool development packages.

The available native package targets are listed in the platform guide. A package target indicates that an addon can be installed or built; it does not guarantee desktop feature parity.

Create a projectCopy Anchor Link

For a Node.js starter, use the project creator:

npm create webview@latest my-app
cd my-app
npm run dev

See Create a project for templates and flags. To start in an existing project, install the package with the runtime-specific command above, then follow the quick start.

Building from sourceCopy Anchor Link

Building the monorepo requires Bun 1.4.2 and the stable Rust toolchain. From the repository root:

bun install
bun --filter @webviewjs/webview build

This builds the platform-specific addon, regenerates N-API bindings, and compiles the TypeScript API layer. The generated bindings are repository build outputs; applications consuming the published package do not need to generate them.