WebUI v2.5.0-beta.4

Use any web browser or WebView as GUI, with your preferred language in the backend and modern web technologies in the frontend, all in a lightweight portable library.

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Features
Showcase
UI & The Web Technologies
Documentation
Build
Examples
Wrappers
Supported Web Browsers
License

Features

Portable (Needs only a web browser or a WebView at runtime)
One header file
Lightweight (Few Kb library) & Small memory footprint
Fast binary communication protocol
Multi-platform & Multi-Browser
Using private profile for safety
Cross-platform WebView

UI & The Web Technologies

Borislav Stanimirov discusses using HTML5 in the web browser as GUI at the C++ Conference 2019 (YouTube).

Web application UI design is not just about how a product looks but how it works. Using web technologies in your UI makes your product modern and professional, And a well-designed web application will help you make a solid first impression on potential customers. Great web application design also assists you in nurturing leads and increasing conversions. In addition, it makes navigating and using your web app easier for your users.

Why Use Web Browsers?

Today's web browsers have everything a modern UI needs. Web browsers are very sophisticated and optimized. Therefore, using it as a GUI will be an excellent choice. While old legacy GUI lib is complex and outdated, a WebView-based app is still an option. However, a WebView needs a huge SDK to build and many dependencies to run, and it can only provide some features like a real web browser. That is why WebUI uses real web browsers to give you full features of comprehensive web technologies while keeping your software lightweight and portable.

How Does it Work?

Think of WebUI like a WebView controller, but instead of embedding the WebView controller in your program, which makes the final program big in size, and non-portable as it needs the WebView runtimes. Instead, by using WebUI, you use a tiny static/dynamic library to run any installed web browser and use it as GUI, which makes your program small, fast, and portable. All it needs is a web browser.

Runtime Dependencies Comparison

	Tauri / WebView	Qt	WebUI
Runtime Dependencies on Windows	WebView2	QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets	*A Web Browser*
Runtime Dependencies on Linux	GTK3, WebKitGTK	QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets	*A Web Browser*
Runtime Dependencies on macOS	Cocoa, WebKit	QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets	*A Web Browser*

Documentation

Note We are currently writing documentation.

Online Documentation

Build WebUI Library

Windows

Compiler	Command
GCC	`mingw32-make`
MSVC	`nmake`

Windows SSL/TLS (Optional)

Download and install the OpenSSL pre-compiled binaries for Windows:

MSVC: x64 OpenSSL v3.3.1 or 32Bit. See the Wiki list for more info.
MinGW: Curl for Windows with OpenSSL

# GCC
mingw32-make WEBUI_USE_TLS=1 WEBUI_TLS_INCLUDE="C:\curl-xxx-xxx-mingw\curl-xxx-xxx-mingw\include" WEBUI_TLS_LIB="C:\curl-xxx-xxx-mingw\curl-xxx-xxx-mingw\lib"

# MSVC
nmake WEBUI_USE_TLS=1 WEBUI_TLS_INCLUDE="C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-xxx\include" WEBUI_TLS_LIB="C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-xxx\lib"

Linux

Compiler	Command
GCC	`make`
Clang	`make CC=clang`

Linux SSL/TLS (Optional)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libssl-dev

# GCC
make WEBUI_USE_TLS=1

# Clang
make WEBUI_USE_TLS=1 CC=clang

macOS

Compiler	Command
Default	`make`

macOS SSL/TLS (Optional)

brew install openssl
make WEBUI_USE_TLS=1

Minimal WebUI Application

#include "webui.h"

int main() {
  size_t my_window = webui_new_window();
  webui_show(my_window, "<html><head><script src=\"webui.js\"></script></head> Hello World ! </html>");
  webui_wait();
  return 0;
}

C++

#include "webui.hpp"
#include <iostream>

int main() {
  webui::window my_window;
  my_window.show("<html><head><script src=\"webui.js\"></script></head> C++ Hello World ! </html>");
  webui::wait();
  return 0;
}

More C/C++ Examples
- C
- C++
Other Languages
- Wrappers List

Build WebUI Application

Windows

Compiler	Type	Command
GCC	Static	`gcc -Os -Wl,-subsystem=windows my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-static -lws2_32 -Wall -luser32 -static -lole32 -o my_application.exe`
GCC	Dynamic	`gcc -Wl,-subsystem=windows my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" "webui-2.dll" -lws2_32 -Wall -luser32 -lole32 -o my_application.exe`
MSVC	Static	`cl my_application.c /I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" /link /LIBPATH:"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS webui-2-static.lib user32.lib Advapi32.lib Shell32.lib Ole32.lib /OUT:my_application.exe`
MSVC	Dynamic	`cl my_application.c /I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" /link /LIBPATH:"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS webui-2.lib user32.lib Advapi32.lib Shell32.lib Ole32.lib /OUT:my_application.exe`

Windows With SSL/TLS (Optional)

Compiler	Type	Command
GCC	Static	`gcc -Os -Wl,-subsystem=windows my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure-static -lws2_32 -Wall -luser32 -static -lole32 -o my_application.exe`
GCC	Dynamic	`gcc -Wl,-subsystem=windows my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" "webui-2-secure.dll" -lws2_32 -Wall -luser32 -lole32 -o my_application.exe`
MSVC	Static	`cl my_application.c /I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" /link /LIBPATH:"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS webui-2-secure-static.lib user32.lib Advapi32.lib Shell32.lib Ole32.lib /OUT:my_application.exe`
MSVC	Dynamic	`cl my_application.c /I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" /link /LIBPATH:"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS webui-2-secure.lib user32.lib Advapi32.lib Shell32.lib Ole32.lib /OUT:my_application.exe`

Linux

Compiler	Type	Command
GCC	Static	`gcc -Os my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-static -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`
GCC	Dynamic	`gcc my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2 -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`
Clang	Static	`clang -Os my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-static -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`
Clang	Dynamic	`clang my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2 -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`

Linux With SSL/TLS (Optional)

Compiler	Type	Command
GCC	Static	`gcc -Os my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure-static -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`
GCC	Dynamic	`gcc my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`
Clang	Static	`clang -Os my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure-static -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`
Clang	Dynamic	`clang my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure -lpthread -lm -ldl -o my_application`

macOS

Compiler	Type	Command
Clang	Static	`clang -Os my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-static -lpthread -lm -framework Cocoa -framework WebKit -o my_application`
Clang	Dynamic	`clang my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2 -lpthread -lm -framework Cocoa -framework WebKit -o my_application`

macOS With SSL/TLS (Optional)

Compiler	Type	Command
Clang	Static	`clang -Os my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure-static -lpthread -lm -framework Cocoa -framework WebKit -o my_application`
Clang	Dynamic	`clang my_application.c -I"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_INCLUDE_" -L"_PATH_TO_WEBUI_LIB_" -lwebui-2-secure -lpthread -lm -framework Cocoa -framework WebKit -o my_application`

Wrappers

Language	v2.4.0 API	v2.5.0 API	Link
Python	✔️	not complete	Python-WebUI
Go	✔️	not complete	Go-WebUI
Zig	✔️	not complete	Zig-WebUI
Nim	✔️	not complete	Nim-WebUI
V	✔️	not complete	V-WebUI
Rust	not complete	not complete	Rust-WebUI
TS / JS (Deno)	✔️	not complete	Deno-WebUI
TS / JS (Bun)	not complete	not complete	Bun-WebUI
Swift	not complete	not complete	Swift-WebUI
Odin	not complete	not complete	Odin-WebUI
Pascal	not complete	not complete	Pascal-WebUI
Purebasic	not complete	not complete	Purebasic-WebUI
-
Common Lisp	not complete	not complete	cl-webui
Delphi	not complete	not complete	WebUI4Delphi
C#	not complete	not complete	WebUI4CSharp
WebUI.NET	not complete	not complete	WebUI.NET
QuickJS	not complete	not complete	QuickUI
PHP	not complete	not complete	PHPWebUiComposer

Supported Web Browsers

Browser	Windows	macOS	Linux
Mozilla Firefox	✔️	✔️	✔️
Google Chrome	✔️	✔️	✔️
Microsoft Edge	✔️	✔️	✔️
Chromium	✔️	✔️	✔️
Yandex	✔️	✔️	✔️
Brave	✔️	✔️	✔️
Vivaldi	✔️	✔️	✔️
Epic	✔️	✔️	not available
Apple Safari	not available	coming soon	not available
Opera	coming soon	coming soon	coming soon

Supported WebView

WebView	Status
Windows WebView2	✔️
Linux GTK WebView	✔️
macOS WKWebView	✔️

License

Licensed under MIT License.

webui-dev/webui

WebUI v2.5.0-beta.4

Download

Contents

Features

UI & The Web Technologies

Why Use Web Browsers?

How Does it Work?

Runtime Dependencies Comparison

Documentation

Build WebUI Library

Windows

Linux

macOS

Minimal WebUI Application

Build WebUI Application

Windows

Linux

macOS

Wrappers

Supported Web Browsers

Supported WebView

License

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