# progrium/darwinkit

Native Mac APIs for Go. Previously known as MacDriver

Repository: https://github.com/progrium/darwinkit
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/darwinkit
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: golang, apple, macos, objective-c, cgo, apple-apis, libobjc, bridge, go, mac, macos-application, objc-runtime, native-apps, webkit, cocoa, ios, bindings, appkit, coremidi, coreml
Last push: 2025-03-08T16:47:06+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 27/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 10, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2129, "days_push": 543, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5433, forks 176 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:18.054452+00:00)

## What it is
DarwinKit (formerly MacDriver) provides Go bindings to native Apple frameworks like AppKit, Foundation, and WebKit via the Objective-C runtime. It lets developers build native macOS applications entirely in Go.

## Use cases
- build a native macos app in go
- access apple apis from golang
- create a mac window with webkit webview in go
- wrap cocoa appkit frameworks in go
- write native mac menu bar apps in go
- use objective-c runtime from go

## When to choose
- you want to build native macOS applications in Go without learning Swift
- you need direct access to Apple frameworks like AppKit or WebKit from Go
- you prefer Go over Swift/Objective-C for a small native Mac tool

## When to avoid
- you need cross-platform GUIs targeting Windows or Linux
- you require full App Store compliance or Swift/SwiftUI ecosystem tooling
- you need iOS app development, as support is primarily macOS-focused

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: sdk, gui
- domain: developer-tools, operating-systems, cross-platform, desktop-applications
- platform: go
- tags: objective-c-bridge, cocoa, appkit, webkit, cgo, native-apps, apple-frameworks, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- progrium/darwinkit (main) score 27

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:18.054452+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:56:53.294835+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/progrium/darwinkit (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:18.054452+00:00, sha 9b0f8afcf520)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.