# XuanchenLin/NanUI

NanUI is an open source .NET project for developers who want to create Windows desktop applications with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Repository: https://github.com/XuanchenLin/NanUI
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/nanui
Homepage: https://github.com/Xuanchenlin/NanUI
Language: C#
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: cef, dotnet, dotnet-core, nanui, cefglue, formium, html-window, desktop, chromium, winforms
Last push: 2025-11-20T16:05:34+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 47/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 53, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3738, "days_push": 286, "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 3796, forks 658 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:19.976523+00:00)

## What it is
NanUI is an open-source .NET framework for building Windows desktop (WinForm) applications whose user interfaces are written in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It is built on Xilium.CefGlue, a .NET wrapper around the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), letting developers combine web-technology UIs with C# business logic.

## Use cases
- build a Windows desktop app with an HTML/CSS/JavaScript UI
- create a modern-looking WinForm application with web technologies
- embed a Chromium browser view inside a .NET desktop application
- mix C# backend logic with a web-based frontend in a native window
- make a borderless or custom-chrome desktop app using HTML
- support Windows 7 SP1+ clients with a .NET desktop UI

## When to choose
- you want web-technology UIs in a .NET WinForm app and need Windows 7 SP1 support
- you need a full Chromium engine (CEF) inside your desktop application
- your team knows HTML/CSS/JavaScript better than WinForms/WPF UI design
- you want custom window chrome or offscreen rendering features like DirectComposition

## When to avoid
- you need cross-platform support - NanUI is Windows-only
- you want a lightweight package - CEF-based apps are large (~125MB+ compressed); consider WinFormedge/WebView2 instead
- you target only Windows 10/11 and prefer the system-provided WebView2 runtime
- you are building a web app rather than a native desktop application

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: frontend-framework, ui-components, web-framework
- domain: desktop-applications, web-development, frontend, cross-platform
- platform: windows, dotnet
- tags: cef, chromium-embedded-framework, winforms, html-ui, hybrid-desktop-apps, cefglue, desktop

## Member repositories
- XuanchenLin/NanUI (main) score 47

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:19.976523+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 2026-08-29T18:26:56.568165+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/XuanchenLin/NanUI (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:19.976523+00:00, sha 07d42ae8319e)
  - homepage: https://github.com/Xuanchenlin/NanUI (fetched 2026-08-29T09:21:48.645771+00:00, sha 8b0ce87d3857)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.