# webui-dev/webui

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.

Repository: https://github.com/webui-dev/webui
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/webui
Homepage: https://webui.me
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: webui, gui, webapp, browser, cpp, javascript, typescript, web
Last push: 2026-08-14T21:24:32+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 66/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2128, "days_push": 19, "days_rel": 544, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: prerelease_only
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4586, forks 305 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:54.605748+00:00)

## What it is
A lightweight portable C library that uses any installed web browser or optional WebView as the GUI for desktop applications, communicating with a backend written in any language over a fast binary WebSocket protocol. It ships as a single header with wrappers for C/C++, Python, Go, Rust, JavaScript/TypeScript and more.

## Use cases
- build a desktop app GUI with HTML/CSS/JS from a C or C++ backend
- give my Python or Go program a modern web-based UI without bundling Electron
- use the user's installed browser as the app window instead of embedding a WebView
- create a lightweight cross-platform GUI with full OS API access
- communicate between backend logic and a web frontend over WebSocket
- avoid shipping a large WebView runtime with my desktop application

## When to choose
- you want a small, portable desktop GUI using web technologies without Electron's size
- your backend is in C/C++, Python, Go, Rust, or another language with a WebUI wrapper
- you can rely on an installed browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) at runtime
- you need full OS API access from the backend while rendering UI in the browser

## When to avoid
- you need a fully offline app window with no browser dependency and no WebView available
- you require deep native widget integration or system tray/menus beyond what the browser window offers
- you need a mobile or embedded GUI rather than desktop
- you want a mature, battle-tested framework like Electron or Tauri with a large ecosystem

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: gui, websocket, http-server, sdk
- domain: desktop-applications, web-development, cross-platform, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cross-platform, c, cpp, python, go, rust
- tags: webview, browser-as-gui, desktop-gui, single-header, lightweight, frontend-backend-bridge, linux, macos, nodejs

## Member repositories
- webui-dev/webui (main) score 66

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:54.605748+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 2026-08-29T18:19:52.311808+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/webui-dev/webui (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:54.605748+00:00, sha cc3a2fbe085a)
  - homepage: https://webui.me (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:05.121096+00:00, sha 745cce1e0eee)
  - site_page: https://webui.me/docs.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:05.123612+00:00, sha cde8ec11f7b1)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.