# webview

Tiny cross-platform webview library for C/C++. Uses WebKit (GTK/Cocoa) and Edge WebView2 (Windows).

Repository: https://github.com/webview/webview
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/webview
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: webui, webkit, c, single-header-lib, webview, cross-platform, cpp, gtk, gui, library, web, webview2, css, html, javascript
Last push: 2026-03-09T07:51:25+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 64/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 71, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3301, "days_push": 177, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 14209, forks 1090 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:06.429651+00:00)

## What it is
A tiny cross-platform webview library for C/C++ that lets developers build modern desktop GUIs using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. It abstracts platform web engines (WebKitGTK on Linux, Cocoa WebKit on macOS, Edge WebView2 on Windows) and supports two-way JavaScript bindings.

## Use cases
- build a cross-platform desktop app with an HTML5 UI
- embed a webview in a C++ application
- create a native GUI using web technologies
- call C++ functions from JavaScript in a desktop app
- make a lightweight alternative to Electron
- wrap a web app in a native desktop window

## When to choose
- you want a tiny, dependency-light desktop GUI in C/C++ using web tech
- you need native webview rendering per platform instead of bundling a browser
- you want two-way JavaScript/C++ bindings in a small single-header library

## When to avoid
- you need a full-featured UI toolkit with native widgets
- you want identical rendering across platforms (each uses its own web engine)
- you need rich built-in features like auto-update, packaging, or Node.js integration that Electron provides

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: gui, web-framework, sdk
- domain: desktop-applications, cross-platform, web-development, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cpp, c, cross-platform
- tags: webview, webkit, webview2, gtk, cocoa, single-header, html5-ui, javascript-bindings, hybrid-apps, linux, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- webview/webview (main) score 64
- webview/webview_deno (sdk) score 29

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:06.429651+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 2026-08-29T17:12:44.096087+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/webview/webview (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:06.429651+00:00, sha 52c2493df08c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.