webui-dev/webui

WebUI is a lightweight library that uses any web browser or WebView as a graphical user interface, allowing developers to write backend logic in their preferred language while building the frontend with modern web technologies.

The tool solves the problem of creating modern, professional user interfaces without the complexity and overhead of traditional GUI frameworks or WebView-based approaches. It works by launching an installed web browser and communicating with it through a fast binary WebSocket protocol, rather than embedding a WebView runtime into the application. This approach keeps the final binary small and portable since it only requires a web browser to be present at runtime, not additional SDK dependencies or WebView runtimes.

Developers should choose this tool if they want to build cross-platform applications with web-based UIs while maintaining a small footprint and avoiding WebView complexity. It suits projects where portability and lightweight deployment matter, and where developers are comfortable using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the interface layer. The tool works across multiple platforms and browsers, uses a private browser profile for safety, and can optionally use a cross-platform WebView if needed. The library itself is minimal, distributed as a single header file with only a few kilobytes of code.

The project maintains active development with both stable releases and nightly builds available. Documentation is comprehensive and accessible online. The codebase includes numerous examples demonstrating usage across different programming languages, and the project provides language-specific wrappers to support integration with various backend languages.