Ask HN: Any true alternatives to electron JavaScript?

There is Slint - https://github.com/slint-ui/slint/

- UI renders natively (without a browser)

- Slint uses a declarative UI that should be intuitive to use for developers / designers / agents.

- Can be interfaced from different languages such as Rust / JS / TS / Python

(disclaimer, I am working for Slint)

I use a 1MB Rust shell with a webview (wry and winit). It works wonders

Drop a SQLite db if you want a quick portable app, or postgresql if something more robust on your server.

Tell your AI of choice [2] to create a TODO rust app [1] in html, css and js using wry and winit and you'll see what I mean, a thing of beauty

[1] https://github.com/kuyawa/todo-rust

[2] https://github.com/kuyawa/todo-rust/blob/main/prompt.txt

Tauri is solid, but after 10 years of navigating the space and shipping desktop apps. My best advice is JUST USE ELECTRON. I know! it hurts to ship a bloated shell, but it works like charm

For littler personal projects, I’ve used python’s webview to avoid having to bundle a whole browser when the app (it uses the operating system’s default engine). It also didn’t require a learn a whole framework… I could just hook a web front end to some python functions, and run it as a desktop app.

Yesterday was kicking the tires on https://helixnotes.com/, a Tauri app. It's really slick and performance is really good. Loads fast, opens quick, etc.

So, I see that as evidence that Tauri is really solid.

Tauri, electrobun, React Native for Desktop, Flutter, actually building a proper native app... there's loads of alternatives.

I maintain a Tauri app. It's fine. I've not seen any reason to go back to Electron.

Sciter[1] has been around for a while and ships much smaller executables.

[1]: https://sciter.com/

I don't think that it's a common thing. There are many alternatives like MoBrowser, Electrobun, Wails. The choice depends on the project requirements.

I had good luck with Avalonia UI and F#. I don’t understand either, but Claude nailed it.

So many, Flutter being one, as well as Rust GUIs like egui, iced, Dioxus Native etc.

Not for a company app, where support and maturity count.

tauri if you still want a web ui, otherwise iced/egui and skip the browser stack