Gluon
Develop desktop apps from websites, using system installed browsers and NodeJS.
Quick Start GitHub DiscordCross-platform, Cross-browser, Cross-runtime
Gluon supports Windows, Linux, and Mac, with most Chromium-based and Firefox-based browsers supported. You can also use Node, Deno, or Bun as the JS Runtime powering your app (experimental).
Platforms
Runtimes
Browsers
Performant
Gluon is not only versatile, but also one of the fastest frameworks out there. By looking into browser internals and using a curated set of flags, Gluon tries to squeeze out the most performance possible whilst also aiming to use less memory and resources.
Startup Time
Gluon
0.4s
Electron
0.5s
Tauri
0.9s
Neutralinojs
1.2s
Time until FCP. Gluon using Chromium. All frameworks in release config, on Windows 10.
Tiny Builds
Gluon has tiny builds thanks to a custom bootstrapper written in Nim, allowing dependencies (like Node) to only be downloaded on the fly when not already installed.
Build Size Windows x64
Gluon
Tauri
Neutralinojs
Electron
Open Window API
Opening a Window in Gluon is as simple as one function call, with more options available if you need them like window size or loading extra code.
index.js
import * as Gluon from '@gluon-framework/gluon';
const Window = await Gluon.open('https://gluonjs.org');
IPC API
IPC (Inter-Process Communication) allows you to communicate between your Node backend and website frontend.
Gluon has an easy but powerful asynchronous IPC API, which is also near-identical in Node and the exposed Gluon web API to allow even easier and quicker development.
It also has multiple versatile sub-APIs for doing common things, wrapping the base API so most developers won’t need to use a needlessly complex event-based system:
Expose
Easily expose Node functions to Web.
Store
Share common data effortlessly between Node and Web both ways.
index.js
import * as Gluon from '@gluon-framework/gluon';
const Window = await Gluon.open('https://gluonjs.org');
Window.ipc.store.config = {
env: 'production'
};
import { writeFile } from 'fs/promises';
let log = '';
Window.ipc.log = msg => { // Log data to a log file on disk
log += msg;
writeFile('app.log', log); // Write to log file
};
site.js
// Get data from IPC Store
const { env } = Gluon.ipc.store.config;
env // 'production'
// Call exposed IPC function
Gluon.ipc.log('Stored to log file!');
Idle API Experimental
The Idle API is a unique feature to Gluon, allowing you to “hibernate” or “sleep” Gluon windows to save system resources.
Hibernation fully kills the browser internally (using ~30MB of memory), whilst sleep uses a screenshot of the page as a placeholder (using ~60MB of memory).
You can either hibernate, sleep, and wake up manually with the API, or use automatic idle management which will hibernate the window when minimized for a chosen period of time, and wake it up when it’s focused again for you.
index.js
import * as Gluon from '@gluon-framework/gluon';
const Window = await Gluon.open('https://example.com');
const wait = ms => new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
await wait(5000); // Wait for everything to fully load
Window.idle.hibernate(); // Hibernate the window
await wait(5000);
Window.idle.wake(); // Wake up the window
await wait(5000);
Window.idle.sleep(); // Put the window to sleep
await wait(5000);
Window.idle.wake(); // Wake it up again
Also featuring…
Browser Extensions
Gluon also features best-in-class browser extension support:
| Extension Feature | Gluon | Electron | Tauri |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extension Support Basic browser extension support |
🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
| DevTools Extensions DevTools extensions like React DevTools work |
🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
| Manifest V2 Support for Manifest V2 |
🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
| Manifest V3 Support for Manifest V3 (new format/APIs) |
🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| WebExtension APIs Support Broad support for various WebExtension APIs |
🟢 | 🟡 | 🔴 |
Security in Mind
Gluon has strict security, by default, without developer annoyance:
| Extension Feature | Gluon | Electron | Tauri |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process Isolation Isolate and sandbox processes for enhanced security |
🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| No localhost Server Do not use a localhost server which could be exposed |
🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Content Security Policy Use a CSP to stop unwanted external content |
🟢 | 🟡 | 🟡 |
| Limited Navigations Prevent navigation to untrusted origins |
🟢 | 🟡 | 🔴 |
| HTTPS Only Only accept HTTPS URLs and content |
🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
