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Ask HN: Any true alternatives to electron JavaScript?

12 points by dhruv3006 1mo ago

I see companies having codebase in Tauri going back to electron - is this a common thing?

onion2k 1mo ago
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.
torutofu 1mo ago
tauri if you still want a web ui, otherwise iced/egui and skip the browser stack
- antoineMoPa 1mo ago
  egui is very neat indeed. With agentic coding, Rust UI dev is as easy as electron dev without the bloat. Electron was relevant when we had to manually code stuff.
  - torutofu 1mo ago
    yeah once agents can spit out the egui layout the packaging story is still the hard part
Ikryanov 1mo ago
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.
satvikpendem 1mo ago
So many, Flutter being one, as well as Rust GUIs like egui, iced, Dioxus Native etc.
carloslfu 1mo ago
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
- lostdog 1mo ago
  What are the issues you had that pulled you away from tauri?
  - cyanydeez 1mo ago
    for one, tauri uses the webview of the host operating system, which means you're exposed to probably, 100+ different versions of edge, safari, webkit or whatever linux is doing.
owentbrown 1mo ago
Yesterday was kicking the tires on https://helixnotes.com/ 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.
ogoffart 1mo ago
There is Slint - https://github.com/slint-ui/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)
pull_my_finger 1mo ago
Sciter[1] has been around for a while and ships much smaller executables. [1]: https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/
hydraterms 1mo ago
[flagged]
al_borland 1mo ago
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.
satya71 1mo ago
I had good luck with Avalonia UI and F#. I don’t understand either, but Claude nailed it.
curtisblaine 1mo ago
Not for a company app, where support and maturity count.
Kuyawa 1mo ago
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 https://github.com/kuyawa/todo-rust [2] https://github.com/kuyawa/todo-rust/blob/main/prompt.txt https://github.com/kuyawa/todo-rust/blob/main/prompt.txt
thoughtbefore 1mo ago
[dead]
heliskyr2 1mo ago
[flagged]
_kjq3 1mo ago
[flagged]
yeasin-arafat 1mo ago
[flagged]

12 points by dhruv3006 1mo ago

I see companies having codebase in Tauri going back to electron - is this a common thing?

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.

torutofu 1mo ago

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

antoineMoPa 1mo ago
egui is very neat indeed. With agentic coding, Rust UI dev is as easy as electron dev without the bloat. Electron was relevant when we had to manually code stuff.
- torutofu 1mo ago
  yeah once agents can spit out the egui layout the packaging story is still the hard part

Ikryanov 1mo ago

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.

satvikpendem 1mo ago

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

carloslfu 1mo ago

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

lostdog 1mo ago
What are the issues you had that pulled you away from tauri?
- cyanydeez 1mo ago
  for one, tauri uses the webview of the host operating system, which means you're exposed to probably, 100+ different versions of edge, safari, webkit or whatever linux is doing.

owentbrown 1mo ago

Yesterday was kicking the tires on https://helixnotes.com/ 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.

ogoffart 1mo ago

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

pull_my_finger 1mo ago

Sciter[1] has been around for a while and ships much smaller executables. [1]: https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/

hydraterms 1mo ago

[flagged]

al_borland 1mo ago

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.

satya71 1mo ago

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

curtisblaine 1mo ago

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

Kuyawa 1mo ago

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

thoughtbefore 1mo ago

[dead]

heliskyr2 1mo ago

[flagged]

_kjq3 1mo ago

[flagged]

yeasin-arafat 1mo ago

[flagged]