Wails Has a Free API — Build Desktop Apps with Go and Any Web Framework

#go #webdev #tutorial #desktop

Wails lets you build desktop applications using Go for the backend and any web framework for the frontend. Native feel, Go performance, modern web UI — without Electron's bloat.

Why Wails?

Go backend — goroutines, channels, the entire Go ecosystem
Any frontend — React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, plain HTML
Native webview — not Chromium (unlike Electron), ~5MB binary
Bidirectional binding — call Go from JS, call JS from Go

Quick Start

go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest
wails init -n myapp -t react-ts
cd myapp
wails dev

Go Backend

// app.go
package main

import "context"

type App struct {
    ctx context.Context
}

func NewApp() *App {
    return &App{}
}

func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
    a.ctx = ctx
}

// Exposed to frontend automatically
func (a *App) Greet(name string) string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("Hello %s, from Go!", name)
}

func (a *App) GetUsers() ([]User, error) {
    return db.GetAllUsers()
}

func (a *App) SaveFile(content string) error {
    return os.WriteFile("output.txt", []byte(content), 0644)
}

Frontend (React)

import { Greet, GetUsers, SaveFile } from '../wailsjs/go/main/App';

function App() {
  const [greeting, setGreeting] = useState('');

  const handleGreet = async () => {
    const result = await Greet('Alice');
    setGreeting(result); // "Hello Alice, from Go!"
  };

  const handleUsers = async () => {
    const users = await GetUsers(); // Typed from Go struct!
    console.log(users);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={handleGreet}>Greet</button>
      <p>{greeting}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

Events System

// Go → Frontend
func (a *App) StartProcess() {
    for i := 0; i <= 100; i++ {
        runtime.EventsEmit(a.ctx, "progress", i)
        time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
    }
}

// Frontend
import { EventsOn } from '../wailsjs/runtime';

EventsOn('progress', (value: number) => {
  setProgress(value);
});

Dialogs

func (a *App) OpenFile() string {
    file, _ := runtime.OpenFileDialog(a.ctx, runtime.OpenDialogOptions{
        Title: "Select a file",
        Filters: []runtime.FileFilter{
            {DisplayName: "Text Files", Pattern: "*.txt;*.md"},
        },
    })
    return file
}

func (a *App) SaveDialog() string {
    file, _ := runtime.SaveFileDialog(a.ctx, runtime.SaveDialogOptions{
        Title: "Save as",
    })
    return file
}

Build

# Development
wails dev

# Production build
wails build

# Cross-compile
wails build -platform windows/amd64
wails build -platform darwin/universal
wails build -platform linux/amd64

Building Go desktop tools? Check out my Apify actors for data extraction APIs, or email spinov001@gmail.com for custom Go desktop apps.

Wails, Tauri, or Electron — what do you build desktop apps with? Share below!

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