Wails Has a Free Go Framework for Desktop Apps — Electron Without the Bloat

Go developers: you don't need Electron. Wails gives you desktop apps with Go backend + web frontend, no Chromium bundled.

What is Wails?

Wails is a framework for building desktop applications using Go and web technologies. Like Tauri but with Go instead of Rust, it uses the system's native webview for tiny bundles.

Why Go Developers Love Wails

1. Go Backend, Web Frontend

// 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
}

func (a *App) FetchData(url string) (string, error) {
    resp, err := http.Get(url)
    if err != nil {
        return "", err
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    return string(body), nil
}

func (a *App) ReadFile(path string) (string, error) {
    data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
    return string(data), err
}

// Frontend — call Go functions directly
import { FetchData, ReadFile } from '../wailsjs/go/main/App';

const data = await FetchData('https://api.example.com/data');
const content = await ReadFile('/path/to/file.txt');

2. Auto-Generated TypeScript Bindings

Every Go method you write automatically gets TypeScript bindings. Full type safety across the Go/JS boundary.

type User struct {
    Name  string `json:"name"`
    Email string `json:"email"`
    Age   int    `json:"age"`
}

func (a *App) GetUser(id int) (*User, error) {
    return db.FindUser(id)
}

// Auto-generated — you don't write this
import { GetUser } from '../wailsjs/go/main/App';
const user = await GetUser(42);
// user is typed as { name: string, email: string, age: number }

3. Any Frontend Framework

wails init -n myapp -t react-ts
wails init -n myapp -t svelte-ts
wails init -n myapp -t vue-ts
wails init -n myapp -t vanilla

4. Live Development

wails dev
# Hot-reload for frontend
# Auto-rebuild for Go backend
# Browser DevTools available

5. Tiny Bundles

wails build
# macOS: ~8MB .app
# Windows: ~10MB .exe
# Linux: ~8MB binary

Wails vs Electron vs Tauri

	Wails	Electron	Tauri
Backend	Go	Node.js	Rust
Bundle size	8-15MB	180-250MB	3-30MB
Memory	50-100MB	200-500MB	50-100MB
Learning curve	Low (Go devs)	Low	Medium (Rust)
Mobile	No	No	Yes (v2)
Maturity	v2 stable	Very mature	v2 stable

Getting Started

# Install
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest

# Create app
wails init -n myapp -t react-ts

# Dev
cd myapp && wails dev

# Build
wails build

The Bottom Line

Wails is the fastest path from Go developer to desktop app developer. If you already know Go, you can build a production desktop app in a weekend.

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