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Nico Prananta
Nico Prananta

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Nesktop: Offline "Desktop" Next.js App

So I made something on the weekend. I needed a GUI app for my project that could access the file system. Normally, I'd go with Swift for macOS or Electron for cross-platform needs. However, building a native app for macOS, Windows, and Linux is time-consuming, and even Electron, though web-based, comes with its own set of challenges.

So, I thought, since I'm used to make Next.js apps, why not develop a Next.js app instead and publish it to NPM? This way, anyone can run it locally without cloning the repo or installing dependencies. It's essentially like an Electron app but without the headaches of managing window lifecycles, understanding the process model, or handling packaging and code signing.

I finally created a Next.js template which allows you to bundle the production build and publish it as an NPM package.

Say hello to Nesktop. Please read the README for more details.

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