ewvjs

Embedded WebView for JavaScript

ewvjs allows you to create modern desktop applications using Node.js and the Microsoft Edge WebView2 control. It provides a lightweight, native GUI experience with full access to Node.js APIs.

Features

• 🪟 Native Window Management: Create, control, and customize native Windows.
• 🌐 Modern Web Technologies: Build your UI with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• ⚡ Node.js Integration: Call Node.js functions directly from your frontend code.
• 🖱️ Context Menus: Customizable native right-click context menus.
• 📦 Packaging: Built-in CLI tool to package your app into a standalone executable.
• 🔄 Auto Update: Download a hosted manifest and atomically swap in a packaged app update.
• 🔧 Native Bindings: High-performance C# bindings via node-api-dotnet.
• 🖼️ Customization: Support for frameless windows, transparency, vibrancy, and more.

Installation

npm install ewvjs

Quick Start

Create a simple application:

const { create_window, start } = require('ewvjs');

// Create a new window
const win = create_window('My App', 'https://www.google.com', {
    width: 1024,
    height: 768,
});

// Run the window
win.run();

// Keep the application alive
start();

Exposing Node.js Functions

You can expose Node.js functions to your frontend code easily:

Backend (Node.js):

const { create_window, expose, start } = require('ewvjs');
const os = require('os');

// Expose a function to specific window or globally
expose('getSystemInfo', () => {
    return {
        platform: os.platform(),
        arch: os.arch(),
        cpus: os.cpus().length
    };
});

const win = create_window('System Info', 'index.html', { width: 400, height: 300 });
win.run();
start();

Frontend (HTML/JS):

// Call the exposed function via window.ewvjs.api
async function showInfo() {
    const info = await window.ewvjs.api.getSystemInfo();
    console.log(info);
}

API Reference

create_window(title, url, options)

Creates a new WebView window.

• title (string): The window title.
• url (string): The URL to load (http/https) or path to a local HTML file or HTML string.
• options (object): Configuration options.

start()

Starts the application event loop. This keeps the Node.js process alive until all windows are closed.

expose(name, callback)

Exposes a Node.js function to the frontend.

• name (string): The name of the function as it will appear in window.ewvjs.api.
• callback (function): The Node.js function to execute. Can be async.

autoUpdateFromManifest(manifestUrl)

Downloads an update manifest, fetches the packaged app ZIP, stages it, and performs an atomic directory swap from a detached PowerShell helper after the current process exits. The helper then relaunches the app.

Manifest format:

{
    "version": "0.0.2",
    "url": "https://example.com/updater_test/update_balbal.zip"
}

Usage:

const result = await ewvjs.autoUpdateFromManifest('https://example.com/manifest.json');

if (result.updated) {
    console.log('Updated to', result.version);
} else {
    console.error('Update failed:', result.error);
}

Notes:

• The archive is extracted with Windows tar.
• The running app cannot overwrite itself directly, so the helper process handles the swap.
• A backup copy is kept during the swap to reduce the chance of update failure leaving the install broken.

Window Options

{
    width?: number;              // Window width
    height?: number;             // Window height
    min_width?: number;          // Minimum window width
    min_height?: number;         // Minimum window height
    x?: number;                  // X position
    y?: number;                  // Y position
    resizable?: boolean;         // Allow resizing
    fullscreen?: boolean;        // Start in fullscreen
    hidden?: boolean;            // Start hidden
    frameless?: boolean;         // Remove window frame
    focus?: boolean;             // Focus window on creation
    minimized?: boolean;         // Start minimized
    maximized?: boolean;         // Start maximized
    on_top?: boolean;            // Keep window on top
    confirm_close?: boolean;     // Require confirmation before closing
    transparent?: boolean;       // Transparent background
    background_color?: string;   // Hex color (e.g. "#FFFFFF")
    vibrancy?: boolean;          // Enable window vibrancy/acrylic effect (default: true)
    dark_mode?: boolean;         // Enable dark mode
    title_bar?: boolean;         // Show/hide title bar (if not frameless)
    icon?: string;               // Path to .ico file
    session?: {
        persist?: boolean;       // Persist cookies/localStorage
        path?: string;           // Custom user data path
        envname?: string;        // WebView2 Environment name
    };
    additional_args?: string;     // Additional WebView2 arguments
    debug?: boolean;              // Enable debug tools/console
}

Window Methods

Once a window is created, you can control it using the returned Window instance:

• Lifecycle: run(), close(), destroy()
• State: maximize(), minimize(), restore(), hide(), focus(), show()
• Size & Position:
  • getSize(), setSize(w, h), resize(w, h)
  • getMinSize(), setMinSize(w, h)
  • getPosition(), setPosition(x, y), move(x, y)
• Interaction:
  • setTitle(title)
  • showTitlebar(), hideTitlebar()
  • evaluate(script, [frame]): Execute JavaScript in the WebView or target a specific subframe/iframe context.
  • setIcon(path)
• Cookies: getCookies(), setCookie(name, value, domain, path), clearCookies()

Executing JavaScript inside IFrames (Cross-Origin Bypass)

The evaluate method supports executing and injecting JavaScript directly inside any subframe/iframe context, completely bypassing standard browser Same-Origin Policy (SOP) limitations. This enables the native Node.js layer to inspect and mutate the DOM of cross-origin or same-origin subframes natively.

async evaluate(script: string, frame?: string | number): Promise<any>

Parameters:

• script: The JavaScript code string to execute.
• frame (optional): The target subframe selector. This can be:
  • String: The iframe's name attribute value (case-insensitive) or a substring of the iframe's loaded src URL.
  • Number: The internal unique frame registry identifier.

Example:

// Execute on top-level main document
const title = await win.evaluate("document.title");

// Execute inside a cross-origin iframe using its frame name
const iframeText = await win.evaluate(
    "document.querySelector('h1').innerText", 
    "my-frame-name"
);

// Execute inside an iframe targeted by its loaded URL substring
await win.evaluate(
    "document.body.style.background = '#8b5cf6'", 
    "example.com/payment"
);

Custom Context Menus

Define native context menus using on_context_menu. It should return an array of ContextMenuItem objects.

ContextMenuItem Interface

interface ContextMenuItem {
    label?: string;
    type?: 'normal' | 'separator' | 'checkbox' | 'submenu';
    checked?: boolean;
    enabled?: boolean;
    submenu?: ContextMenuItem[];
    click?: () => void;
}

Example:

win.on_context_menu = (params) => {
    return [
        { label: 'Refresh', click: () => win.reload() },
        { type: 'separator' },
        { label: 'Exit', click: () => win.close() }
    ];
};

CLI Reference

ewvjs-cli provides a command-line interface for creating and packaging applications.

Installation

The CLI is included with the ewvjs-cli package and can be run using npx:

npx ewvjs-cli <command> [options]

Commands

init - Initialize a New Project

Create a new ewvjs project with a sample application structure.

Usage:

npx ewvjs-cli init [name] [options]

Arguments:

• name - Project name (default: my-ewvjs-app)

Options:

• -t, --template <template> - Template to initialize (basic | react) (default: basic)
• -l, --list-templates - List all available templates

Example:

npx ewvjs-cli init my-awesome-app --template react
cd my-awesome-app
npm install
npm run dev

Project Templates

ewvjs-cli supports two official templates out of the box:

1. Basic Template (basic - default)

A simple, lightweight setup using plain static assets:

• app.js: Main host controller containing standard Node.js exposure hooks.
• assets/: Pure HTML/CSS/JS frontend files loaded natively via file:// resolution.

2. React Template (react)

A premium, feature-rich React 19 + Vite 8 + TypeScript development environment:

• Vite Bundler: Ultra-fast build times and hot-reload configs.
• Premium Styling: Pre-configured global CSS resets, sleek glassmorphic themes, and linear gradients styled around the Outfit Google Font.
• HMR Developer Runner: Spawns a parallel Vite developer server and embeds it directly into the native ewvjs window, rendering real-time UI changes dynamically as you edit.
• Type-Safe Host API: Employs global typed window definitions for fully intelligent, warning-free React-to-Node API communications.

React Workflow Commands:

# Initialize a new React project
npx ewvjs-cli init my-react-app --template react
cd my-react-app
npm install

# Run the HMR interactive developer window
npm run dev

# Compile React static outputs and build a standalone packaged exe
npm run package

package - Package Application

Package your ewvjs application into a standalone executable.

Usage:

npx ewvjs-cli package <entry> [options]

Arguments:

• entry - Entry point JavaScript file (required, e.g., app.js)

Options:

| Option | Alias | Description | Default | |--------|-------|-------------|---------| | --output <name> | -o | Output executable name (without .exe) | app | | --name <name> | -n | Application name | My App | | --icon <file> | -i | Path to application icon (.ico file) | None | | --assets <dir> | -a | Assets directory to include in package | ./assets | | --target <target> | -t | Target platform | node18-win-x64 | | --modules <modules> | -m | Additional node modules to bundle (comma-separated) | None |

Examples:

Basic packaging:

npx ewvjs-cli package app.js

Full customization:

npx ewvjs-cli package app.js \
  --output myapp \
  --name "My Application" \
  --icon icon.ico \
  --assets ./public \
  --modules axios,lodash \

Package with custom target:

npx ewvjs-cli package app.js -o myapp -t node20-win-x64

Output:

The packaged application will be created in the dist/ directory with:

• <output>.exe - Standalone executable
• Native WebView2 dependencies (unless --no-native is used)
• Bundled assets from the specified directory

Notes:

• Icon file must be in .ico format
• Additional modules should be listed without spaces: axios,lodash,express
• Default target node18-win-x64 works with Node.js 18+ on 64-bit Windows

Getting Help

Display available commands and options:

npx ewvjs-cli --help
npx ewvjs-cli package --help
npx ewvjs-cli init --help

Display version:

npx ewvjs-cli --version

License

MIT LICENSE