hello-browser

This is a minimal example of how to build a GTK4 native app containing just a webview (WebKitGTK 6.0, Vala).

The goal is to bundle a locally-served web app into something that behaves like a native desktop app.

I don't like locally served apps to be just another browser tab, which rules out just launching the URL — even though that's simpler. Browsers like GNOME Web can install a site into the applications menu, but that requires manual user interaction per site.

Build and run

A Makefile wraps the meson/ninja workflow. Defaults install under $HOME/.local.

make install                      # build + install binary, compile GSettings schema
make link                         # symlink ~/bin/hello-browser -> installed binary
hello-browser https://example.org

Both hello-browser <url> and hello-browser --url <url> are accepted. With no URL it loads example.com.

When running from $HOME/.local, XDG_DATA_DIRS must include $HOME/.local/share so the GSettings schema is discoverable. make run sets this for you.

Site launcher

To register a site as a desktop application:

make desktop NAME="My App" URL=https://my-app.local:8000/ [ICON=icon-name]

This writes ~/.local/share/applications/hello-browser-<slug>.desktop and refreshes the desktop database. The entry then appears in the apps menu and launches the site in its own hello-browser window.

Dependencies

System packages: meson, ninja-build, valac, libgtk-4-dev, libwebkitgtk-6.0-dev.