Wails - Build desktop apps using Go & React
The traditional method of providing web interfaces to Go programs is via a built-in web server. Wails offers a different approach: it provides the ability to wrap both Go code and a web frontend into a single binary. The Wails cli makes this easy for you, by handling project creation, compilation and bundling.
Install Version 1.16.9
Dependencies
sudo pacman -S gcc pkgconf webkit2gtk gtk3
Install Wails
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/cmd/wails@latest
But I found that you can also find it on PACMAN: community/wails 1.16.9-2:
sudo pacman -S wails
wails version
_ __ _ __
| | / /___ _(_) /____
| | /| / / __ `/ / / ___/
| |/ |/ / /_/ / / (__ ) v1.16.9
|__/|__/\__,_/_/_/____/ https://wails.app
The lightweight framework for web-like apps
Available commands:
setup Setup the Wails environment [default]
migrate Migrate projects to latest Wails release
init Initialises a new Wails project
build Builds your Wails project
serve Run your Wails project in bridge mode
update Update to newer [pre]releases or specific versions
issue Generates an issue in Github
To finish the installation setup your Wails system by running the setup command wails setup and filling your handle and email.
Hello World
Generate a new project using the init command - leads to an error message
wails init wails-world
Wails v1.16.9 - Initialising project
2022/06/18 21:27:48 Could not load linuxdb.yaml
Install Version 2 Beta
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest
The application is installed in:
go/pkg/mod/github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2@v2.0.0-beta.42/cmd/wails
Running wails doctor will check if you have the correct dependencies installed. Change into the installation directory and run:
go run ./main.go doctor
Wails CLI v2.0.0-beta.42
Scanning system - Please wait (this may take a long time)...Done.
System
------
OS: Manjaro Linux
Version: Unknown
ID: manjaro
Go Version: go1.19
Platform: linux
Architecture: amd64
Wails
------
Version: v2.0.0-beta.42
Package Manager: pacman
Dependency Package Name Status Version
---------- ------------ ------ -------
*docker docker Installed 1:20.10.17-1
gcc gcc Installed 12.1.0-3
libgtk-3 gtk3 Installed 1:3.24.34-1
libwebkit webkit2gtk Installed 2.36.4-2
npm npm Installed 8.15.1-1
pkg-config pkgconf Installed 1.8.0-1
* - Optional Dependency
Diagnosis
---------
Your system is ready for Wails development!
Build the Binary
Inside the install directory run:
sudo go mod tidy
sudo go build
You will end up with a wails bin file in go/pkg/mod/github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2@v2.0.0-beta.42/cmd/wails/. Copy this file to your user bin directory and make sure that it is picked up:
sudo mv wails /usr/bin/wails
wails version
Scaffold your first Wails App
List all application templates:
wails init -l
Wails CLI v2.0.0-beta.42
TEMPLATE SHORT NAME DESCRIPTION
Lit + Vite lit Lit + Vite development server
Lit + Vite (Typescript) lit-ts Lit + TS + Vite development server
Plain HTML/JS/CSS plain A simple template using only HTML/CSS/JS
Preact + Vite preact Preact + Vite development server
Preact + Vite (Typescript) preact-ts Preact + Vite development server
React + Vite react React + Vite development server
React + Vite (Typescript) react-ts React + Vite development server
Svelte + Vite svelte Svelte + Vite development server
Svelte + Vite (Typescript) svelte-ts Svelte + TS + Vite development server
Vanilla + Vite vanilla Vanilla + Vite development server
Vanilla + Vite (Typescript) vanilla-ts Vanilla + Vite development server
Vue + Vite vue Vue + Vite development server
Vue + Vite (Typescript) vue-ts Vue + Vite development server
By default the init command will use the vanilla template. The following command will scaffold the React.js template:
mkdir wails-world
wails init -d wails-world -n wails-world -t react
Wails CLI v2.0.0-beta.42
Initialising Project 'wails-world'
----------------------------------
Project Name: wails-world
Project Directory: dev/wails-world
Project Template: react
Template Support: https://wails.io
Initialised project 'wails-world' in 263ms.
Project Layout
Wails projects have the following layout:
.
├── build/
│ ├── appicon.png
│ ├── darwin/
│ └── windows/
├── frontend/
├── go.mod
├── go.sum
├── main.go
└── wails.json
Project structure rundown
/main.go- The main application/frontend/- Frontend project files/build/- Project build directory/build/appicon.png- The application icon/build/darwin/- Mac specific project files/build/windows/- Windows specific project files/wails.json- The project configuration/go.mod- Go module file/go.sum- Go module checksum file
The default module name in go.mod is changeme. You should change this to something more appropriate.
Development
To get started, run wails dev in the project directory:
cd wails-world
wails dev
Vite Server URL: http://localhost:3000/
> Local: http://localhost:3000/
> Network: use `--host` to expose
ready in 330ms.
Build the Application
From the project directory, run wails build. This will compile your project and save the production-ready binary in the build/bin directory.
Supported platforms:
| Platform | Description |
|---|---|
darwin | MacOS + architecture of build machine |
darwin/amd64 | MacOS 10.13+ AMD64 |
darwin/arm64 | MacOS 11.0+ ARM64 |
darwin/universal | MacOS AMD64+ARM64 universal application |
windows | Windows 10/11 + architecture of build machine |
windows/amd64 | Windows 10/11 AMD64 |
windows/arm64 | Windows 10/11 ARM64 |
linux | Linux + architecture of build machine |
linux/amd64 | Linux AMD64 |
linux/arm64 | Linux ARM64 |
wails build -platform linux/amd64 -clean -o wails-world
App Type: desktop
Platforms: linux/amd64
Compiler: /usr/bin/go
Build Mode: Production
Skip Frontend: false
Compress: false
Package: true
Clean Build Dir: true
LDFlags: ""
Tags: []
Race Detector: false
Output File: wails-world
Building target: linux/amd64
----------------------------
- Installing frontend dependencies: Done.
- Compiling frontend: Done.
- Compiling application: Done.
- Packaging application: Done.
Built 'dev/wails-world/build/bin/wails-world' in 28.931s.
You can execute the binary file directly ./build/bin/wails-world:
