Wails: Building Desktop Applications with Go and Web Technologies

The desktop application landscape has long been dominated by a handful of approaches: native development requiring platform-specific expertise, or cross-platform frameworks like Electron that sacrifice performance for convenience. Enter Wails—a project that fundamentally rethinks this tradeoff by marrying Go's efficiency with modern web technologies, creating applications that are both powerful and performant.

The Desktop Development Dilemma

Desktop application development has historically forced developers into difficult choices. Build natively and face the complexity of maintaining separate codebases for Windows, macOS, and Linux, each with distinct UI frameworks and development patterns. Or embrace cross-platform frameworks like Electron, which bundle entire Chromium instances, resulting in applications that consume hundreds of megabytes of memory and disk space even for simple functionality.

Wails challenges this false dichotomy. By leveraging the native webview components already present on each operating system—WebView2 on Windows, WKWebKit on macOS, and WebKit on Linux—Wails applications achieve near-native performance while maintaining the development velocity of modern web frameworks (Wails.io, 2025). This isn't just theory; applications like Varly, a desktop application for macOS and Windows, demonstrate that Wails can deliver polished, native-feeling experiences that users expect from contemporary software.

The Architecture Advantage

The genius of Wails lies in its architectural simplicity. Rather than embedding a browser engine, it uses the rendering capabilities already built into the operating system. On Windows, this means utilizing Microsoft's WebView2 component, built on Chromium. On macOS, applications leverage WKWebKit. This approach delivers multiple benefits: smaller binary sizes, reduced memory footprint, and performance characteristics that match or exceed native applications.

What makes this particularly compelling for Go developers is the elimination of CGO dependencies on Windows. Historically, cross-platform development in Go often required CGO for GUI work, introducing complexity around C compiler toolchains and making cross-compilation painful. Wails v2 removed this requirement entirely for Windows, a technical achievement that dramatically simplified the development and build process (Wails.io, 2022). Now, building Windows applications from any platform requires nothing more than the Go toolchain—no MinGW, no external compilers, no Docker containers for cross-compilation.

Developer Experience That Delivers

Modern application development demands rapid iteration cycles. Wails recognizes this by providing a development mode that rivals the best web development experiences. Running wails dev launches your application with hot reload capabilities for frontend assets and automatic rebuilding for Go code changes. Save a CSS file, and the application instantly reflects the changes. Modify a Go function, and the application rebuilds and relaunches seamlessly.

Perhaps more impressively, Wails applications in development mode also expose a web server on port 34115, allowing developers to interact with their desktop application through a browser. This provides access to full browser developer tools—inspecting elements, debugging JavaScript, monitoring network activity—while working on what will ultimately be a native desktop application (Wails.io, 2022). This hybrid approach means developers can choose their preferred debugging environment without sacrificing the ability to test native desktop behaviors.

The framework's approach to type safety deserves particular attention. Any Go structs used as parameters or return values for bound methods are automatically converted to TypeScript type definitions during development. This isn't manual type marshalling or brittle code generation—it's automatic, accurate, and maintained by the framework itself. When you call a Go method from JavaScript, you get full IDE autocomplete, type checking, and inline documentation. This seamless interoperability between Go and JavaScript eliminates entire classes of integration bugs that plague other cross-platform approaches.

Real-World Production Readiness

Wails isn't an experimental project or academic exercise. The framework has matured through multiple major versions, with v2 released in September 2022 representing a complete architectural reimagining based on lessons learned from v1 (Anthony, 2022). This evolution addressed fundamental issues around API design, build systems, and bindings generation, creating a stable foundation for production applications.

The evidence of production readiness appears in the applications built with Wails. Varly, October, Surge, and numerous other commercial applications trust Wails for their desktop presence. These aren't simple utilities—they're feature-rich applications with native menus, dialogs, system tray integration, and translucency effects that users expect from premium desktop software. The framework supports generating NSIS installers for Windows and proper application bundles for macOS, complete with code signing and notarization support for distribution through the Apple Store.

Cross-platform development often means "lowest common denominator" functionality, but Wails takes a different approach. Platform-specific features can be implemented when needed, and the framework provides escape hatches for platform-unique functionality that doesn't map cleanly to a unified API. On macOS, developers can leverage translucency effects and customize the title bar appearance. On Windows, support for Mica and Acrylic backdrops enables applications that match Windows 11's design language. Rather than forcing all platforms to share identical capabilities, Wails allows applications to embrace platform conventions where appropriate.

The v3 Vision

The Wails roadmap provides insight into where desktop development is heading. Version 3, currently in development, addresses limitations in the v2 API that emerged as users built increasingly complex applications. The most significant change is a shift from a declarative to a programmatic API for application management (Anthony, 2023).

Currently, v2 applications initialize with a single Run() function that takes configuration options. This simplicity was intentional but proved limiting for applications requiring multiple windows or complex lifecycle management. V3 introduces an object-oriented approach where developers interact directly with application and window instances:

func main() {
    app := wails.NewApplication(options.App{})
    myWindow := app.NewWindow(options.Window{})
    myWindow.SetTitle("My Window")
    myWindow.On(events.Window.Close, func() {
        app.Quit()
    })
    app.Run()
}

This programmatic approach enables multiple windows, direct window manipulation, and clearer event handling—capabilities that developers have consistently requested. The v3 API doesn't just add features; it provides a more intuitive model that scales from simple single-window applications to complex multi-window scenarios.

The build system is also evolving. V2's integrated build process, while powerful, was opaque and difficult to customize. V3 will leverage Task, an established build automation tool, providing complete transparency into the build process while maintaining the simplicity of wails build for standard workflows. Developers who need custom build steps can modify the generated Taskfile directly, and those who prefer different build tools can understand exactly what's required to produce a Wails application (Anthony, 2023).

Performance and Distribution

Binary size and startup time matter for desktop applications. Users expect applications to launch instantly and not consume excessive disk space. Wails delivers on both fronts. Without the overhead of bundling an entire browser engine, Wails applications typically measure in tens of megabytes rather than hundreds. This isn't achieved through complex compression schemes—it's the natural result of using platform-provided rendering engines.

The framework supports optional optimizations for applications that require even smaller binaries. Integration with UPX (Ultimate Packer for Executables) can further compress the final executable. For applications handling sensitive logic, Wails supports obfuscation through garble, a tool that makes reverse engineering Go binaries significantly more difficult. These aren't requirements—they're options for applications with specific needs around size or security.

Distribution through official app stores represents a critical requirement for many commercial applications. Wails applications are fully compliant with Apple and Microsoft Store requirements. The framework handles the packaging details: application manifests on Windows, Info.plist generation on macOS, icon bundling across platforms. Developers maintain full control over these assets, but Wails eliminates the tedious work of ensuring everything is correctly formatted and structured.

The Go Advantage

Why Go specifically? The language brings several characteristics that align perfectly with desktop application development. Go's compilation to native machine code means applications start quickly and run efficiently. The language's built-in concurrency primitives make it straightforward to handle background tasks without blocking the UI thread. Go's standard library provides comprehensive functionality for file operations, networking, and system interaction—capabilities that desktop applications frequently require.

Perhaps most importantly, Go's simplicity keeps codebases maintainable. Desktop applications often have long support lifecycles, and code written years ago must remain comprehensible to developers who didn't write it. Go's deliberate avoidance of complex language features and its emphasis on readability make it exceptionally well-suited for this scenario.

The Go ecosystem's tooling excellence extends to Wails applications. Standard Go tools work seamlessly—tests run with go test, code coverage with the usual tooling, profiling with pprof. Wails doesn't require learning a new paradigm for the backend portion of your application. It's just Go code that happens to have a webview-based UI attached.

Frontend Flexibility

Wails doesn't prescribe a frontend framework. The project provides templates for Svelte, React, Vue, Preact, Lit, and Vanilla JavaScript, each available in TypeScript or JavaScript variants. This flexibility extends beyond just starter templates—developers can use any web technology stack they prefer. Want to use Angular? Solid.js? Vanilla HTML with Alpine.js? All work seamlessly.

The framework's approach to asset handling reinforces this flexibility. Unlike v1, which required bundling all frontend assets into single JavaScript and CSS files, v2 eliminates bundling requirements entirely. Applications can reference images, fonts, and other assets using standard HTML, and Wails serves them appropriately. Under the hood, assets are embedded using Go's embed.FS feature, but developers interact with them as they would in any web application (Wails.io, 2022).

This means the entire ecosystem of web development tooling remains available. Vite for fast rebuilds, PostCSS for CSS processing, TypeScript for type safety—all the tools that make modern web development productive work with Wails. The framework doesn't fight against the web platform; it embraces it fully while adding the capabilities of Go and native desktop integration.

Community and Ecosystem

Open source projects live or die based on their communities. Wails has cultivated a vibrant ecosystem of developers contributing templates, packages, and support. The project maintains active presence on GitHub, Discord, and Twitter, providing multiple channels for developers to get help and share their work.

The documentation reflects this community focus. Comprehensive guides cover everything from installation through advanced topics like custom build configurations and platform-specific behaviors. The project's cookbook provides recipes for common scenarios, and the growing collection of community templates means new projects can start from increasingly sophisticated foundations.

Recent attention to security demonstrates the project's maturity. When a supply chain attack affected the tj-actions/changed-files GitHub Action in March 2025, the Wails team's response was exemplary: immediate investigation, transparent communication about the impact (which was zero for Wails), and proactive improvements to prevent similar issues. This level of security awareness and incident response is what production applications require (Anthony, 2025).

Considerations and Tradeoffs

No framework is perfect for every scenario, and Wails has characteristics that make it more or less suitable depending on requirements. Applications requiring intensive 3D graphics or game development would likely be better served by specialized game engines or lower-level graphics frameworks. While Wails applications can certainly incorporate WebGL or WebGPU content, the framework is optimized for application UI rather than game rendering.

Platform-specific features occasionally require custom platform channels. While Wails provides extensive native functionality out of the box, accessing operating system capabilities not exposed through the standard API requires dropping down to platform-specific code. This is true of any cross-platform framework, but it's worth considering when evaluating whether Wails meets specific requirements.

The reliance on system webview components means applications are subject to the capabilities and quirks of those components. On older Windows systems without WebView2 installed, applications must either bundle the WebView2 runtime or prompt users to install it. In practice, Windows 10 and 11 ship with WebView2, making this a diminishing concern, but it's a consideration for applications targeting older systems.

Conclusion

Wails represents a mature, production-ready approach to desktop application development that respects both the power of Go and the richness of modern web technologies. It doesn't compromise—it simply recognizes that the platform provides rendering capabilities we can leverage rather than bundle.

For Go developers, Wails removes the barriers that traditionally made desktop UI development painful. No wrestling with CGO. No learning platform-specific UI frameworks. Just write your backend logic in Go, build your interface with web technologies you already know, and let Wails handle the integration. The result is applications that are small, fast, and indistinguishable from native software.

For teams evaluating desktop development strategies, Wails offers compelling economics. A single codebase targets Windows, macOS, and Linux. Frontend developers can work in the frameworks and tools they already know. Backend developers write Go without GUI framework complexity. The reduced overhead translates directly to faster development cycles and more maintainable codebases.

The framework's evolution toward v3 demonstrates that Wails isn't resting on its achievements. The community has identified limitations in the current API, and the project is addressing them thoughtfully. This iterative improvement based on real-world usage patterns suggests that Wails will continue to mature and adapt as desktop application requirements evolve.

Desktop applications aren't going anywhere. Despite the web's dominance, certain categories of software—development tools, creative applications, system utilities, and performance-sensitive applications—continue to thrive as desktop software. Wails provides Go developers with a first-class path to this space, combining the language's strengths with the ubiquity of web technologies. For developers building desktop applications in 2026 and beyond, Wails deserves serious consideration as a foundation that delivers both developer productivity and user satisfaction.

References

Anthony, L. (2022). Wails v2 released. Retrieved from https://wails.io/blog/wails-v2-released

Anthony, L. (2023). The road to Wails v3. Retrieved from https://wails.io/blog/the-road-to-wails-v3

Anthony, L. (2025). Proactive security response - GitHub Actions supply chain attack. Retrieved from https://wails.io/blog/security-incident-response-march-2025

Wails.io. (2022). Wails v2 beta for Windows. Retrieved from https://wails.io/blog/wails-v2-beta-for-windows

Wails.io. (2025). Introduction - Wails documentation. Retrieved from https://wails.io/docs/introduction