dry-webview 0.3.0

Use your web dev skills to design UIs for your Python apps with this simple, Rust-powered webview library.

Dry: a simple webview library

Dry is a tiny, no-dependency webview library that lets you use your web development skills to create user interfaces for your Python applications. Built with Rust on top of Wry.

Why?

• Familiar Tech: Use HTML, CSS and JS to design your UIs!
• Flexible Content: Render from an HTML string or from a URL.
• Customizable: Support for borderless windows with custom titlebars!
• Callbacks: Interact with Python from JavaScript!

Installation

Getting started with Dry is straightforward. Simply use pip or uv to install:

pip install dry-webview
uv add dry-webview

Getting Started

Here's a quick example of how to use Dry to create a simple webview:

from dry import Webview

wv = Webview()
wv.title = "My Python App!"
wv.content = "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>"
wv.run()

For more examples, check out the examples directory.

Features

Flexible Content

The Webview class supports loading content from a string containing HTML or from a URL. You could, for example, compile your HTML, CSS and JS into a single file and load it into the webview.

wv.content = "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>" or "http://localhost:8000"

If your UI needs to come from a server, know that wv.run() blocks the main thread. Consider running the server from a separate thread (preferably a daemon one, which will shutdown along with the main thread).

import threading
from dry import Webview

def serve_files():
    # Your server logic here

if __name__ == "__main__":

    thread = threading.Thread(target=serve_files, daemon=True)
    thread.start()

    wv = Webview()
    wv.content = "http://localhost:8000"
    wv.run()

Custom Titlebar

Dry supports custom titlebars, allowing you to create a unique look for your application. You tell the Webview class to hide decorations like this:

wv.decorations = False

And then you can use data-drag-region to define the draggable area in your HTML, which will probably be your custom titlebar:

<div data-drag-region>
    <h1>Custom Titlebar</h1>
</div>

A window without decorations will automatically be draggable within the data-drag-region area, having resize handles automatically positioned at all corners.

With or without decorations, basic window controls are available from the DOM, allowing you to minimize, maximize and close window. More are to come in the future.

<button onclick="window.minimize()">Minimize</button>
<button onclick="window.toggleMaximize()">Maximize</button>
<button onclick="window.close()">Close</button>

Callbacks

You can use callbacks to interact with Python from JavaScript. You define them like this:

def hello_world():
    return "Hello, World!"

def dumb_sum(a, b):
    return a + b

api = {
    "helloWorld": hello_world,
    "dumbSum": dumb_sum
}

wv = Webview()
wv.api = api
wv.run()

And then you can call them from JavaScript as follows:

const hello = await window.api.helloWorld();
const sum = await window.api.dumbSum(1, 2);

console.log(hello); // Hello, World!
console.log(sum); // 3

Be aware of the supported data types for function arguments and return values:

Python Type	JavaScript Type
None	null
bool	boolean
int	number
float	number
str	string
list	array
tuple	array
set	array
dict	object
bytes	number[]

Other

The Webview class has a few options you can set through its properties:

Property	Description
title	The window title. Defaults to 'My Dry Webview'.
min_size	Minimum window dimensions (width, height).
size	Initial window dimensions (width, height).
decorations	Whether to show window decorations (title bar, borders).
icon_path	Path to the window icon file (.ico format).
content	HTML content or URL to display in the window.
api	JavaScript-accessible Python functions.
dev_tools	Whether to enable developer tools.
user_data_folder	Path to store user data. Defaults to temp folder.

Current Status

Dry is in its early stages and currently supports Windows only. Expect ongoing development, new features, and potential changes.

Platform Compatibility

Platform	Status
Windows 11	✅ Tested
Linux	❌ Not Yet
macOS	❌ Not Yet

Python Compatibility

Python Version	Status
CPython 3.11	✅ Tested
CPython 3.12	✅ Tested
CPython 3.13	❌ Not Yet

License

Dry is distributed under the MIT License. For more details, see the LICENSE file.