siriux/alcro

A library to create desktop apps using rust and modern web technologies

Alcro

A small library to build desktop apps using rust and modern web technologies. It uses Chrom(e/ium) browser for UI. It does not bundle chrome but instead communicates with the existing chrome installation. Thus rust functions can be called from the UI and javascript can be called Rust.

Name

Alcro works similarily to the go library lorca so the name alcro is an anagram of lorca.

Features

• Small applications
• Use web technologies for UI and use safe and fast rust code.
• Can control and get position, size and state of window
• Expose rust functions to Javascript
• Call any JS code from rust
• Exposed functions are asynchronous
• Load HTML from url, local file or even embedded files
• JS console messages and exceptions are printed for easier debugging
• Can run in headless mode
• Supports running many windows

Limitations

• Requires Chrom(e/ium) to be installed
• Native OS dialogs, systray, etc. needs third party libraries

Working

Alcro uses the Chrome DevTools protocol and communicates with it via a websocket.