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* cdp: add internal close api

* inject: add Window.close() api

* typedef: add Window.close()

* roadmap: add close api for 0.8.0

* release: 0.8.0

* readme: update project age

* paths: add more linux browsers

* readme: update screenshot

* readme: move trying gluon to earlier up

* inject: add useSessionId to Window.cdp.send()

* typedef: add useSessionId to CDPApi.send()

* idle: rewrite to use CDP to get processes instead of exec

* index: remove now unneeded parameters for idle creation

* chore: bump version to 0.9.0-alpha.0

* inject: pass IPC browser engine

* api: add Window.versions

* typedef: add future BrowserEngine and update Browser values

* typedef: add Window.versions

* index: rename internal variable

* idle: v2 - added sleep, utils, documenting, and more

* typedef: update for IdleApi v2

* roadmap: update

* chore: bump version to 0.9.0-alpha.2

* readme: add more feature specific statuses

* readme: make specific feature statuses into a table

* cdp: return protocol errors

* idle: move to new api dir

* controls: new Window.controls API

* darwin: full support (#4)

* meta: add pnpm-lock.yaml to .gitignore for my own sanity

* darwin: preliminary support

* chore: disable menubar key in firefox

* Add support new browsers Mac OS (#20)

Co-authored-by: a.artamonov <a.artamonov@sftpro.ru>

* roadmap: tweak

* roadmap: update done

* roadmap: remove overall

* typedef: change some voids to Promise<void>s

* typedef: add Window.controls

* release: 0.9.0

* add .vscode to gitignore

* assets: new logo

* readme: tweak features

* readme: fancy header

* readme: tweak description

* paths>win: add alternate appdata paths

* paths: add new browsers, refactor windows to auto append env

* readme: update npm link

* readme: fix license badge link

* paths: add brave

* chore: bump version to 0.10.0-alpha.2

* index: redo browser finding logging

* index: rewrite data path gen (#6)

* Added `.DS_Store` in .gitignore (#28)

* `.DS_Store` Removed

* Update .gitignore

* roadmap: update

* roadmap: add intended release date for 0.10

* launcher/inject: get browser info first, and always await

* roadmap: update

* cdp: make logging available via optional cli flag

* chore: bump version to 0.10.0-alpha.3

* chore: update alpha version in package

* inject: make eval return just result

* inject: add window.loaded promise

* ipc: add expose APIs

* roadmap: update

* gitignore: ignore gluon_data

* inject: rename Window.window -> Window.page

* typedef: rename Window.window -> page

* typedef: add PageApi.loaded

* typedef: add new IPC expose APIs

* idle: minor cleanup

* fix: hopefully remove all references to nodejs `process`

* idle: add close handler (also move API creation into inject)

* chore: bump version to alpha.5

* launcher: run Window.close on process close too

* fix: firefox was still refering to node's `process`

* gluworld: update to newest version from examples repo, fully convert to Deno

* typedefs: fix errors that deno lsp was complaining about

* release: v0.10.0

* deno: re-export src/index.ts in mod.ts to fit typical deno usage

Co-authored-by: CanadaHonk <oj@oojmed.com>
Co-authored-by: Beef <beefers@riseup.net>
Co-authored-by: Alexander Artamonov <47431914+artamonovtech@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: a.artamonov <a.artamonov@sftpro.ru>
Co-authored-by: Mantresh Khurana <120998049+mantreshkhurana@users.noreply.github.com>

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.github

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assets

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.gitignore

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gluon.d.ts

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package.json

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README.md

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README.md

Gluon

Gluon is a new framework for creating desktop apps from websites, using system installed browsers (not webviews) and NodeJS, differing a lot from other existing active projects - opening up innovation and allowing some major advantages. Instead of other similar frameworks bundling a browser like Chromium or using webviews (like Edge Webview2 on Windows), Gluon just uses system installed browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc. Gluon supports Chromium and Firefox based browsers as the frontend, while Gluon's backend uses NodeJS to be versatile and easy to develop (also allowing easy learning from other popular frameworks like Electron by using the same-ish stack).

Features

Uses normal system installed browsers - allows user choice by supporting most Chromium and Firefox based browsers, no webviews
Tiny bundle sizes - <1MB using system Deno
Chromium and Firefox supported as browser engine, unlike any other active framework
Minimal and easy to use - Gluon has a simple yet powerful API to make apps with a Node backend
Also supports Deno (experimental) - Deno is also being worked as an option (developer choice) in replacement of NodeJS for the backend (you're here right now)
Fast build times - Gluon has build times under 1 second on most machines for small projects
Actively developed and listening to feedback - new updates are coming around weekly, quickly adding unplanned requested features if liked by the community (like Firefox support!)
Cross-platform - Gluon works on Windows, Linux, and macOS (WIP)

Status

Gluon is currently barely 1 week old, so is still in an early and experimental state. But it works and shows (in my opinion) potential! I am open to opinions, suggestions, feedback, ideas, etc. Currently you cannot easily test it yourself. If you're interested and want to talk to me and others about Gluon, you can join our Discord server.

Specific feature statuses

Using Chromium based browsers: Stable
Using Firefox based browsers: Experimental
Web-Deno IPC: Stable

Ecosystem

Gluon: the Gluon framework (Deno)
Glugun: builds Gluon apps into releasable builds with optional bundling (soon)

Apps

Gluworld: Hello World demo app with version info shown
Gludoom: Doom running as WASM, made into a native looking app with Gluon
Glucord: minimal desktop Discord client loading official webapp (demo/example)

Trying Gluon

Clone the deno branch of this repo (git clone --branch deno https://github.com/gluon-framework/gluon.git)
deno run -A gluworld/index.js

Shell example

$ git clone --branch deno https://github.com/gluon-framework/gluon.git
$ cd gluon
$ deno run -A gluworld/index.js

Comparisons

Internals

Part	Gluon	Electron	Tauri	Neutralinojs
Frontend	System installed Chromium or Firefox	Self-contained Chromium	System installed webview	System installed webview
Backend	System installed Deno	Self-contained Node.JS	Native (Rust)	Native (Any)
IPC	Window object	Preload	Window object	Window object
Status	Early in development	Production ready	Usable	Usable
Ecosystem	Integrated	Distributed	Integrated	Integrated

Benchmark / Stats

Basic (plain HTML) Hello World demo, measured on up to date Windows 10, on my machine (your experience will probably differ). Used latest stable versions of all frameworks as of 9th Dec 2022. (You shouldn't actually use random stats in benchmarks to compare frameworks, this is more so you know what Gluon is like compared to other similar projects.)

Stat	Gluon	Electron	Tauri	Neutralinojs
Build Size	<1MB¹²³	~220MB	~1.8MB¹	~2.6MB¹
Memory Usage	~80MB²	~100MB	~90MB	~90MB
Backend⁴ Memory Usage	Not measured² (Deno)	~22MB (Node)	~3MB (Native)	~3MB (Native)
Build Time	~0.7s⁵	~20s⁶	~120s⁷	~2s⁵⁸

Extra info: All HTML/CSS/JS is unminified (including Gluon). Built in release configuration. All binaries were left as compiled with common size optimizations enabled for that language, no stripping/packing done.

Does not include system installed components. ↩︎
Using Chrome as system browser. Early/WIP data, may change in future. ↩︎
How is Gluon so small? Since Deno is expected as a system installed component, it is "just" bundled and minified Deno code. ↩︎
Backend like non-Web (not Chromium/WebView2/etc). ↩︎
Includes Node.JS spinup time. ↩︎
Built for win32 zip (not Squirrel) as a fairer comparison. ↩︎
Cold build (includes deps compiling) in release mode. ↩︎
Using neu build -r. ↩︎