WebviewGtk 0.1.0

WebviewGtk

A lightweight C# wrapper around WebKitGTK to embed a native web browser in your Linux desktop apps with minimal overhead.

| ⚠️ This project is primarily intended for personal use, but might be helpful as a base for other GTK-powered .NET apps for linux.

Features

• Splash screen overlay while the page loads
• StrictMode: limit navigation to a single base URI
• JavaScript ↔ C# command bridge (via window.__backendCallback)
• Context menu disabling
• Developer tools toggle (DebugMode)
• Optional text selection blocking
• Safe shutdown via CancellationToken

Quickstart

Basic usage

WebViewConfig config = new()
{
    StartUri = new Uri("https://example.com"),
    WindowTitle = "My App",
    Width = 1280,
    Height = 720,
    AllowSelection = false,
    SplashFilename = "loading.gif",
    DebugMode = false,
    StrictMode = true,
    WindowPosition = Gtk.WindowPosition.Center
};

WebkitGtkWrapper.RunWebkit(config, (evt, uri) =>
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Navigation event: {evt}, URI: {uri}");
}, CancellationToken.None);

With JS command handler

WebkitGtkWrapper.RunWebkitWithHandler(config,
    (evt, uri) => Console.WriteLine($"Changed: {evt}, URI: {uri}"),
    command =>
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Received from JS: {command}");
        return "\"response from backend\"";
    },
    CancellationToken.None);

On the JS side, you can send messages like:

window.webkit.messageHandlers.backend.postMessage("your-command");

And receive responses via:

window.__backendCallback?.("your-result");

Native Dependencies

.NET 8+ is required.

Architecture Notes

• Uses low-level P/Invoke to call GTK and WebKitGTK APIs directly.
• IntPtr-based interop, with manual GCHandle pinning to prevent delegate collection.
• No third-party UI frameworks — clean low-level interop only.
• Compatible with Linux desktops, and potentially usable via WSL/X with X-server (not officially tested).

WebViewConfig Fields (summary)

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0).

You are free to use, modify, and distribute this software — but any distributed binaries or derived works must also be open-sourced under the same license.

TL;DR

If you use this in your own project and distribute it — you must also share your source code under GPL-3.0.

Full license text is available in the LICENSE file or at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

Author

Jackhammer88 C# developer, interop enjoyer, and fan of unsafe elegance.