WebKit Web App

WebKit Web App is a small, configurable GTK 4 and WebKitGTK 6.0 shell plus a Nix factory for turning an HTTPS site into a desktop application. Each package builds a native launcher, desktop entry, and icon. The launcher keeps cookies, site data, and cache in per-application XDG directories and sends HTTP(S) links for other hosts to the system browser.

Requirements

• Nix with flakes enabled
• an aarch64-linux or x86_64-linux system
• a graphical Linux session capable of running GTK 4 and WebKitGTK
• network access required by the configured web site

Nix supplies the compiler and GTK/WebKitGTK build dependencies.

Factory options

pname, name, url, applicationId, icon, and comment are required.

Option	Meaning	Default
pname	Package, executable, desktop-file, and XDG data/cache name	required
name	Human-readable window and desktop name	required
url	Initial HTTPS URL; its host is treated as internal	required
applicationId	Unique reverse-DNS GTK application ID and startup class	required
icon	Path to an SVG icon	required
comment	Desktop-entry description	required
categories	Semicolon-delimited desktop categories	"Network;Utility;"
forwardCtrlPeriod	Forward Ctrl+. to the page instead of GTK emoji input	false
enableLinkHints	Enable keyboard link hints toggled with Ctrl+;	false
enableMultipleWindows	Enable Ctrl+N to open another application window	false
appendCurrentUser	Append the URL-escaped current username as a path segment	false

With link hints active, type a displayed label to activate its target, press Escape to cancel, or press Ctrl+; again to toggle the hints off.

Use as an overlay

Add this flake as an input and apply its default overlay:

{
  inputs.webkit-web-app.url = "path:/path/to/webkit-web-app";

  outputs = { nixpkgs, webkit-web-app, ... }: {
    packages.x86_64-linux.my-web-app =
      let
        pkgs = import nixpkgs {
          system = "x86_64-linux";
          overlays = [ webkit-web-app.overlays.default ];
        };
      in
      pkgs.webkitWebApp {
        pname = "my-web-app";
        name = "My Web App";
        url = "https://example.com";
        applicationId = "com.example.MyWebApp";
        icon = ./my-web-app.svg;
        comment = "Open My Web App";
        enableLinkHints = true;
      };
  };
}

Use lib.mkWebkitWebApp

The library factory can be called directly. Pass pkgs explicitly for a pure, reproducible flake evaluation (or pass system to select this flake's nixpkgs):

packages.x86_64-linux.my-web-app = webkit-web-app.lib.mkWebkitWebApp {
  pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux;
  pname = "my-web-app";
  name = "My Web App";
  url = "https://example.com/app";
  applicationId = "com.example.MyWebApp";
  icon = ./my-web-app.svg;
  comment = "Open My Web App";
  categories = "Network;Office;";
  enableMultipleWindows = true;
};

Build and run the demo

The default package is a demo configured for https://example.com:

nix build
./result/bin/webkit-web-app-demo

Run it without retaining a result symlink:

nix run

To build a consuming flake's named package, use nix build .#my-web-app; its launcher is then available under result/bin/my-web-app.

License

Copyright 2026 Alexander Khodyrev a@akho.name. Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 or later. See COPYING.