Ask HN: How do you create a cross-platform GUI without using Electron?

I have the idea of an app that is mostly about communicating with an API on the WEB. It feels a considerable overkill for an Electron App. The size of a hello world app in Electron is 100x the size of my backend!

On the business side, I understand that many people on HN prefer to ship that spend time on technologies discussions.

But if you have the time, and your goal is to do something maintainable, reasonably close the most to the Desktop, and well-integrated to the OS, what tech/stack will you use?

Windows/Linux GTK/MacOS

QT?

imgui

There are several options, each with their own pros and cons.

Qt [1]

The main codebase is C++, but bindings are available for Python and several other languages. I have developed and shipped multiple cross-platorm applications using Qt, using both C++ and Python. Documentation and source code examples are readily available.

JUCE [2]

Another C++ framework, with Python bindings. The focus is on music and audio apps, but a cross-platform GUI framework is also part of the library.

Blazor Desktop [3]

I have developed C# web applications using Blazor and WASM and moved them to the desktop easily. Using C# and the Dotnet ecosystem is really interesing and worth looking at.

Flutter for Desktop [4]

Still in beta, but has the support of Google, for better or worse.

JavaFX [5]

A Java cross-platform still under active development. I think it is pretty nice if you like Java.

Red [6]

Let's add an outsider just to keep things interesting!

This github site seems somewhat current about other Electron alternatives as well. [7]

Good luck! You will find there are lots of alternatives out there.

[1] https://www.qt.io/

[2] https://juce.com/

[3] https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2021/02 /17/net-6-preview-1.aspx

[4] https://flutter.dev/desktop

[5] https://openjfx.io/

[6] https://www.red-lang.org/p/about.html

[7] https://github.com/sudhakar3697/electron-alternatives

I'll get shot for suggesting this most places, but I feel like GTK has the most 'native' feel across every operating system. That's not to say that it's easy to get working (setting up proper build targets is going to be your biggest hurdle), but your reward is a stylish and robust UI with proper touchscreen support on Windows/Linux.