libnativeapi/nativeapi

nativeapi

Unified access to native system APIs — windows, tray icons, menus, displays, keyboard, dialogs, storage and more — from Dart/Flutter, Rust, C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python and Go, all built on one C++ core.

Android	iOS	Linux	macOS	Windows
✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

🚧 Work in Progress: the API is under active development.

This repository is the home of every binding: the Dart, Rust, C#, JS, Python and Go bindings, the code generator, the design specs and the shared tooling live here directly, and the C++ core (nativeapi-core) is checked out as a git submodule. A core change and its regenerated bindings (core → codegen → bindings) are made and tracked together.

Bindings

Binding	Packages	Status
Dart / Flutter	nativeapi, cnativeapi on pub.dev; nativeapi_flutter (not yet published)	published
Rust	nativeapi, cnativeapi on crates.io	published
C#	NativeAPI	not yet on NuGet; build from source
JavaScript / TypeScript	nativeapi (Node-API addon for Node.js, Deno and Bun)	not yet on npm
Python	nativeapi (ctypes, Python 3.10+)	prototype, not yet on PyPI
Go	github.com/libnativeapi/nativeapi/bindings/go (cgo, Go 1.22+)	build from source

Each binding's README covers installation and usage.

History

This repository was nativeapi-flutter, then nativeapi-workspace, and is now nativeapi; the old names redirect here, and its history, issues and stars carry over. The histories of the former workspace, nativeapi-rust and nativeapi-csharp repositories are merged in, so the Rust and C# bindings keep their full history under bindings/. The old nativeapi-rust and nativeapi-csharp repositories are archived.

Layout

Path	Description
core	submodule: the C++ core library (nativeapi-core)
bindings/dart	Dart binding (packages nativeapi, cnativeapi, nativeapi_flutter)
bindings/rust	Rust binding (crates nativeapi, cnativeapi)
bindings/csharp	C# binding
bindings/js	JavaScript / TypeScript binding (Node-API addon)
bindings/python	Python binding (ctypes)
bindings/go	Go binding (cgo)
examples	example apps of every binding, prefixed by binding: flutter_*, rust_*, csharp_*, js_*, python_*, go_*, …
tools/codegen	the C ABI and binding generators
specs	design rules for the core's public API

Getting started

git clone --recursive https://github.com/libnativeapi/nativeapi.git

Already cloned without --recursive?

git submodule update --init --recursive

The root pubspec.yaml is the pub workspace (and melos) root for the Dart packages and the Flutter examples, and the root Cargo.toml is the cargo workspace for the Rust crates and examples, so flutter pub get and cargo build run from the repository root. The C# solution is bindings/csharp/NativeAPI.slnx.

Code generation

tools/codegen generates the C ABI and all language bindings from the C++ headers in core/. Run it via the wrapper script:

./codegen         # full run: C ABI, then all bindings
./codegen check   # verify generated files are up to date (CI mode)
./codegen readme  # copy the shared README sections (tools/readme/) into every README
./codegen sync    # after a core change: regenerate everything, rerun
                  #   bindgen/ffigen, and commit core, then this repo
                  #   (add --push to also push, -m "..." for the core message)

See tools/codegen/README.md for details.

Common tasks

make status   # working-tree status of this repo and the core submodule
make sync     # fast-forward core to origin/main
make bump     # stage the updated core pointer for commit

Work on the bindings, the tooling and the specs is committed here directly. Work inside core is committed and pushed from that subdirectory as if it were a standalone clone; this repository then records the updated pointer once the combination is known to be compatible.

Issues

• API requests and native behavior bugs → nativeapi-core issues
• Bugs specific to one binding → nativeapi issues

Releases

Each binding is released from a tag of its own: v<version> publishes the Dart packages to pub.dev (dart-release.yml), rust-v<version> publishes the crates to crates.io (rust-release.yml). The C#, JS, Python and Go bindings are not published yet.

License

MIT