webview_cef

WebView CEF

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A Flutter desktop WebView backed by CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework). It renders a full Chromium browser off-screen and presents it inside a Flutter Texture, so the web content composes natively with the rest of your Flutter UI on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Built on CEF 149 (Chromium 149).

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Features

• 🌐 Full Chromium engine — modern web standards, WebGL, HTML5 video, and more.
• ⚡ GPU zero-copy rendering (Windows & macOS) — frames go straight from Chromium's GPU output to Flutter via a shared texture (a D3D11 texture on Windows, an IOSurface on macOS), with no per-frame CPU color-swizzle or CPU→GPU upload. Linux still uses the software path.
• 🎞️ Adaptive frame rate (Windows & macOS) — frame production is driven by the display's vblank (IDXGIOutput::WaitForVBlank on Windows, CVDisplayLink on macOS), so the webview tracks your monitor's real refresh rate (e.g. 120/144 Hz) instead of being capped at 60 fps. Static content stays idle.
• ⌨️ Real-time CJK/IME input — native composition pipeline; Chinese/Japanese/Korean preedit appears live and commits correctly.
• 🔌 JavaScript bridge — call into Dart from JS and evaluate JS from Dart.
• 🍪 Cookie management — read, set, and delete cookies.
• 🪟 Multiple instances — run several independent webviews at once.
• 📜 User-script injection — inject JS/CSS at document start or end.
• 🛠️ DevTools, mouse & trackpad input, navigation, and load/title/url events.

Supported platforms

Platform	Minimum version	Architectures
Windows	Windows 10	x64
macOS	macOS 12.0	arm64, x86_64, or universal (arm64 + x86_64)
Linux	—	x64, arm64
eLinux	—	x64, arm64

Requirements

• Flutter >= 3.27.0, Dart >= 3.6.0 (tested against the latest stable Flutter, 3.44.x).
• A C++20 toolchain for the native side (required by CEF 149) — recent MSVC / Clang / GCC.

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Upgrading from ≤ 0.2.2

0.5.0 is a large upgrade (Flutter 3.44 + CEF 149) with breaking changes on every platform. If you are coming from an older release, do the following:

• Toolchain — upgrade to Flutter ≥ 3.27.0 / Dart ≥ 3.6.0 (was 2.5.0 / 2.17.1). The native build now requires C++20 (CEF 149); make sure your app doesn't force the plugin target to an older C++ standard.
• Removed Dart API — WebviewCefPlatform, MethodChannelWebviewCef, and getPlatformVersion() were removed (along with the plugin_platform_interface dependency). They were never the intended API and have no replacement (getPlatformVersion returned a demo value). Import only package:webview_cef/webview_cef.dart and use WebviewManager / WebViewController.
• Windows — initCEFProcesses changed signature. Update windows/runner/main.cpp: it now takes the HINSTANCE and returns a sub-process exit code that must be returned immediately, as the first statement in wWinMain (see the Windows install snippet below). The minimum OS is now Windows 10.
• macOS — raise the deployment target to 12.0: set platform :osx, '12.0' in macos/Podfile and the Runner target's macOS Deployment Target in Xcode (CEF 149's framework is built for 12.0). To enable multi-process rendering, add the one-line post_install hook to macos/Podfile (see the macOS install section). Builds target the host architecture by default (arm64 or x86_64); set WEBVIEW_CEF_MACOS_ARCH=universal before pod install for a universal (arm64 + x86_64) app.

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Installation

Windows

1. Add the dependency:

   flutter pub add webview_cef
   

2. Edit windows/runner/main.cpp. Because of Chromium's multi-process architecture and to route input/IME and method-channel calls onto the Flutter engine thread, two hooks are required:

   #include "webview_cef/webview_cef_plugin_c_api.h"
   
   int APIENTRY wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE instance, _In_opt_ HINSTANCE prev,
                         _In_ wchar_t *command_line, _In_ int show_command) {
     // Start the CEF sub-processes. MUST be the first thing in wWinMain.
     int exit_code = initCEFProcesses(instance);
     if (exit_code >= 0) {
       return exit_code;
     }
     // ... existing runner setup ...
   

   In the message loop, forward messages to CEF (enables keyboard input and lets CEF post to the Flutter engine thread):

   ::MSG msg;
   while (::GetMessage(&msg, nullptr, 0, 0)) {
     ::TranslateMessage(&msg);
     ::DispatchMessage(&msg);
     handleWndProcForCEF(msg.hwnd, msg.message, msg.wParam, msg.lParam);
   }
   

   IME is wired up automatically by the plugin — no extra runner code needed.

On the first build, the official CEF Standard Distribution (~330 MB, from https://cef-builds.spotifycdn.com) is downloaded into third/cef and libcef_dll_wrapper is compiled from source, so the first build takes noticeably longer.

macOS

Requires macOS 12.0 or newer — CEF 149 ships a framework with a 12.0 deployment target, so your app's macOS deployment target must be ≥ 12.0 (set it in macos/Podfile (platform :osx, '12.0') and the Runner target). Older targets fail to link cleanly.

1. Add the dependency:

   flutter pub add webview_cef
   

2. Enable multi-process (recommended) by adding the helper hook to your macos/Podfile's existing post_install:

   post_install do |installer|
     installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
       flutter_additional_macos_build_settings(target)
     end
     # webview_cef: embed the CEF helper sub-process apps (multi-process).
     require File.expand_path(
       'Flutter/ephemeral/.symlinks/plugins/webview_cef/macos/embed_cef_helpers.rb', __dir__)
     WebviewCEF.install_helper_phase(installer)
   end
   

   Then pod install (run automatically by flutter run). This installs an "Embed CEF Helpers" build phase that clones the prebuilt helper into the five CEF sub-process .app bundles inside your app — no manual Xcode target needed. Without this hook the plugin still works but falls back to single-process (an unsupported Chromium mode: no crash isolation, V8 proxy resolver disabled, etc.).

macOS uses CocoaPods, which does not run the CMake download path. Instead the podspec's prepare_command runs macos/scripts/download_cef.sh on pod install, which mirrors the Windows/Linux flow: it downloads the official CEF Standard Distribution for the selected architecture (from https://cef-builds.spotifycdn.com, version pinned by CEF_VERSION in third/download.cmake), compiles libcef_dll_wrapper from source, lays the framework out as a versioned macOS bundle, and installs everything into the (git-ignored) macos/third/cef. The first pod install therefore takes noticeably longer; subsequent runs are a no-op once the pinned version is present.

Requirements: cmake (and ninja, otherwise make is used) must be on PATH to build the wrapper — brew install cmake ninja.

The wrapper is built Debug by default to match flutter run / flutter build macos --debug. For a release build set CEF_WRAPPER_BUILD_TYPE=Release before pod install (debug and release builds need a wrapper compiled in the matching configuration — #if DCHECK_IS_ON() changes its ABI).

Choosing the architecture

WEBVIEW_CEF_MACOS_ARCH selects which slices are prepared. It is read by both the download script and the podspec, so the CEF binaries and the EXCLUDED_ARCHS of your app always agree.

Value	Result
host (default)	the build machine's architecture
arm64	Apple Silicon only
x86_64	Intel only
universal	both, merged with lipo

WEBVIEW_CEF_MACOS_ARCH=universal pod install
cd .. && flutter build macos --release

A universal build downloads both CEF distributions and compiles the wrapper twice, so it takes about twice as long and needs roughly 8 GB of free scratch space. The framework binary, the ANGLE/SwiftShader dylibs beside it, libcef_dll_wrapper.a, and the helper executable are merged with lipo, then each is checked for the expected slices. Chromium's V8 startup snapshot is architecture specific (v8_context_snapshot.<arch>.bin), so both are copied into the framework's Resources and the right one is picked at runtime; the "Embed CEF Helpers" build phase fails the build if the helper does not cover every architecture the app is being built for. The selected value is recorded in macos/third/cef/version.txt, so changing it re-prepares macos/third/cef on the next pod install.

Linux

flutter pub add webview_cef

CEF is downloaded automatically on the first build (x64 and arm64 supported). Make sure the usual Flutter Linux desktop toolchain is installed (clang, cmake, ninja-build, libgtk-3-dev, pkg-config).

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Quick start

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:webview_cef/webview_cef.dart';

class MyWebView extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyWebView({super.key});
  @override
  State<MyWebView> createState() => _MyWebViewState();
}

class _MyWebViewState extends State<MyWebView> {
  late final WebViewController _controller;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    _controller = WebviewManager().createWebView(
      loading: const Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
    );
    _init();
  }

  Future<void> _init() async {
    await WebviewManager().initialize(); // call once for the whole app
    _controller.setWebviewListener(WebviewEventsListener(
      onUrlChanged: (url) => debugPrint('url => $url'),
      onLoadEnd: (controller, url) => debugPrint('loaded => $url'),
    ));
    await _controller.initialize('https://flutter.dev');
  }

  @override
  void dispose() {
    _controller.dispose();
    WebviewManager().quit(); // only when tearing down the whole app
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return ValueListenableBuilder<bool>(
      valueListenable: _controller,
      builder: (_, ready, __) =>
          ready ? _controller.webviewWidget : _controller.loadingWidget,
    );
  }
}

A full-featured example (navigation bar, cookies, JS bridge, DevTools) lives in example/.

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Usage

Lifecycle

await WebviewManager().initialize(userAgent: 'my-app/1.0'); // once per app
final controller = WebviewManager().createWebView(loading: const Text('…'));
await controller.initialize('https://example.com');
// …
controller.dispose();
WebviewManager().quit(); // on app shutdown

Navigation

controller.loadUrl('https://example.com');
controller.reload();
controller.goBack();
controller.goForward();
controller.openDevTools();

Events

controller.setWebviewListener(WebviewEventsListener(
  onTitleChanged: (title) {},
  onUrlChanged: (url) {},
  onLoadStart: (controller, url) {},
  onLoadEnd: (controller, url) {},
  onConsoleMessage: (level, message, source, line) {},
));

JavaScript bridge

// Dart -> JS
controller.executeJavaScript("document.title = 'set from Dart'");
final result = await controller.evaluateJavascript("1 + 1"); // "2"

// JS -> Dart
controller.setJavaScriptChannels({
  JavascriptChannel(
    name: 'Print',
    onMessageReceived: (msg) {
      debugPrint(msg.message);
      controller.sendJavaScriptChannelCallBack(
          false, "{'code':'200'}", msg.callbackId, msg.frameId);
    },
  ),
});

Cookies

await WebviewManager().setCookie('example.com', 'key', 'value');
await WebviewManager().deleteCookie('example.com', 'key');
final all = await WebviewManager().visitAllCookies();
final some = await WebviewManager().visitUrlCookies('example.com', false);

User-script injection

final scripts = InjectUserScripts()
  ..add(UserScript("console.log('at document start')", ScriptInjectTime.LOAD_START))
  ..add(UserScript("console.log('at document end')", ScriptInjectTime.LOAD_END));

final controller = WebviewManager().createWebView(injectUserScripts: scripts);

eLinux 🐧

For eLinux, this plugin supports Wayland and DRM-GBM backends using a decoupled architecture that avoids GTK/X11 dependencies.

Runtime Dependencies

Ensure the target eLinux system has the following libraries installed:

• libnss3
• libnspr4
• libfontconfig1
• libasound2

CEF Binary Compatibility

• Sandbox: CEF's sandbox is disabled by default (--no-sandbox) to avoid SUID permission issues common on embedded filesystems.
• Architecture: While this project supports x64, ensure you have the correct CEF binaries for your target architecture (ARM64 support requires corresponding CEF builds).

Setup

1. Ensure your eLinux toolchain is correctly configured.
2. Use the flutter-elinux SDK to build your application.
3. The plugin will automatically use the elinux/ port which implements an efficient pixel buffer rendering pipeline.

TO RUN

cd example/ flutter-elinux pub get flutter-elinux build elinux --release

./build/elinux/x64/release/bundle/webview_cef_example -b .

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Windows build options

These CMake options can be set on the plugin target (defaults shown):

Option	Default	Effect
WEBVIEW_CEF_GPU_TEXTURE	ON	Zero-copy GPU rendering (CEF OnAcceleratedPaint → Flutter GPU surface texture). Set OFF to fall back to the software pixel-buffer path.
WEBVIEW_CEF_USE_DEBUG_CEF	OFF	Link/bundle the CEF Debug binaries even in Debug builds. By default Debug builds use the Release CEF binaries, because CEF's Debug DCHECKs crash off-screen rendering during IME. Turn ON only to step into CEF itself.

Updating CEF

The CEF/Chromium version is pinned in one place — CEF_VERSION in third/download.cmake. Bump it to update CEF on all three platforms: Windows and Linux download it automatically, and macOS reads the same CEF_VERSION (via macos/scripts/download_cef.sh, run by the podspec's prepare_command) and re-downloads on the next pod install — no manual placement needed.

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Demo

Screenshots

Windows	macOS	Linux

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Roadmap

• [x] Windows / macOS / Linux support
• [x] Multiple instances
• [x] JavaScript bridge & cookie management
• [x] IME support (Windows / macOS / Linux; tested with Chinese IMEs)
• [x] Mouse & trackpad input
• [x] DevTools
• [x] GPU zero-copy rendering & adaptive frame rate (Windows & macOS)
• [x] Easier macOS multi-process helper-bundle integration (one-line Podfile hook)
• [x] Universal (arm64 + x86_64) macOS builds
• [ ] Tear-free GPU sync (keyed-mutex) on Windows

Pull requests are welcome. Every PR runs build + flutter analyze CI on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Credits

Inspired by flutter_webview_windows.

License

Apache License 2.0.

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