The repo for the WinUp Library Project.
Image Examples
WinUp 🚀
Make sure to download the Latest Stable Release (LSR) and not the latest/LFR! Current LSR: 2.5.2
pip install winup==2.5.2
A ridiculously Pythonic and powerful framework for building beautiful desktop applications.
WinUp is a modern UI framework for Python that wraps the power of PySide6 (Qt) in a simple, declarative, and developer-friendly API. It’s designed to let you build applications faster, write cleaner code, and enjoy the development process.
✨ Now with Web Support!
WinUp now also supports building fully interactive, stateful web applications using the same Python-centric, component-based approach. The web module uses FastAPI and WebSockets under the hood to bring the simplicity of WinUp to the browser.
Disclaimer: Web support is an optional feature. To use it, you must install the web dependencies:
pip install winup[web]
Contributing
Changelog
License
Why WinUp? (Instead of raw PySide6 or Tkinter)
Desktop development in Python can feel clunky. WinUp was built to fix that.
| Feature | WinUp Way ✨ | Raw PySide6 / Tkinter Way 😟 |
|---|---|---|
| Layouts | ui.Column(children=[...]), ui.Row(children=[...]) |
QVBoxLayout(), QHBoxLayout(), layout.addWidget(), pack(), grid() |
| Styling | props={"background-color": "blue", "font-size": "16px"} |
Manual QSS strings, widget.setStyleSheet(...), complex style objects. |
| State Management | state.bind(widget, "prop", "key") |
Manual callback functions, getters/setters, StringVar(), boilerplate everywhere. |
| Two-Way Binding | state.bind_two_way(input_widget, "key") |
Non-existent. Requires manual on_change handlers to update state and UI. |
| Developer Tools | Built-in Hot Reloading, code profiler, and window tools out of the box. | Non-existent. Restart the entire app for every single UI change. |
| Code Structure | Reusable, self-contained components with @component. |
Often leads to large, monolithic classes or procedural scripts. |
In short, WinUp provides the “killer features” of modern web frameworks (like React or Vue) for the desktop, saving you time and letting you focus on what matters: your application’s logic.
🧊 WinUp vs 🧱 PyEdifice (Reddit User Request)
| Feature | WinUp | PyEdifice |
|---|---|---|
| 🧱 Architecture | React-style + state | React-style + state |
| 🌐 Built-in Routing | ✅ Yes (Router(routes={...})) |
❌ No built-in routing |
| ♻️ Lifecycle Hooks | ✅ on_mount, on_unmount, etc. |
⚠️ Limited (did_mount, etc.) |
| 🎨 Theming / Styling System | ✅ Global & Scoped themes | ❌ Manual CSS injection |
| 🔲 Layout Options | ✅ Row, Column, Grid, Stack, Flexbox | ⚠️ Mostly Box & HBox/VBox |
| 🎞️ Animations | ✅ Built-in (fade, scale, etc.) | ❌ None built-in |
| 🔁 Hot Reloading (LHR) | ✅ Stable + fast (loadup dev) |
⚠️ Experimental, limited support |
| 📦 Packaging | ✅ With LoadUp (PyInstaller-based) | ❌ Must integrate PyInstaller manually |
| 🧩 Component Reusability | ✅ High, declarative | ✅ High |
| 🛠 Developer Tooling | ✅ DevTools planned, Inspector soon | ❌ None yet |
| 📱 Mobile Support | ❌ Not yet | ❌ Not supported |
| 🧠 Learning Curve | ✅ Easy for Python+React users | ✅ Easy but less tooling |
✅ = Built-in or robust
⚠️ = Partial or limited
❌ = Missing entirely
Core Features
- Declarative & Pythonic UI: Build complex layouts with simple
RowandColumnobjects instead of clunky box layouts. - Component-Based Architecture: Use the
@componentdecorator to create modular and reusable UI widgets from simple functions. - Powerful Styling System: Style your widgets with simple Python dictionaries using
props. Create global “CSS-like” classes withstyle.add_style_dict. - Full Application Shell: Build professional applications with a declarative API for
MenuBar,ToolBar,StatusBar, andSystemTrayIcon. - Asynchronous Task Runner: Run long-running operations in the background without freezing your UI using the simple
@tasks.rundecorator. - Performance by Default: Includes an opt-in
@memodecorator to cache component renders and prevent needless re-computation. - Advanced Extensibility:
- Widget Factory: Replace any default widget with your own custom implementation (e.g., C++ based) using
ui.register_widget(). - Multiple Windows: Create and manage multiple independent windows for complex applications like tool palettes or music players.
- Widget Factory: Replace any default widget with your own custom implementation (e.g., C++ based) using
- Reactive State Management:
- One-Way Binding: Automatically update your UI when your data changes with
state.bind(). - Two-Way Binding: Effortlessly sync input widgets with your state using
state.bind_two_way(). - Subscriptions: Trigger any function in response to state changes with
state.subscribe().
- One-Way Binding: Automatically update your UI when your data changes with
- Developer-Friendly Tooling:
- Hot Reloading: See your UI changes instantly without restarting your app.
- Profiler: Easily measure the performance of any function with the
@profiler.measure()decorator. - Window Tools: Center, flash, or manage your application window with ease.
- Built-in Routing: Easily create multi-page applications with an intuitive, state-driven router.
- Flexible Data Layer: Includes simple, consistent connectors for SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and Firebase.
Documentation
Dive deeper into the features of WinUp:
Core Concepts
Developer Tools
UI Components
Contributing
WinUp is an open-source project. Contributions are welcome!
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.