winup

The repo for the WinUp Library Project.

182
6
Python

PRs Welcome
Python 3.9+
Component Driven
Desktop App
CLI Support
Live Reload

Image Examples

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WinUp πŸš€

Make sure to download the Latest Stable Release (LSR) and not the latest/LFR! Current LSR: 2.4.9

pip install winup==2.4.9

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.

Contributing


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 β€œkiller 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 βœ… Yes (Router(routes={...})) ❌ No built-in routing
♻️ Lifecycle Hooks βœ… on_mount, on_unmount, etc. ⚠️ Limited (did_mount, etc.)
🎨 Theming / Styling System βœ… Global & Scoped themes ❌ Manual CSS injection
πŸ”² Layout Options βœ… Row, Column, Grid, Stack, Flexbox ⚠️ Mostly Box & HBox/VBox
🎞️ Animations βœ… Built-in (fade, scale, etc.) ❌ None built-in
πŸ” Hot Reloading (LHR) βœ… Stable + fast (loadup dev) ⚠️ Experimental, limited support
πŸ“¦ Packaging βœ… With LoadUp (PyInstaller-based) ❌ Must integrate PyInstaller manually
🧩 Component Reusability βœ… High, declarative βœ… High
πŸ›  Developer Tooling βœ… DevTools planned, Inspector soon ❌ None yet
πŸ“± Mobile Support ❌ Not yet ❌ Not supported
🧠 Learning Curve βœ… Easy for Python+React users βœ… Easy but less tooling

βœ… = Built-in or robust
⚠️ = Partial or limited
❌ = Missing entirely


Core Features

  • Declarative & Pythonic UI: Build complex layouts with simple Row and Column objects instead of clunky box layouts.
  • Component-Based Architecture: Use the @component decorator to create modular and reusable UI widgets from simple functions.
  • Powerful Styling System: Style your widgets with simple Python dictionaries using props. Create global β€œCSS-like” classes with style.add_style_dict.
  • Full Application Shell: Build professional applications with a declarative API for MenuBar, ToolBar, StatusBar, and SystemTrayIcon.
  • Asynchronous Task Runner: Run long-running operations in the background without freezing your UI using the simple @tasks.run decorator.
  • Performance by Default: Includes an opt-in @memo decorator 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.
  • 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().
  • 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.