GJSify

Node.js & Web APIs,
running on GJS

Bring the full TypeScript ecosystem to GJS: fs, net, http, fetch, WebSocket, Canvas2D, WebGL and more, all running natively on Linux.

Get Started GitHub

$ gjs -m express-webserver.js

  Express.js blog running on GJS

  ➜  Local:    http://localhost:3000/
  ➜  API:      http://localhost:3000/api/posts

  Press Ctrl+C to stop

[12:34:56] GET /
[12:34:56] GET /style.css
[12:34:56] GET /app.js
[12:34:56] GET /api/runtime
[12:34:56] GET /api/posts

import '@gjsify/node-globals';
import express from 'express';
import { posts } from './data/posts.js';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

app.get('/api/posts', (_req, res) => {
  res.json({ count: posts.length, posts });
});

app.get('/api/posts/:slug', (req, res) => {
  const post = posts.find((p) => p.slug === req.params.slug);
  if (!post) return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Not found' });
  res.json(post);
});

app.use(express.static('public'));

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Express server running at http://localhost:3000');
});

Full example →

npx @gjsify/cli showcase express-webserver

import Adw from 'gi://Adw?version=1';
import { WebGLBridge } from '@gjsify/webgl';
import * as THREE from 'three';
import { RenderPixelatedPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/RenderPixelatedPass.js';
import { EffectComposer } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/EffectComposer.js';

const app = new Adw.Application({ application_id: 'gjsify.examples.pixel' });
app.connect('activate', () => {
  const glArea = new WebGLBridge();
  glArea.onReady((canvas) => {
    const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ canvas });
    const scene = new THREE.Scene();
    const camera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera();
    const composer = new EffectComposer(renderer);
    composer.addPass(new RenderPixelatedPass(6, scene, camera));
  });
});

Full example →

npx @gjsify/cli showcase three-postprocessing-pixel

import Adw from 'gi://Adw?version=1';
import { WebGLBridge } from '@gjsify/webgl';
import * as THREE from 'three';
import { TeapotGeometry } from 'three/addons/geometries/TeapotGeometry.js';

const app = new Adw.Application({ application_id: 'gjsify.examples.teapot' });
app.connect('activate', () => {
  const glArea = new WebGLBridge();
  glArea.onReady((canvas) => {
    const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ canvas });
    const scene = new THREE.Scene();
    const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45);
    scene.add(new THREE.Mesh(
      new TeapotGeometry(50, 20),
      new THREE.MeshPhongMaterial({ color: 0xc0c0c0 })
    ));
  });
});

Full example →

npx @gjsify/cli showcase three-geometry-teapot

import Adw from 'gi://Adw?version=1';
import { WebGLBridge } from '@gjsify/webgl';
import * as ex from 'excalibur';
import { startGame } from './game.js';

const app = new Adw.Application({
  application_id: 'gjsify.examples.jelly-jumper',
});
app.connect('activate', () => {
  const glArea = new WebGLBridge();
  glArea.onReady(async (canvas) => {
    const game = await startGame(canvas);
    // game.mute();   // toggle audio
    // game.pause();  // toggle pause
  });
});

Full example →

npx @gjsify/cli showcase excalibur-jelly-jumper

import Adw from 'gi://Adw?version=1';
import { Canvas2DBridge } from '@gjsify/canvas2d';
import { start } from './fireworks.js';

const app = new Adw.Application({ application_id: 'gjsify.examples.fireworks' });
app.connect('activate', () => {
  const canvasWidget = new Canvas2DBridge();
  canvasWidget.installGlobals();
  canvasWidget.onReady((canvas) => {
    const demo = start(canvas);
    // demo.effectController.particleCount = 60;
    // demo.effectController.autoInterval = 150;
  });
});

Full example →

npx @gjsify/cli showcase canvas2d-fireworks

Get started in seconds

Terminal

$ npx @gjsify/cli create my-app

or run npx @gjsify/cli --help to explore all commands

Getting Started Guide CLI Reference

What makes gjsify different

Three worlds, one runtime

GNOME, Node.js, and the Web have lived in separate runtimes for a decade. gjsify dissolves the boundary — every API lands inside one SpiderMonkey process and shares the same memory, the same event loop, the same GTK main context.

GNOME

Gtk 4 widgets
libadwaita
GIO file / network / DBus
GStreamer pipelines
WebKit, libsoup, Cairo

Node.js

fs · net · http(s)
stream · events · process
crypto · worker_threads
util · buffer · url
44 of the 50 stdlib modules

Web

fetch · WebSocket · SSE
Canvas 2D · WebGL · WebGPU bridge
WebRTC · WebAudio · Gamepad
FormData · Streams · Crypto
DOM events, Mutation/Resize observers

gjsify

One SpiderMonkey process. One TypeScript codebase. Zero glue between worlds.

For example

Ship a browser game engine — without shipping a browser.

Excalibur.js renders directly into a Gtk.GLArea through gjsify's WebGL bridge. Pointer, keyboard, and gamepad input flows through GTK4 event controllers, dispatched as W3C DOM events. Audio runs on GStreamer through the Web Audio API. The whole game lives in one process — the same one that draws the Adwaita window around it. No WebKit.WebView, no IPC bridge, no embedded Chromium.

Electron app ~150 MB Chromium runtime · separate renderer process · webContents bridge · X11/Wayland double-buffered

gjsify app Stock GJS · single process · native GTK4 widgets · uses the GNOME runtime the user already has installed

Project Coverage

116 of 119 pillar entries implemented

Every category in STATUS.md's summary table, rendered as a live progress bar. The data file is regenerated from STATUS.md on every build, so the bars never lag behind reality.

97% 109 full 7 partial 3 stub

Node.js modules 38 / 41 (93%)

Web API packages 18 / 18 (100%)

Adwaita assets 3 / 3 (100%)

DOM 2 / 2 (100%)

Framework bridges 6 / 6 (100%)

GJS infra 3 / 3 (100%)

Build / infra tools 16 / 16 (100%)

Showcases 8 / 8 (100%)

Integration test suites 22 / 22 (100%)

Web Platform Coverage

34 of 59 web standards

Coverage of relevant W3C and WHATWG standards, including 10 APIs that are explicitly out of scope for desktop GTK apps (Service Worker, FS Access, Web Bluetooth, …).

58% 32 full 2 partial 15 planned 10 out of scope

Networking 5 / 5

Fetch @gjsify/fetch Full
XMLHttpRequest @gjsify/xmlhttprequest Full
WebSocket @gjsify/websocket Full
Server-Sent Events @gjsify/eventsource Full
WebRTC @gjsify/webrtc Full

Storage 1 / 5

Web Storage @gjsify/webstorage localStorage + sessionStorage Full
IndexedDB libgda could back Planned
Cookie Store API Planned
Cache API Service Worker companion Out of scope
Origin Private File System Browser sandbox; GTK uses Gio.File directly Out of scope

Streams & Encoding 5 / 5

Streams (Readable/Writable/Transform) @gjsify/streams Full
Queuing Strategies @gjsify/streams Full
Compression Streams @gjsify/compression-streams Full
Encoding (TextEncoder/Decoder) @gjsify/globals Full
TextEncoderStream / TextDecoderStream @gjsify/streams Full

Crypto 1 / 1

Web Crypto @gjsify/webcrypto Full

Events & Async 4 / 5

DOM Events (Event/EventTarget/CustomEvent) @gjsify/dom-events Full
DOMException @gjsify/dom-exception Full
AbortController / AbortSignal @gjsify/abort-controller Full
Channel Messaging (MessageChannel) @gjsify/message-channel Full
Prioritized Task Scheduling scheduler.postTask — GLib idle could back Planned

Workers 2 / 4

Web Workers @gjsify/worker_threads file-based; no DOM-Worker shim Partial
BroadcastChannel @gjsify/worker_threads Full
SharedWorker Browser multi-tab concept Out of scope
Service Workers HTTP cache proxy — irrelevant for GTK apps Out of scope

Multimedia 4 / 7

Web Audio @gjsify/webaudio Phase 1: AudioContext + Source + Gain Partial
MediaDevices / getUserMedia @gjsify/webrtc Full
Canvas 2D @gjsify/canvas2d-core Full
WebGL / WebGL2 @gjsify/webgl Full
MediaRecorder GStreamer encodebin could back Planned
WebGPU no GNOME backend yet — multi-year effort Planned
Web MIDI Native apps use ALSA/JACK directly Out of scope

DOM & UI 4 / 8

DOM (Document/Element/Node) @gjsify/dom-elements Full
HTML Elements (HTMLElement family) @gjsify/dom-elements Full
DOMParser @gjsify/domparser Full
Mutation/Resize/IntersectionObserver @gjsify/dom-elements Full
Custom Elements + Shadow DOM Needed for Adwaita component composition Planned
XMLSerializer Planned
View Transitions Browser render-pipeline specific Out of scope
Web Animations API Planned

Input & Devices 2 / 5

Pointer/Mouse/Keyboard Events @gjsify/dom-events Full
Gamepad @gjsify/gamepad Full
Pointer Lock Gdk.Seat.grab could back Planned
Web Bluetooth GTK apps use BlueZ directly Out of scope
Web USB / Serial / HID / NFC Native apps use libusb/udev directly Out of scope

Files & Data 3 / 5

Blob / File @gjsify/buffer Full
FormData @gjsify/formdata Full
URL / URLSearchParams @gjsify/url Full
FileReader Trivial via Blob+streams Planned
File System Access API GTK uses Gio.File directly Out of scope

Performance & Compute 3 / 3

Performance API @gjsify/perf_hooks Full
WebAssembly @gjsify/webassembly Full
structuredClone @gjsify/globals Full

Notifications, Geo, Permissions 0 / 3

Notifications API Gio.Notification candidate Planned
Geolocation GeoClue2 + consent dialog Planned
Permissions API Planned

Modern / Experimental 0 / 3

Web Locks GLib.Mutex async wrapper Planned
URLPattern Planned
Background Sync / Push Service Worker tier Out of scope

Node.js API Coverage

38 of 41 Node.js modules

User-facing Node modules backed by GLib, Gio, Soup, and native Vala bridges. 3 deprecated or browser-irrelevant modules ship as stubs so dependency checks resolve.

93% 33 full 5 partial 3 stub

I/O & Filesystem 4 / 4

fs Gio Full
path Full
url GLib.Uri Full
querystring Full

Networking 8 / 8

net Gio.Socket Full
dgram Gio.Socket UDP Full
dns Gio.Resolver Full
http Soup 3.0 Server + ClientRequest + Agent Full
https Soup 3.0 Full
http2 Soup 3.0 h2 via ALPN; pushStream/respondWithFD/respondWithFile via @gjsify/http2-native (libnghttp2) Full
tls Gio.TlsConnection Full
ws @gjsify/websocket npm ws drop-in; Autobahn 510 OK / 0 FAIL Partial

Streams & Buffers 4 / 4

stream Full
buffer Blob/File Full
string_decoder Full
zlib Web Compression API Full

Crypto 1 / 1

crypto GLib.Checksum + Hmac Full

Concurrency 3 / 4

events Full
worker_threads Gio.Subprocess + @gjsify/sab-native Cross-process IPC, file-based workers Partial
async_hooks Full
cluster Stub

Process & OS 6 / 6

process GLib Full
os GLib Full
child_process Gio.Subprocess Full
tty GjsifyTerminal (Vala) Full
globals Full
module Full

Diagnostics & Utilities 9 / 11

util Full
console Full
assert Full
perf_hooks Full
diagnostics_channel Full
readline Full
timers GLib-source-safe (GLib.timeout_add) Full
constants Full
sys Deprecated alias for util Full
inspector Stub
domain Deprecated by Node Stub

Storage 1 / 1

sqlite Gda 6.0 (SQLite provider) Partial

Compute 2 / 2

vm runInThisContext via eval; no realm isolation Partial
v8 Wire-format v15 serialize/deserialize; no heap snapshot or CPU profile Partial

DOM ↔ GTK Bridges

Standard DOM elements, rendered natively

App code uses standard HTML elements. Each bridge translates the DOM lifecycle to a GTK widget — Cairo for 2D, OpenGL via libepoxy for WebGL, GStreamer for video, WebKit for iframes.

HTMLCanvasElement (2D) Gtk.DrawingArea

@gjsify/canvas2d Cairo + PangoCairo

HTMLCanvasElement (WebGL/WebGL2) Gtk.GLArea

@gjsify/webgl Vala/gwebgl + libepoxy

HTMLIFrameElement WebKit.WebView

@gjsify/iframe WebKit 6.0

HTMLVideoElement Gtk.Picture

@gjsify/video GStreamer + gtk4paintablesink

Native Vala bridges

Terminal @gjsify/terminal-native

Posix.isatty + ioctl TIOCGWINSZ + termios for @gjsify/tty

Shared ArrayBuffer @gjsify/sab-native

Cross-process shared memory + futex atomics for @gjsify/worker_threads

TLS @gjsify/tls-native

Direct OpenSSL access for @gjsify/tls

HTTP-Soup @gjsify/http-soup-bridge

Native Soup integration helpers for @gjsify/http

HTTP/2 @gjsify/http2-native

nghttp2 bridge for h2c, push streams, flow control

WebRTC @gjsify/webrtc-native

GLib.Idle signal marshalling for webrtcbin's streaming-thread callbacks

Integration Tests

21 npm packages, end-to-end

Real-world libraries whose own test suites (or a curated subset) run unmodified against @gjsify/*. Catches regressions that polyfill-internal tests would miss.

Parsing

acorn minify-xml gettext-parser

Build tooling

deepkit-type-compiler rolldown-native GJS rollup-pluginutils lightningcss ts-for-gir

Filesystem

fast-glob pkg-types cosmiconfig

Process & CLI

execa yargs

Networking

axios socket.io autobahn mcp-typescript-sdk mcp-inspector-cli

Streams & workers

streamx worker-stress

Peer-to-peer

webtorrent