Runtime modes

Node process

The current development path runs React in Node. run locates and spawns the native host, then exchanges newline-delimited JSON over standard input and output.

import { run } from 'natui';

await run(<App />, { title: 'NatUI app' });

This mode provides the simplest development loop and works with the macOS and Windows hosts.

Embedded JavaScriptCore

The macOS host can evaluate a browser-targeted bundle inside system JavaScriptCore:

import { VStack, Text } from 'natui/components';
import { runEmbedded } from 'natui/inproc';

await runEmbedded(
  <VStack padding={20}>
    <Text>Hello from JavaScriptCore</Text>
  </VStack>,
  { title: 'embedded app' },
);

Build and run the included embedded demo:

pnpm build:host:macos
pnpm build
pnpm --filter natui-demo build:embedded
hosts/macos/.build/release/natui-host --bundle examples/demo/dist/embedded.js

Component imports come from natui/components so the bundle does not include Node built-ins. natui/inproc exchanges the same protocol messages through host-injected functions rather than standard streams.

Embedded mode is implemented and verified on macOS only. A Windows Hermes path is a researched direction, not a shipped capability.

Packaging status

NatUI does not yet provide a CLI or application bundler. The current source checkout proves both a Node-driven development mode and a macOS single-process runtime, but application packaging remains future work.