Example Apps

Each example in examples/ is a runnable app (ND_SCRIPT=examples/<name>/main.tsx) that doubles as the acceptance surface for one framework capability. Every screenshot below comes from a real host: the AppKit shell on macOS and the GTK host under GNOME, both rendering the same unchanged app tree.

Counter

The hello-world app: a click counter plus Suspense and useTransition running under a ticking re-render. Source

Tasks

The smallest real app: a single-pane task list showing the menu-bar and toolbar chrome machinery scaled down to one window. Source

Notes

A three-pane note-taking app (folders, list, editor) with native chrome, a menu bar, search, and pinning. The framework-suitability stress test. Source

Settings

A two-pane preferences window built from the boxed-list widgets: real AdwPreferencesGroup rows on GTK, grouped form rows on macOS. Source

Gallery

Every widget in one tabbed window. This is what the drive scripts assert against. Source

SourceTree

The <sourcetree> sidebar widget: sections, a three-level chain, captions, badges, and per-row actions. Source

Panes

Terminal-style split panes over @nativedesktop/panes, with the layout persisted through createStore. Source

Terminal

A Ghostty-style tabbed terminal: every tab is its own <window tabGroup> root running an independent shell over a real PTY. Source

Browser

A small Min-style browser with native system tabs: one <webview> per tab window, popups and downloads routed through app events. Source

Dialogs

Every dialog surface in one window: app-level dialog.*, per-window showAlert / openFile / saveFile, and the dialog-scripting hooks automation uses. Source

Command Palette

A controlled Cmd-K palette used as a directory picker: the app owns the query and recomputes the result list per keystroke. Source

Multi-Window

Two windows driven by one React tree, with a live <webview> that portals between them without reloading. Source

Gestures

The input-synthesis probe: sliders, tables, checkboxes, and text fields laid out as deterministic targets for the pointer / drag / keys automation RPCs. Source

Errors

The survivable error policy: caught render throws, report-and-survive rejections, and the fatal crash overlay. Source

Inspector

The HIG design-gap batch: an inspector split pane, a prominent toolbar button, and edge-to-edge content. Source

Automation and layout fixtures

Smaller apps built to gate one specific behavior, without their own screenshot pair:

• locators: a deterministic target sheet for the locator surface, focus, scrollIntoViewIfNeeded, selectOption, node-scoped screenshot, and setWindowSize.
• propreset: asserts that a prop an app stops passing resets to its schema default on both backends, instead of sticking at its last value.
• popoveranchor: a <popover> anchored by anchorRef through a createPortal pool, with no tree parent to fall back on.
• counter/autosize-probe.tsx: a second entry point in the Counter example that opens with no defaultWidth/defaultHeight, for the window-from-content sizing rule on AppKit.