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ptmt
react-native-macos
JavaScript2015–2020
ptmt / react-native-macos

react-native-macos

[deprecated in favor of https://microsoft.github.io/react-native-windows/] React Native for macOS is an experimental fork for writing desktop apps using Cocoa

Web DevelopmentProductivityMobile & Desktop
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
34Distinct people
38Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
11.2KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

[deprecated in favor of https://microsoft.github.io/react-native-windows/] React Native for macOS is an experimental fork for writing desktop apps using Cocoa

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 6:01:08 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year38 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2015-10-10 12:51:39 UTC to 2020-05-12 22:18:18 UTC.

0510152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 4 submissions, 1 comments20152016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 9 mentions; 1 submissions, 8 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 15 mentions; 0 submissions, 15 comments20172018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 0 submissions, 6 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 1 submissions, 1 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2020

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC541
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC918
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC15015
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC606
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC211
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

15 sources
mlsarecmg·Oct 1, 2017
> What often goes unnoticed is that declarative languages are not very future-proof [...] Surely that will not happen to React, you say, because it gets so many things right? Surely that will not happen to React, you say, because it gets so many things right? It is often not appreciated how simple React really is. Its simplicity is actually well suited to survive a long, long time. Forget classes, lifecycles, schedulers and all this stuff for a moment. If you boil it down what you're left with is but a single signature: `createElement(name, props, chilren)`. That's what JSX transpiles into. With that you can map pretty much every visual-oriented api on earth and as we can plainly see it goes further than that and starts rendering flat out everything that can be rendered in the same friendly manner we're used to: shell consoles: https://gi
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thub.com/Yomguithereal/react-blessed word: https://github.com/nitin42/redocx pdf: https://github.com/diegomura/react-pdf samplers: https://twitter.com/GabeRicard/status/911989894267973633 mobile: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/ 3d: https://github.com/Izzimach/react-three windows: https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows macos: https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos sketchapp: http://airbnb.io/react-sketchapp/ keynote: https://twitter.com/nishb1/status/913744410537537536 VR: https://facebook.github.io/react-vr/ hardware: https://github.com/iamdustan/react-hardware What's even crazier is that everyday eco-system packages can be applied to the wildest targets. For instance animations via react-motion on shell consoles: https://github.com/gaearon/react-blessed-hot-motion or react-router on VR: https://youtu.be/Mf0Fy8iHp8k?t=12m25s It's always the simple, almost trivial ideas that seem to survive and spread. React was released 4 years ago and has kept to a stable api. 16 was a rewrite, and it's a drop in replacement.
In WalmartLabs opensources its tool for bringing React Native to mobile apps
leipert·Jul 11, 2017
Yes, there are native UIs on desktop. I tailored my answer for react-native, as you mentioned that. 1. macOS -> Aqua [1], apparently there exists an community package for react-native [2] 2. react-native-windows [3] by Microsoft which apparently has support for Windows 10 and xbox 3. There are other UI kits for linux and cross-platform, e.g. qt and gtk. I did not find much about react native there, except for ubuntu [4] PS: I got those hits by googling "react native for desktop" :P [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_(user_interface) [2] https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos [3] https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows [4] https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/react-native/blob/ubuntu/REA...
In Ask HN: Why does mobile appear to have a better dev UX compared to desktop UIs?
namuol·Apr 12, 2017
> [...] you treat a non-flattering language as me being frustrated [...] You're right; I was being presumptuous about your emotional state. I apologize. -_- Let me try to clarify: Companies like Slack and Nylas and Spotify understand the performance implications of using Electron and it _is_ a real problem, but the _benefits_ of using something like Electron, at least currently, outweigh the performance troubles. There's simply a _much_ lower cost to iterate quickly on a web-driven application. That said, we're all frustrated about the performance implications (users and companies alike), and this this is reflected in the direction the industry is taking. I predict Electron _will_ become less popular in the next year or two as React Native desktop support becomes proven by one or more major players: - Linux: https://github.com/CanonicalLt
Read the rest
d/react-native - OS X: https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos - Windows: https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows
In Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)
automathematics·Apr 11, 2017
So many divisive opinions here, but in case anyone reads this far down, here's my 2 cents: - Yes, desktop apps existed before Electron. But the top comment is right. How many desktop apps. NOT utilities but full featured apps (like Spotify and Atom) that you loved either got swallowed up by other companies (Mailbox) or discontinued due to "lack of use" (read: lack of profitability). I'm sure if you dig deep you can remember quite a few... I'm a game developer with a background in C++. But I'm developing my company's prototype in electron. This is because I can do it myself without needing to tap a bunch of people to help and find funding. I can bootstrap. Electron allows this and it's incredible. I couldn't make a cross platform game engine in a year on three platforms using native. Maybe you can and you're just a better human/coder than
Read the rest
me (but seriously, email me in a year with your progress!) but Electron is allowing it. What does this allow? This allows me to release a product (yay) and maintain a product easily (double yay!) and when you guys don't throw money at me.... I can KEEP maintaining it because of my low overhead. With native code and a staff of 20 I would be forced to shut down the product. THAT BEING SAID If the game does well? I'm not only using Electron, I'm using React (yes, it's a game. Yes I know, I've had this discussion. I'm crazy) so the next step is to port it to react native on the desktop and remove the Electron dependency. Totally doable since Microsoft is supporting it on the Univ. Windows Platform (https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows) but macOS? Someone's working on it but it's of course not apple (https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos). Ubuntu is on top of shit though (https://developer.ubuntu.com/en/blog/2016/08/05/introducing-...) I can't speak for Spotify or Slack or any of the people mentioned (yes I know Spotify isn't using electron) but for a small company of 1 and a half people Electron is allowing innovation and project completion in a way that nothing else is for me. It's a great door to open to allow future optimizations. And hey, maybe Electron will slim down too... give it time. Remember how bad Windows development was? No? I do. But .NET has come a long way, maybe electron will too. If not, we can always port!
In Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)
migueloller·Apr 11, 2017
There's some early work for Ubuntu here [1]. You can also currently use React to share code across iOS [2], Android [3], UWP [4], macOS [5], web [6], VR [7] and a bunch of other stuff that is there mostly for fun (like React Hardware [8] and React Sketch.app [9]). There's also experimental work on defining a set of primitives that works across all of these platforms [10]. [1] https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/react-native/blob/ubuntu/REA... [2] https://github.com/facebook/react-native [3] https://github.com/facebook/react-native [4] https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows [5] https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos [6] https://github.com/necolas/react-native-web [7] https://github.com/facebook/react-vr [8] https://github.com/iamdustan/react-hardware [9] https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-sketchapp [10] https://github.com/lelan
Read the rest
drichardson/react-primitives
In Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)
migueloller·Apr 11, 2017
> If you want to use JS and react to make a native app, try react native instead. Given the discussion of the recent ReactXP thread, I'm guessing most people don't realize you can do this today. React Native supports macOS [1] and UWP [2]. Edit: There's even some early work on Ubuntu support [3]. [1] https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos [2] https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows [3] https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/react-native/blob/ubuntu/REA...
In Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)
migueloller·Apr 8, 2017
I'm a bit skeptical this is needed at all. I would've much preferred if Microsoft contributed to the already popular React Native for Web [1]. React Native already supports iOS, Android, and UWP. To add browser support all you need is something like React Native for Web. I made a small presentation a few months ago that shows this. Here's the source code: [2]. Take a look at the web folder. Libraries like React Navigation [3] have also been built to support any platform that runs React code. It looks like Microsoft built yet another navigation library [4]. Also, check out React Primitives [5]. It aims to define a set of primitives that work on any platform that can be used to build more complex components. This is highly experimental, but I'm liking the direction where it's going, a unified React interface for any platform. In addition, R
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eactVR is a great example of how React Native primitives can be extended to new emerging platforms [6]. Finally, React Native for macOS [7] answers the question that many have here about building native apps for macOS without relying on Electron. [1] https://github.com/necolas/react-native-web [2] https://github.com/migueloller/HelloWorldApp [3] https://github.com/react-community/react-navigation [4] https://microsoft.github.io/reactxp/docs/components/navigato... [5] https://github.com/lelandrichardson/react-primitives [6] https://github.com/facebook/react-vr [7] https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos
In ReactXP – A library for building cross-platform apps
sscotth·Mar 19, 2017
Its also important to consider the environment as well since JSX is potentially much bigger than the web. JSX is much like other generic user interface markup languages[0] and like many other is simply a dialect of XML. Any interface that can be represented with XML/HTML or any other markup language can use JSX and optionally react. We are already seeing this boom with in native mobile environments with React Native, NativeScript, Titanium... Here are several examples where JSX is used that is not a browser: - Native desktop apps for Linux, Mac, and Windows (Not including Electron/NW.js)[1][2][3][4] - TVs with AppleTV apps or Netflix's Gibbon[5][6] - Command line apps as stdin/stdout with react-blessed[7]/mylittledom[8] - Direct to Canvas[9]/pixi.js[10] - Latex documents[11] - Web Audio[12] - Conole.logs[13] - Truly custom direct to hardw
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are[14] as some C code like: `digitalWrite(led, HIGH)` I definitely believe JSX could use standardization separate from any implementation, JavaScript or otherwise. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface_markup_language [1]: https://github.com/sidorares/react-x11 [2]: https://github.com/grassator/react-qml [3]: https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos [4]: https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows [5]: https://github.com/ramitos/react-tvml [6]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNC0mRYGWgc [7]: https://github.com/Yomguithereal/react-blessed [8]: https://github.com/manaflair/mylittledom [9]: https://github.com/Flipboard/react-canvas [10]: https://github.com/Izzimach/react-pixi [11]: https://github.com/vzaccaria/jsx-latex [12]: https://github.com/FormidableLabs/react-music [13]: https://github.com/mohebifar/konsul [14]: https://github.com/iamdustan/react-hardware
In JavaScript once had a JSX-like syntax called E4X
rpeden·Feb 14, 2017
This approach doesn't solve the problem of Electron and NW.js apps being terrible for laptop battery life, but this appears to be something that typical end users aren't terribly concerned about. On the bright side, React Native for Windows works quite well, and there's even a WPF version of it[1]. React native for macOS[2] worked decently when I tried it, too. [1] https://github.com/ReactWindows/react-native-windows/tree/ma... [2] https://github.com/ptmt/react-native-macos
In Happy 15th Birthday .NET

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