Desktop (quantum desktop)

quantum desktop opens your application in a native window. It starts the application's server on a free local port (127.0.0.1) and opens a pywebview window on it: the window is a browser without the browser's chrome, so the pages, q:actions, sessions and responsive layout are exactly the web's. Closing the window stops the server.

pip install "quantum-framework[desktop]"

quantum desktop                      # the home page
quantum desktop /reports             # another page
quantum desktop --width 800 --height 600
quantum desktop --config other.config.yaml

Without the [desktop] extra, the command says what to install instead of failing with an import error.

The window's title follows the page: the first ui:window's title, else the component's name — the same title the browser tab and quantum console show.

Platform notes (from pywebview):

• Windows: uses Edge WebView2, already present on Windows 10/11.
• macOS: uses WebKit, nothing to install.
• Linux: needs GTK/WebKit, e.g. sudo apt install python3-gi gir1.2-webkit2-4.1.

Write pages, not a desktop app

There is no separate "desktop version" of a screen. Write the page once, with ui:* elements — see One App, Many Screens — and open it with quantum start, quantum console or quantum desktop.

What happened to --target desktop

Until 0.15, quantum run app.q --target desktop generated a Python file with a JavaScript bridge that translated q:set and q:function into its own reactive state. It was a second implementation of the language, and it disagreed with the first. It was removed in 0.16 (SPEC UI-8); building with it is an error that points to quantum desktop.