Create Desktop Apps with pywebview

Convert Panel applications into standalone desktop executables using pywebview and package them for distribution.

Install Dependencies

pip install panel pywebview pyinstaller

Note

Linux requires additional GTK dependencies. See pywebview installation guide.

Create Your Panel Application

We’ll build a simple Panel application with optional exit functionality:

• a slider to choose a number

• a corresponding row of ⭐ characters

• an Exit button that terminates the desktop application

The full implementation of this Panel app (via a create_app() function) is shown in the complete app.py example in the next section.

Wrap with pywebview

Create app.py to wrap your Panel application:

import webview
import panel as pn
import threading
import time
import os
import socket

class PanelDesktop:
    """Serve Panel apps as desktop applications using webview."""

    def __init__(self, title="Panel Desktop App", width: int=600, height: int=600):
        self.title = title
        self.width = width
        self.height = height

    @staticmethod
    def _find_free_port():
        """Find a free port on localhost."""
        with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
            s.bind(('', 0))
            s.listen(1)
            port = s.getsockname()[1]
        return port

    def serve(self, func_or_path, port: int=0):
        """Serve a Panel function or file in a desktop window."""
        if not port:
            port = self._find_free_port()
        # Start Panel server in daemon thread
        server_thread = threading.Thread(
            target=lambda: pn.serve(func_or_path, port=port, show=False, autoreload=False),
            daemon=True
        )
        server_thread.start()

        # Create and start webview
        webview.create_window(
            self.title,
            f'http://localhost:{port}',
            resizable=True,
            fullscreen=False,
            width=self.width,
            height=self.height,
            text_select=True)
        webview.start()

def create_app():
    """Example Panel app with exit functionality."""
    pn.extension(design="material")

    pn.pane.Markdown.disable_anchors = True

    slider = pn.widgets.IntSlider(value=3, start=1, end=5)
    stars = pn.bind(lambda n: "⭐" * n, slider)

    def exit_app(event):
        """Exit the desktop application."""
        os._exit(0)
        # an alternative way:
        # import webview
        # webview.windows[0].destroy()

    exit_btn = pn.widgets.Button(name="Exit", on_click=exit_app, button_type="primary")

    return pn.Column(
        "# Desktop Panel Application",
        "This is a Panel app running in a native window!",
        slider, stars, exit_btn
    )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    desktop = PanelDesktop("My Panel App")
    desktop.serve(create_app)

Note

You can serve an external file instead of a function:

desktop.serve("my_panel_app.py")

Test the Application

Run:

python app.py

The app should look like:

Verify all functionality works before packaging.

Package for Distribution

Packaging frameworks by desktop platform:

• Windows/Linux: PyInstaller or Nuitka

• macOS: py2app

See the pywebview freezing guide for complete platform-specific instructions.

Package for Windows

Build with PyInstaller:

pyinstaller app.py

The executable will be in the dist folder.

Options:

• --debug all - Enable debugging

• --icon=favicon.ico - Add custom icon (download Panel icon)

• --noconsole - Hide console window

• --onefile - Create single executable (makes the loading of the application slow)

Package for MacOS

On OSX you will need py2app instead of pyinstaller. Begin by generating a setup.py for your application with

py2applet --make-setup app.py

Next build it with:

python setup.py py2app

py2app bundles your local environment, since conda uses features not supported in a packaged application you cannot use a conda environment as your build environment.

Troubleshooting

Blank window or errors:

• Add hidden imports: --hidden-import=panel --hidden-import=bokeh

• Run without --noconsole to see error messages

Create installer for Windows

For professional distribution, create an installer using InstallForge, NSIS, or Inno Setup.

Alternative: Distribute as UV Tool

A simple alternative to PyInstaller, would be to distribute the app as a uv tool.