Gova
The declarative GUI framework for Go. Build native desktop apps for macOS, Windows, and Linux from a single Go codebase — typed components, reactive state, real platform dialogs, and one static binary. No JavaScript runtime, no embedded browser, no C++ toolchain to learn.
Status: pre-1.0. The API will shift before v1.0.0 . Pin a tag in production.
package main import g "github.com/nv404/gova" type Counter struct {} func ( Counter ) Body ( s * g. Scope ) g. View { count := g . State ( s , 0 ) return g . VStack ( g . Text ( count . Format ( "Count: %d" )). Font ( g . Title ), g . HStack ( g . Button ( "-" , func () { count . Set ( count . Get () - 1 ) }), g . Button ( "+" , func () { count . Set ( count . Get () + 1 ) }), ). Spacing ( g . SpaceMD ), ). Padding ( g . SpaceLG ) } func main () { g . Run ( "Counter" , g . Define ( func ( s * g. Scope ) g. View { return Counter {} })) }
Why Gova
Components as structs. Views are plain Go structs with typed prop fields; defaults are zero values; composition is plain function calls. No magic property wrappers, no string keys, no hook-ordering rules.
Views are plain Go structs with typed prop fields; defaults are zero values; composition is plain function calls. No magic property wrappers, no string keys, no hook-ordering rules. Explicit reactive scope. State, signals, and effects live on a Scope you can see. No hidden scheduler, no re-render surprises, no Rx, no Redux.
State, signals, and effects live on a you can see. No hidden scheduler, no re-render surprises, no Rx, no Redux. Real native integrations where it matters. NSAlert , NSOpenPanel , NSSavePanel , and NSDockTile badge/progress/menu on macOS through cgo. Fyne fallbacks on Windows and Linux — same API everywhere.
, , , and badge/progress/menu on macOS through cgo. Fyne fallbacks on Windows and Linux — same API everywhere. One static binary. go build produces a single executable. No JavaScript runtime, no embedded browser, no extra assets to bundle.
produces a single executable. No JavaScript runtime, no embedded browser, no extra assets to bundle. Hot reload that actually reloads. gova dev watches Go files, rebuilds on save, and relaunches — with an opt-in PersistedState so UI state survives the reload.
watches Go files, rebuilds on save, and relaunches — with an opt-in so UI state survives the reload. Built on Fyne, but Fyne stays internal. The public API is yours to rely on. We swap out renderer details without breaking your code.
At a glance
Metric Value Notes Binary size ~32 MB counter example, default build Stripped ~23 MB go build -ldflags "-s -w" Memory idle ~80 MB RSS, counter running Go version 1.26+ plus a C toolchain for cgo License MIT no runtime fees
Measured on macOS arm64 with Go 1.26.2. Numbers will vary by platform and feature set.
Install
go get github.com/nv404/gova@latest
Optional CLI for dev / build / run :
go install github.com/nv404/gova/cmd/gova@latest gova dev ./examples/counter
Prerequisites: Go 1.26+ and a C toolchain (Xcode CLT on macOS, build-essential + libgl1-mesa-dev on Linux, MinGW on Windows).
Docs
Full documentation lives at gova.dev (or run npm run dev inside docs-site/ for local browsing). Key sections:
Examples
Every example in examples/ is a runnable program:
Example What it shows counter The minimum viable Gova app todo State, lists, forms fancytodo Categories, derived state, richer layout notes Nav, multi-view, stores themed Dark/light mode, semantic colors components Viewable composition, ZStack , Scaffold dialogs Native dialogs, dock badge / progress / menu, app icon
go run ./examples/dialogs
Platform support
Feature macOS Windows Linux Core UI Supported Supported Supported Hot reload ( gova dev ) Supported Supported Supported App icon (runtime) Supported Supported Supported Native dialogs NSAlert / NSOpenPanel Fyne fallback Fyne fallback Dock / taskbar NSDockTile Planned Planned
CLI
The gova CLI ships alongside the framework.
Command Purpose Notes gova dev Hot reload Watch .go files, rebuild on save, relaunch the window gova build Compile Static binary to ./bin/<name> gova run Execute Build and launch once, no file watching
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md. Tests are the contract:
go test ./...
Issues, discussions, and PRs all live on GitHub. Security issues? See SECURITY.md.
License
MIT. Gova is built on Fyne (BSD-3), which ships with the module as an internal dependency.