Turn frequently used websites into standalone desktop apps with a single command
If you want to open frequently used web services in a standalone window rather than a browser tab, you can now create an app with a single command without complex configuration. Pake is a tool that takes a website URL and packages it into a desktop app using the webview already present on the system. It does not bundle a heavy browser engine like Electron, resulting in a much smaller installer size, and it works on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Lightweight alternative to Electron
Existing Electron-based apps often have installers ranging from tens to hundreds of MB because they include the Chromium browser inside the app. Pake uses Rust and Tauri to directly call the webview built into the system, so the app itself does not contain a browser engine. As a result, the installer usually stays under 10MB, which is about 20 times smaller than an Electron package. It positions itself as a lighter alternative to existing Electron wrappers like Nativefier.
Approaches for different user types
Pake provides three paths depending on the user's technical level.
- Desktop app for beginners Create an app via a graphical interface without using the command line, or download popular packages (WeRead, ChatGPT, YouTube, etc.) directly.
- CLI for developers Install with
pnpm install -g pake-cli, then package the app with custom options using thepake <url> --name <AppName>command. - Custom development for advanced users Clone the source code to perform in-depth development such as modifying styles, enhancing features, and container communication.
Integration with AI agents and scripts
Pake is designed to be integrated into automated workflows via scripts or AI agents. Using the --json flag allows you to receive results in a machine-readable format for parsing. You can also define the app declaratively with --config app.json and package local build outputs directly with the pake ./dist command. It can be installed as a plugin in AI coding assistants like Claude Code or Codex, automating the process of converting websites into desktop apps with natural language instructions.
Development environment requirements and license
Building the CLI directly or developing it requires Rust 1.85 or higher and Node.js 22 or higher (or 20.9 or higher). You must set up the environment according to the Tauri documentation; the first build may take some time due to environment configuration, but subsequent builds are fast. Pake CLI is open source under the GPL-3.0 license, and apps made with Pake can be freely used and distributed by users. However, if you fork Pake to create your own product, you must give it a different name and credit Pake as the source to avoid confusion.
