Adrenaline.js

Ship only what you use. Eliminate everything else. The ultra-lightweight Electron alternative.

Adrenaline.js is an ultra-lightweight, high-performance desktop application framework for Node.js developers. By using native OS system webviews (WebKit on macOS/Linux, WebView2 on Windows) instead of bundling an entire Chromium browser, Adrenaline delivers blazing-fast desktop applications with tiny bundle sizes and minimal memory footprint.

---

⚡ Key Features

• Tiny Bundle & Footprint (5-10 MB vs 150 MB+): Native system webviews remove Chromium bloat, drastically reducing application installer size and RAM usage.
• Zero Rust / Go Barrier: Written 100% for Node.js & JavaScript developers. Use your favorite npm packages without learning a new language or toolchain.
• Drop-in Electron-like API: Work with familiar APIs like app, BrowserWindow, and ipcMain out of the box with zero learning curve.
• Bidirectional IPC: High-speed asynchronous inter-process communication between Node.js backend processes and webview frontends.
• Built-in CLI & Scaffolder: Instant project scaffolding and execution with npx adrenaline-js init and adrenaline dev.

---

🚀 Quickstart Guide

Scaffold and launch a new project in seconds:

# 1. Create a new Adrenaline.js project
npm install adrenaline-js
# or scaffold a new project:
npx adrenaline-js init my-app

# 2. Navigate to your project folder
cd my-app

# 3. Install dependencies
npm install

# 4. Launch your desktop app!
npx adrenaline dev

---

📊 Comparison: Adrenaline vs Electron vs Tauri

---

💻 Code Example

Main Process (main.js)

const { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain } = require('adrenaline-js');
const path = require('path');

app.whenReady().then(() => {
    const win = new BrowserWindow({
        width: 800,
        height: 600,
        title: 'My Adrenaline App'
    });

    win.loadFile(path.join(__dirname, 'index.html'));

    ipcMain.on('ping', (event, data) => {
        console.log('Received ping from renderer:', data);
        win.webContents.send('pong', { reply: 'Pong from Node.js!' });
    });
});

Renderer Process (index.html)

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>My Adrenaline App</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Hello Adrenaline.js!</h1>
    <button onclick="sendPing()">Ping Main Process</button>

    <script>
        function sendPing() {
            window.adrenaline.send('ping', { time: Date.now() });
        }

        window.adrenaline.on('pong', (data) => {
            alert(data.reply);
        });
    </script>
</body>
</html>

---

🛠️ CLI Commands

Adrenaline comes with a fast CLI tool for development:

• adrenaline init <project-name> / adrenaline create <project-name>: Scaffold a modern starter project.
• adrenaline dev / adrenaline start: Run the desktop app in current directory.
• adrenaline --version / -v: Display CLI version.
• adrenaline --help / -h: Display help options.

---

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.