01
Headless core
A pure state machine with events. Render it with anything — or nothing, and test it in Node.
01 — build a window
Your markup, our engine
A full editor: markup, CSS and placement on the left, a live window on the right. Drag it, restyle it, then copy the code or send it to the desktop above.
02 — capabilities
Everything a desktop has
The core keeps state, the DOM layer moves pixels, your framework renders content. Each piece is replaceable.
02
Snap and magnetism
Halves, quarters, thirds and maximize on edge drop, plus 8px edge magnetism against neighbours.
03
Undo and redo
Every interaction is one history entry. A drag is a single undo, not sixty move events.
04
Workspaces
Park windows on virtual desktops. Focus follows the window across workspaces.
05
Persistence
Serialize to JSON, hydrate back, or drop in the persist plugin with versioned migrations.
06
Accessibility
Roles, labels, a focus trap for modals, keyboard control and a live region that narrates the desktop.
07
Touch ready
Pointer events throughout, adaptive hit areas on coarse pointers, long-press context menu.
08
Themeable
Sixteen CSS themes ship with it — every value is a custom property, and a per-window variant overrides them for one window.
03 — adapters
One core, six ways to hold it
Window content always lives in your own component tree — no innerHTML, no portals into the void. Adapters are thin sugar over the same state machine.
vanillaattachDesktop + attachWindow
reactuseWindowManager, useDesktop
vueuseDesktop with template refs
svelteuse:desktop actions
solidsignals and ref callbacks
angularsignals and DestroyRef
04 — landscape
Honest comparison
The floating-window niche went quiet years ago. That is exactly why wmkit exists.
| Honest comparison | wmkit | react-rnd | dockview | winbox.js |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Framework agnostic | yes | react only | core + React·Vue·Angular | yes |
| Headless core | yes | no | no | no |
| Snap zones | halves, quarters, thirds | none | dock grid | none |
| Undo / redo | built in | none | none | none |
| Workspaces | built in | none | none | none |
| Tab groups | drag to group | none | core feature | none |
| Serialize / restore | core + plugin | roll your own | yes | none |
| Keyboard control | move, resize, snap, cycle | none | partial | none |
| Live region for AT | yes | no | no | no |
| Content ownership | your tree | your tree | your tree | innerHTML |
| Bundle (brotli) | ~18 kB | ~15 kB | ~60 kB | ~10 kB |
Checked on July 26, 2026: last commits, npm downloads, open feature requests.
Give your app windows
pnpm add @surdeddd/wmkit