v0.5 is out Read the changelog

Ship sooner without rebuilding basic features

Shellui is an open-source web app platform with navigation, authentication, administration, and storage built in. Your product stays center stage - your team skips rebuilding the basics and gets to market faster.

Give this instruction to your agent.

fetch https://shellui.ai to start with Shellui

Get started Open playground

MIT licensed Self hosted Docs Source on GitHub

A shared foundation for your apps

Bring your apps together with shared navigation, sign-in, administration, and file storage. Choose the features your product needs.

Apps and navigation

Combine apps built with different frameworks in one interface. Shellui handles the surrounding navigation and layout. Connect each app to shared dialogs, notifications, and settings through the SDK.

Explore apps and navigation

See all features

Try Shellui in the playground

Explore a live Shellui app with no install and no scaffolding.

Open playground

Scaffold your app. Shellui wraps it.

Your frontend stays the product in the iframe. shellui init scaffolds a starter wired for theme and language. shellui start runs the shell around that app.

Pick a starter

Choosing a chip updates only the shellui init line. Install the CLI globally first, as the docs recommend.

terminal
npm install -g @shellui/cli
shellui init react
shellui start

Install the CLI · Framework starters · Create a project

For another stack, run shellui init empty and point Home at your own iframe app.

One config file

Navigation, backend, storage, hosting, and chrome live in shellui.config.json. The CLI validates it against the @shellui/core schema at load time.

shellui.config.json
{
  "$schema": "./node_modules/@shellui/core/schemas/shellui.config.schema.json",
  "port": 4000,
  "title": "My Shellui App",
  "backend": {
    "type": "supabase",
    "url": "http://localhost:54321"
  },
  "navigation": [
    {
      "label": "Home",
      "path": "home",
      "url": "http://localhost:4000/",
      "icon": "/icons/home.svg"
    }
  ]
}
$schema
Editor autocomplete and validation.
port / title
Dev server port and chrome title.
backend
Provider (shellui, supabase, or none) and API base URL.
navigation
Sidebar items and iframe URLs. Each item needs label, path, and url.

CLI configuration · Write the config by hand · Schema: @shellui/core/schemas/shellui.config.schema.json

Ship static files, or a native app

shellui build writes a static application to dist/web/. Add --app to also bundle a Tauri 2 desktop wrapper under dist/app/. Hosting on shellui.app is optional.

Host the files yourself

The production output is HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - not a required cloud runtime. Put dist/web/ on the origin you already use, or keep running it on your own machines.

terminal
shellui build

Deploy a preview on shellui.app

Log in once, then upload the static build. You get an HTTPS origin on *.shellui.app.

terminal
shellui login
shellui deploy
Open shellui.app

Optional: native desktop with Tauri

The same project can ship a desktop app. The CLI uses Tauri 2, generates the wrapper under dist/app/, and does not ask you to commit native project files. Requires Rust and platform build tools.

terminal 
shellui build --app

Features: desktop app · Ship a desktop app

Same shell as you grow

MIT license, one CLI, one static build. Optional native desktop from the same project. The host does not fork when a second surface or a second team shows up.

Shared chrome
Several frontends, one product shell. Each surface keeps its own stack.
Host extras
Navigation, auth, admin, and files ship with the shell so your app stays the product.
Yours to run
Build static files, host them where you already ship, or distribute the output yourself.
Native desktop
shellui build --app wraps the same shell with Tauri 2. See Features and the desktop docs.

Architecture · Documentation · Changelog for 0.5