OpenWebKitSharp is an obsolete, open-source .NET library designed to act as a wrapper for the WebKit browser engine. Developed by GT Web Software and initially released around 2010–2012, its primary purpose was to allow C# and VB.NET developers to embed a fast, standards-compliant web browser component directly into their Windows Forms and WPF desktop applications.
At the time, the default .NET rendering control (WebBrowser) was locked to the heavily outdated Internet Explorer engine, making OpenWebKitSharp a highly sought-after alternative for rendering modern HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Key Features (At Peak Development)
WebKit Engine Base: It was built upon the WebKit.NET 0.5 project but vastly expanded its functionality by exposing more native methods, private APIs, and developer tools.
Dual Rendering Engines: It supported both the standard Cairo-based rendering engine and the WebKit Nightly builds, giving developers access to updated performance tweaks and better web compatibility.
Advanced JS Management: Versions optimized for .NET 4.0 offered enhanced JavaScript management and interoperability.
Real-World Application: The project natively powered GTLite Navigator, a flexible, community-made web browser. Why It Became Obsolete
While highly ambitious, OpenWebKitSharp suffered from severe structural and maintenance issues that caused it to be abandoned over a decade ago:
Build and Stability Bugs: The project became notorious in the developer community for being incredibly difficult to compile. Build paths were often messy, and binaries frequently threw errors out-of-the-box depending on which version of Visual Studio was used.
Lack of Updates: The original project host (Google Code Archive) and unofficial GitHub mirrors have not seen active development since roughly 2012–2013.
Security & Web Evolution: Because it uses a decade-old snapshot of WebKit, it lacks modern security protocols (like TLS 1.3), breaks on almost all modern websites, and is vulnerable to unpatched exploits. Modern Alternatives
If you are building a modern .NET application and need to embed a browser engine, you should not use OpenWebKitSharp. Instead, choose one of these production-ready frameworks:
Microsoft Edge WebView2: The industry standard for modern .NET apps. It embeds the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser, is actively maintained by Microsoft, and handles security and updates automatically.
CefSharp: A highly stable, heavily used open-source .NET wrapper for the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF).
DotNetBrowser: A powerful commercial option providing Chromium integration for heavy-duty enterprise apps.
If you are looking at an old codebase that still references OpenWebKitSharp, it is highly recommended to migrate the component to WebView2 or CefSharp to restore stability and modern web compatibility.
If you are currently trying to maintain an older application, let me know:
What version of the .NET Framework does your project target? Is it a Windows Forms or WPF application?
I can provide a quick roadmap or example code on how to migrate it to a modern browser engine. open-webkit-sharp/How to use.txt at master – GitHub
You can also submit patches at the Google Code page if you want to commit to the development of OpenWebKitSharp. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
A Build of open-webkit-sharp That Actually Compiles and Runs
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