Dowe

Dowe is a standalone compiler that takes a single source file and generates complete applications for five different platforms: server binaries, web frontends with server-side rendering, native desktop apps, Android projects using Jetpack Compose, and iOS projects using SwiftUI. The idea is that you define your routes, views, state, and server behavior in one checked source graph, and the compiler handles the platform-specific translation so you're not maintaining five separate codebases.

The source files use a .dowe extension and a custom language designed around composable contracts. You build routes, layouts, and components within a type-checked system that catches binding issues, type errors, and unsupported patterns at compile time rather than at runtime. This is a deliberate choice: the compiler validates comprehensively before generating anything, so if the build succeeds, you know the output is structurally sound.

For the web target, Dowe generates server-rendered HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without relying on external frameworks. There's no React, Vue, or Svelte under the hood. The compiler produces its own rendering logic tuned to the structure you defined. Route-based asset loading keeps pages lean by only shipping what each route actually needs.

Desktop output uses web assets wrapped in native windows, which is conceptually similar to Electron or Tauri but without pulling in a Node.js runtime or external dependencies. The server target compiles to a native binary with routing and host capabilities baked in, so deployment is just running an executable.

For mobile, Dowe generates complete project files rather than interpreted bundles. Android output is a Jetpack Compose project you can open in Android Studio and build normally. iOS output is a SwiftUI project that compiles through Xcode. This means you're not debugging through an abstraction layer; when something goes wrong on mobile, you're looking at real Kotlin or Swift.

The compiler itself is written in Rust and distributed as a standalone binary. You don't need Rust installed to use it, and there's no Node.js runtime required for the generated artifacts. This keeps the toolchain minimal compared to typical JavaScript-based fullstack frameworks.

Dowe is open source on GitHub and currently in early access. There's no pricing listed because the project appears to be free during this phase, though that could change as it matures. Documentation is available, but the ecosystem is small and you should expect to be an early adopter rather than a user of stable, battle-tested software.

It fits developers who want to target multiple platforms from a single source without the complexity of maintaining separate stacks, especially those who are comfortable working with newer, less proven tools. The tradeoff is that you're committing to a custom language and compiler rather than standard web frameworks, so portability outside of Dowe is limited.