Web Content Embedding

XPF provides several options for embedding web content in your application. The right choice depends on your target platforms and embedding requirements.

Platform comparison

Feature	CefSharp	NativeWebView	NativeWebDialog	DotNetBrowser
Windows	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
macOS	Not supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
Linux	Not supported	Not supported	Supported	Supported
Embedding	In-window control	In-window control	Separate dialog	In-window control
Keyboard input	Full	Full	Limited	Full
Styling/CSS control	Full	Full	Limited	Full
Engine	Chromium	WebView2 / WebKit	WebKit / WebView2	Chromium

XPF WebView (NativeWebView and NativeWebDialog)

The Avalonia.Xpf.Controls.WebView NuGet package provides two controls:

• NativeWebView: An embeddable web control that renders inline within your window. Supported on Windows and macOS.
• NativeWebDialog: A separate browser dialog window. Supported on all platforms including Linux.

See Embedding Web Content for the Avalonia documentation on these controls.

Linux requirements

NativeWebDialog on Linux requires webkit2gtk version 4.1:

Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

Fedora:

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel

RHEL / CentOS:

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel

note

Version 4.1 of webkit2gtk is required. Older versions (4.0) do not support all features needed by NativeWebDialog.

CefSharp

CefSharp.Wpf.NetCore works with XPF on Windows only. It includes Windows-native Chromium binaries and does not work on Linux or macOS.

If CefSharp throws a NotImplementedException for CursorInteropHelper.Create(), upgrade to XPF 1.6.0 or later, which provides a fallback. As a workaround for older versions, derive from ChromiumWebBrowser and override OnCursorChange to map CefSharp cursor types to WPF Cursors.

DotNetBrowser

DotNetBrowser from TeamDev is supported in XPF across all platforms. See the XpfDotNetBrowserApp sample for setup guidance.

Choosing a web control

• Windows-only deployment: CefSharp offers the most complete Chromium integration with full keyboard, styling, and DevTools support.
• Windows + macOS: Use NativeWebView for in-window embedding, or DotNetBrowser for a Chromium-based option.
• All platforms including Linux: Use NativeWebDialog if a dialog-based approach is acceptable, or DotNetBrowser for in-window embedding.