Morphic #

Morphic is a Flutter Desktop runtime for building real multi-window applications in pure Dart. It lets you create and orchestrate multiple native desktop windows from a single Flutter application — without writing Win32 or platform-specific windowing code.

Each window is its own Flutter engine; Morphic manages their geometry, z-order, activation and lifecycle for you. You write ordinary Dart; Morphic gives your existing UI real OS windows.

Morphic is not a UI kit, a widget library, or a design system, and has nothing to do with neumorphism. It does not draw widgets, themes, or animations. Your Flutter widgets stay exactly as they are — Morphic is the runtime that hosts them across multiple native windows.

Why it exists. Flutter Desktop gives you one window with one widget tree. Real desktop software — code editors, IDEs, DAWs, trading and monitoring dashboards, creative tools — is multi-window: inspectors, tool palettes, detached panels, and whole workspaces. Doing that in Flutter used to mean dropping to C++/Win32. Morphic makes multi-window a first-class, Dart-only part of your app.

Think of it as the multi-window layer Flutter Desktop is missing — closer to a windowing runtime than a package. See how it compares to desktop_multi_window and vanilla Flutter desktop at getmorphic.space/compare.

⚠️ Pre-1.0, Windows-only today. The install flow and native runtime are scratch-verified, but APIs may still evolve.

See it #

[Notes Workspace — a notes list, an editor and a live inspector as three native windows from one Flutter app]

The Notes Workspace example is a real app you can run in a minute: a notes List, an Editor and a live Inspector as three separate native windows, kept in sync over AppBus, with edits that persist across relaunch. ~250 lines of Dart, zero Win32.

git clone https://github.com/zhadow-dev/morphic
cd morphic/examples/notes_workspace
flutter create --platforms=windows .   # scaffold the windows/ runner
flutter pub get
dart run morphic:init --apply
flutter run -d windows

Prerequisites #

• Flutter (desktop enabled): flutter config --enable-windows-desktop
• Visual Studio (not VS Code) with the “Desktop development with C++” workload — Flutter needs it to build Windows apps. Verify with flutter doctor.

Install #

flutter create my_app && cd my_app
flutter pub add morphic
dart run morphic:init --apply   # patches windows/runner to host the runtime (reversible)
flutter pub get
flutter run -d windows

morphic:init is a dry run without --apply — it prints the plan but changes nothing. Use --apply to actually install. It leaves lib/, your pubspec, and every non-Windows platform untouched, and is fully reversible (dart run morphic:remove --apply). No C++, no CMake, no Win32.

Your first window #

A surface is a window. Its content is an ordinary Flutter app behind a top-level @pragma('vm:entry-point') function the runtime launches by name:

// lib/main.dart
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:morphic/morphic.dart';

@pragma('vm:entry-point')
void mainSurface() => runApp(
      const MaterialApp(home: Scaffold(body: Center(child: Text('Hello, Morphic')))),
    );

class MyApp extends MorphicApp {
  @override
  String get name => 'My App';

  @override
  List<SurfaceSpec> surfaces() => const [
        SurfaceSpec.workspace(id: 'main', entrypoint: 'mainSurface'),
      ];
}

void main() => runMorphicApp(app: MyApp());

Multiple windows #

Add another spec and its entrypoint — each surface is its own engine:

@pragma('vm:entry-point')
void inspector() => runApp(
      const MaterialApp(home: Scaffold(body: Center(child: Text('Inspector')))),
    );

// in surfaces():
List<SurfaceSpec> surfaces() => const [
      SurfaceSpec.workspace(id: 'main', entrypoint: 'mainSurface'),
      SurfaceSpec.inspector(id: 'info', entrypoint: 'inspector', parent: 'main'),
    ];

(SurfaceSpec also has .toolPalette(...) and .overlay(...).)

Talk between windows — AppBus #

Surfaces are isolated engines, so they share state through a tiny event bus:

// in the editor window
AppBus.broadcast('doc.changed', {'id': docId});

// in the inspector window
AppBus.on('doc.changed', (p) => reload(p['id'] as String));

Surface lifecycle #

The runtime publishes lifecycle events on the same bus, and a surface can drive its own window (it only ever acts on itself):

AppBus.on('surface.destroyed', (p) => forgetDocFor(p['surfaceId'] as String));

MorphicSurface.minimize();
MorphicSurface.toggleMaximize();
MorphicSurface.close();

Native mode #

The above is native mode — orchestrated real OS windows, the default and free. Closing the last window exits the app. No account or network required.

Frequently Asked Questions #

Full version, with framework comparisons: What is Morphic?

What is Morphic? #

Morphic is a Flutter Desktop runtime for building real multi-window applications in pure Dart. It lets one Flutter application create and orchestrate multiple native desktop windows without writing Win32 or platform-specific windowing code.

Is Morphic a UI or widget library? #

No. Morphic does not replace Flutter's widget system — you keep building your UI with Flutter widgets exactly as you do today. Morphic adds a desktop runtime above Flutter that manages multiple native windows, orchestration, lifecycle, and cross-window communication.

Is Morphic a replacement for Flutter? #

No. Flutter renders your application; Morphic extends Flutter Desktop with the capabilities professional desktop software needs — multiple native windows, workspace layouts, tool palettes, inspectors, and window-to-window messaging.

How is Morphic different from desktop_multi_window? #

Both let a Flutter app open multiple windows. Morphic is a desktop runtime rather than a window-spawning utility: it adds window orchestration, AppBus messaging, surface lifecycles, reusable workspace patterns, and an upgrade path to the Spatial Runtime. (Side-by-side table: getmorphic.space/compare.)

Does Morphic require Win32 or platform-specific code? #

No. You create and manage windows entirely from Dart; the platform-specific implementation is handled internally by Morphic.

Is Morphic only for Windows? #

Today Morphic targets Flutter Desktop on Windows. macOS and Linux are planned as the runtime evolves — the layered design exists so the upper layers carry over.

What is the Spatial Runtime? #

An optional extension that enables spatial desktop composition and advanced workspace capabilities. It builds on the same APIs as the open-source runtime, so applications can adopt it without changing their architecture.

Who should use Morphic? #

Developers building professional desktop software — IDEs, design and engineering tools, creative apps, dashboard workspaces, trading platforms, data-analysis tools, and multi-monitor productivity apps.

Docs #

example/ is a showcase / playground, not where you author your own app — that's package:morphic in your own project.

Spatial Mode #

Morphic also supports an optional Spatial Runtime for shaped surfaces, materials, acrylic effects, workspace composition and advanced desktop experiences.

Learn more → https://www.getmorphic.space/spatial