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CEF Python

Table of contents:

Introduction

CEF Python is an open source project founded by Czarek Tomczak (available for contract work) in 2012 to provide Python bindings for the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). The Chromium project focuses mainly on Google Chrome application development while CEF focuses on facilitating embedded browser use cases in third-party applications. Lots of applications use CEF control, there are more than 100 million CEF instances installed around the world. There are numerous use cases for CEF:

  1. Use it as a modern HTML5 based rendering engine that can act as a replacement for classic desktop GUI frameworks. Think of it as Electron for Python.
  2. Embed a web browser widget in a classic Qt / GTK / wxPython desktop application
  3. Render web content off-screen in applications that use custom drawing frameworks
  4. Use it for automated testing of web applications with more advanced capabilities than Selenium web browser automation due to CEF low level programming APIs
  5. Use it for web scraping, as a web crawler or other kind of internet bots

CEF Python also provides examples of embedding CEF for many Python GUI frameworks such as PyQt, wxPython, PyGTK, PyGObject, Tkinter, Kivy, Panda3D, PyGame, PyOpenGL, PyWin32, PySide and PySDL2.

Sponsors

Many Thanks to Lampix for sponsoring the v66 release. Lampix is the first hardware and software solution that turns any surface into a smart, augmented reality or interactive surface. Please visit their website: Lampix.com

Many thanks to Fivestars for sponsoring the v49 legacy release. Fivestars helps local communities thrive by empowering small businesses with cutting edge marketing technology. Please visit their website: Fivestars.com

Install

You can install pypi/cefpython3 package using pip tool. On Linux pip 8.1+ is required. You can also download packages for offline installation available on the GitHub Releases pages. Command to install with pip:

pip install cefpython3==66.0

Tutorial

See the Tutorial.md document.

Examples

See the README-examples.md document.

For small and easy to understand code snippets that show various CEF features see the README-snippets.md document.

Support

Releases

Information on planned new and current releases, supported platforms, python versions, architectures and requirements. If you want to support old operating systems then choose the v31 release.

Next release

  • To see planned new features or bugs to be fixed in the near future in one of next releases, see the next release label in the tracker
  • To see planned new features or bugs to be fixed in further future, see the next release 2 label in the tracker

Latest release

OS Py2 Py3 32bit 64bit Requirements
Windows 2.7 3.4 / 3.5 / 3.6 / 3.7 Yes Yes Windows 7+
Linux 2.7 3.4 / 3.5 / 3.6 / 3.7 Yes Yes Debian 8+, Ubuntu 14.04+,
Fedora 24+, openSUSE 13.3+
Mac 2.7 3.4 / 3.5 / 3.6 / 3.7 No Yes MacOS 10.9+

These platforms are not supported yet:

v49 release (WinXP/Vista)

OS Py2 Py3 32bit 64bit Requirements
Windows 2.7 3.4 Yes Yes Windows XP+
  • Install with command: pip --no-cache-dir install cefpython3==49.0.
    • Please note that if you were previously installing cefpython3 package it is required to use the --no-cache-dir flag, otherwise pip will end up with error message No matching distribution found for cefpython3==49.0. This happens because 49.0 release occured after 57.0 and 66.0 releases.
  • Downloads are available on GitHub Releases tagged v49.0.
  • See Migration guide document for changes in this release
  • Documentation is available in the docs/ directory in the cefpython49-winxp branch
  • API reference is available in the api/ directory in the cefpython49-winxp branch

v31 release (old systems)

OS Py2 Py3 32bit 64bit Requirements
Windows 2.7 No Yes Yes Windows XP+
Linux 2.7 No Yes Yes Debian 7+ / Ubuntu 12.04+
Mac 2.7 No Yes Yes MacOS 10.7+

Additional information for v31.2 release:

  • On Windows/Mac you can install with command: pip install cefpython3==31.2
  • Downloads are available on wiki pages and on GitHub Releases tagged v31.2.
  • Documentation is on wiki pages
  • API reference is available in revision 169a1b2

Support development

If you would like to support general CEF Python development efforts by making a donation then please click the Paypal Donate button below. If you would like to see a specific feature implemented then you can make a comment about that when making a donation and that will give it a higher priority.



Thanks to sponsors

Thanks to all

  • [2018] Thanks to Fivestars for sponsoring the v49 release for legacy systems (WinXP/Vista)
  • [2018] Many thanks to Lampix for sponsoring the v66 release for all platforms
  • [2017] Many thanks to ClearChat Inc. for sponsoring the v55/v56 releases for all platforms
  • [2016-2018] Thanks to JetBrains for providing an Open Source license for PyCharm
  • [2014] Thanks to Adam Duston for donating a Macbook to aid the development of Mac port
  • [2013-2015] Lots of thanks goes to Cyan Inc. for sponsoring this project for a long time, making CEF Python 3 mature
  • [2013] Thanks to Rentouch GmbH for sponsoring the development of the off-screen rendering support
  • [2013] Thanks to Thomas Wusatiuk for sponsoring the development of the web response reading features
  • [2012-2018] Thanks to those who have made a Paypal donation: Rentouch GmbH, Walter Purvis, Rokas Stupuras, Alex Rattray, Greg Kacy, Paul Korzhyk, Tomasz Tomanek.
  • [2012-2017] Thanks to those who have donated their time through code contributions, they are listed in the Authors file

Seeking new sponsors

CEF Python is seeking companies to sponsor further development of the project. There are many proposals for new features submitted in the issue tracker. Most notable are:

  • Monthly releases with latest Chromium
  • An automated build system similar to upstream CEF Spotify Automated Builds
  • ARM and Android support
  • Multi-threaded support for increased performance
  • Proprietary codecs support in build tools: H264, H265,AC3, EAC3, MPEG-4
  • More CEF API exposed, only about 50% is exposed so far
  • Hundreds of new settings and Chromium preferences not yet exposed
  • Easier integration with popular GUI toolkits in just a few lines of code and support for more third party GUI frameworks
  • More examples of implementing various advanced features and more snippets as well

If your company would like to sponsor CEF Python development efforts then please contact Czarek. Long term sponsorships are welcome and Czarek is open to ideas about the project. He would love to spend more time on developing this project, but he can't afford doing so in his free time. Currently there is no company supporting this project actively on a daily basis.

Other READMEs

Quick links

Docs

API categories

Modules

Settings

Classes and objects

Client handlers (interfaces)

Other interfaces

API index