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Ladybird

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Ladybird — an independent C++ web browser implementing its engine from web standards

OSS health 91
About these scores

Discovery score is an unbounded weighted, log-compressed index of stars, watchers, forks, and contributors. Growth momentum is its change over the observed period; OSS health is a 0–100 score from available repository recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
66,202
Primary language
C++
License
BSD-2-Clause
Repository last updated
Sep 15, 2026

Overview

Ladybird is an open-source web browser building an independent engine around web standards rather than presenting a thin browser shell. Its C++ codebase develops SerenityOS-derived foundations such as LibWeb, LibJS, and LibWasm, and uses a multi-process architecture that separates tabs, image decoding, and network handling. It is currently pre-alpha, and the official README explicitly limits it to developer use.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Implement the browser engine itself around web standards

The official README describes Ladybird as a “truly independent web browser” using a novel engine based on web standards. The project is not merely a browser UI: it develops rendering, JavaScript, WebAssembly, TLS, HTTP, graphics, Unicode, media, event-loop, and IPC foundations as part of the browser stack.

Sources: [1]

Separate tabs, image decoding, and networking into processes

Ladybird uses a main UI process alongside multiple WebContent renderer processes, an ImageDecoder process, and a RequestServer process. Each tab gets its own renderer process, and the README explains that image decoding and network connections are moved out of process to improve robustness against malicious content.

Sources: [1]

Evolve SerenityOS-derived libraries into a full browser stack

The current codebase inherits major core libraries from SerenityOS, including LibWeb, LibJS, LibWasm, LibCrypto/LibTLS, LibHTTP, LibGfx, LibUnicode, LibMedia, LibCore, and LibIPC. That makes the repository useful for studying not only HTML/CSS rendering but also JavaScript execution, WebAssembly, networking, graphics, media, and process communication together.

Sources: [1]

Best suited to browser-engine and web-platform developers rather than everyday browsing

Ladybird is a strong fit for developers who want to study or contribute to browser engines, JavaScript runtimes, web standards, process isolation, graphics, and networking. Its Linux, macOS, Windows-via-WSL2, and other Unix-like support also makes it useful for cross-platform browser implementation work.

Pre-alpha status and a modern native toolchain make this a developer project today

The official README labels Ladybird pre-alpha and says it is only suitable for developers. It should be evaluated as an actively developed browser engine, not as a finished daily-driver browser.

The build instructions require Qt 6.9 or newer, a C++23-capable compiler, a Rust toolchain, CMake 3.30 or newer, nasm, and other platform packages. WSL2 is the supported Windows route while native Windows builds remain experimental. The simplest build-and-run command is ./Meta/ladybird.py run, but the first build prepares substantial native dependencies. The project is BSD-2-Clause licensed.

Sources: [1][2][3]

Official sources

  1. [1]LadybirdBrowser/ladybird — README(2026-09-15)
  2. [2]Ladybird — Build instructions(2026-09-15)
  3. [3]LadybirdBrowser/ladybird — LICENSE(2026-09-15)
Supplemental curator note

We selected Ladybird because the process of implementing a browser engine from web standards is itself the product story. It should currently be evaluated as a developer-focused engine and web-platform project rather than a replacement for a finished everyday browser.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Get the source

    Clone the official repository and enter the Ladybird project root.

    git clone https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird.git && cd ladybird
  2. 2

    Prepare build prerequisites

    Required packages differ by OS. Follow the official Build Instructions for Linux, macOS, Windows via WSL2, or another supported Unix-like system.

    Qt 6.9+ / C++23 compiler / Rust / CMake 3.30+ / nasm / Ninja
  3. 3

    Build and run

    This is the simplest build-and-run path documented by the project. The first run also prepares dependencies.

    ./Meta/ladybird.py run
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

66,202 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
2,560
Open PRs
34

Development activity is still being collected.

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GitHub data

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GitHub Topics

  • browser
  • browser-engine
Stars
66,202
Forks
3,156
Watchers
308
Open issues
496
Primary language
C++
Repository last updated
Sep 15, 2026
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