> deno desktop is opinionated about those tradeoffs:

> Small by default, full Node compatibility

I tried `deno desktop index.ts` with the 5-line Hello world in the article.

Result (Windows 10): 442 MB. Ouch.

I thought it would be smaller than an Electron build, but it's far worse. Did I do something wrong?

(libcef.dll: 247 MB) (deno-test.dll: 78 MB <- contains the hello world)

libcef is the Chromium embedded framework[0], so your build isn't using a webview or maybe its using both. I just tried it on my mac, and I can't keep libcef out even with `--backend webview`.

https://github.com/chromiumembedded/cef

IIRC Electron hello world is ~ 100-150 MB because it bundles a browser/Chromium runtime.

So I hoped we could have a <= 20 MB solution by reusing the OS webview or similar. Having more than 400 MB is a bit deceptive for me. (Again: maybe I just did something wrong in the config: should I do something else than `deno desktop test.ts`?)

Try the webview backend: `deno desktop --backend webview`

The docs say that's the default:

https://docs.deno.com/runtime/desktop/backends/#webview-(def...

apologies, this is inaccurate currently, will get things updated