Brewser Runtime for Switch
The Brewser Runtime is a homebrew web application platform for the Nintendo Switch — a way to run modern HTML5, CSS, WebGL, and WebAssembly apps directly on a console that was never meant to be a developer’s playground. If your Switch is running custom firmware, Brewser turns it into a surprisingly capable little web machine.
Latest .nro build on GitHub Releases — free and open.
Under the hood, it’s a full web runtime built from the ground up for the Switch’s hardware, so your apps get real performance — not a slideshow. The same web technologies you’d use in a desktop browser are here, tuned for a handheld console.
V8
JavaScript engine
The engine behind Chrome — JIT compilation and WebAssembly included.
Skia
2D rendering
Canvas, text, and UI drawn by the graphics library behind Chrome and Android.
WebGL / WebGL2
GPU graphics
Hardware-accelerated on the Tegra X1’s GPU.
Write once, run on the couch
The whole point is portability. An app built for Brewser runs in your browser at brewser.io and on your modded Switch, from the same code. No separate builds, no console-specific rewrites — just standard web APIs doing what they do best, wherever they land.
Your Switch, your rules, your web apps.
What you can build
WebGL experiences & demos
Shaders, fractals, procedural visuals, and graphical experiments.
Games
From lightweight 2D titles to hardware-accelerated WebGL games with save data and leaderboards.
Sensor-aware apps
Tap into the Switch’s motion sensors through standard Web APIs like DeviceOrientation.
Interactive tools & utilities
Anything the modern web platform can express.
A real platform, not just a browser
Brewser is more than a place to open web pages. It ships with everything an app needs to feel at home on a console:
- On-screen keyboard
- A proper toolbar
- Save-data support
- Leaderboards
- The app catalogue, on the console
- Sign-in that carries over from your PC
Open, and built in the open
The runtime is built on open foundations — a fork of the excellent nx.js project, extended with a full WebGL stack, Skia rendering, and a library of platform APIs. It’s designed for tinkerers, by a tinkerer, with the goal of giving homebrew creators a genuine target worth building for. Every build is published on the GitHub releases page, changelog and all.
Brewser started life as a browser and grew into a runtime. Today it’s a bridge between the open web and a console that never asked to be one — and that’s exactly what makes it fun.
Brewser runs on Nintendo Switch consoles with custom firmware. It is an independent homebrew project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.