WineLayer

Run Windows apps on Linux — no terminal required.

WineLayer is an experience orchestration engine on top of Wine.
It handles everything — installation, environment isolation, dependency resolution, crash detection and auto-fixing — through a polished modern desktop UI. Zero terminal required.

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✨ What Makes WineLayer Different

	WineLayer	Bottles	PlayOnLinux	Raw Wine
No terminal needed	✅	✅	❌	❌
Auto crash fixer	✅	❌	❌	❌
One-click Wine install	✅	❌	❌	❌
App Catalog with scripts	✅	Partial	Partial	❌
VM Sandbox for complex apps	✅	❌	❌	❌
Community compat database	✅	✅	❌	❌

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🚀 Install in One Command

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Aliasgar-Jiwani/winelayer/main/winelayer/scripts/install.sh | bash

This automatically:

• Detects your Linux distro (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, and more)
• Installs Wine if it's not already present
• Downloads and installs WineLayer
• Creates a desktop shortcut in your app menu

Or download manually from the Releases Page →

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📸 Screenshots

 

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✅ Supported Linux Distros

Distro	Auto Wine Install	Status
Ubuntu 22.04+ / Linux Mint / Pop!_OS	✅	✅ Fully Supported
Fedora 38+	✅	✅ Fully Supported
Arch Linux / Manjaro / EndeavourOS	✅	✅ Fully Supported
openSUSE Leap / Tumbleweed	✅	✅ Fully Supported
Debian 12+	✅	✅ Fully Supported

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🧠 Features

🧩 App Catalog

Browse pre-configured YAML scripts for popular Windows software. One click installs it with the correct Wine configuration, dependencies, and settings — automatically.

🔧 Auto-Fix Engine

When an app crashes, WineLayer automatically analyzes the Wine log, matches it against a community error database, and suggests a one-click fix. No Googling required.

📦 Generic Installer

Don't see your app in the Catalog? Just drag and drop any .exe file. WineLayer creates an isolated Wine environment for it and automatically discovers where it installed.

🧪 Micro-VM Sandbox (Beta)

For apps that Wine simply cannot handle (like Adobe Creative Cloud or Microsoft Office 365), WineLayer can route them through a background KVM virtual machine and project the window seamlessly to your desktop via RemoteApp.

🖥️ Zero Terminal

Every feature — installing, launching, diagnosing, fixing — happens through a beautiful modern GUI. No commands to memorize.

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🏗️ Architecture

WineLayer is two programs that talk to each other:

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Flutter Desktop App (UI)          │  ← What the user sees
│   Dart · Riverpod · Material 3      │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
                  │  JSON-RPC · TCP Socket
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────┐
│   Python Daemon (Backend Engine)    │  ← Where all the real work happens
│   asyncio · SQLAlchemy · SQLite     │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Modules

Module	What It Does
installer.py	Creates Wine prefixes and installs apps
wine_manager.py	Detects Wine version, manages builds
fix_engine.py	Applies automated fixes based on log analysis
log_analyzer.py	Parses Wine logs and matches error signatures
vm_manager.py	KVM Micro-VM orchestration for complex apps
ipc_server.py	JSON-RPC socket server bridging UI and backend
compat-db/scripts/	YAML app compatibility scripts
compat-db/error_rules.json	Known error → fix mapping database

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🛠️ Build From Source

# Requirements: Python 3.11+, Flutter SDK 3.24+, Wine

git clone https://github.com/Aliasgar-Jiwani/winelayer.git
cd winelayer/winelayer

# Install Python dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Terminal 1 — Start the backend daemon
python -m daemon.main

# Terminal 2 — Launch the UI
cd app
flutter run -d linux

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🤝 How to Contribute

The most impactful way to contribute is to add a new app to the Catalog. If you got a Windows app running with WineLayer, share your setup!

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide.

Quick contribution (no coding required):

1. Test a Windows app and note which Wine version and Winetricks packages worked
2. Create a YAML file in winelayer/compat-db/scripts/
3. Open a Pull Request

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📋 Development Roadmap

• ✅ Phase 1 — Core foundation (Flutter shell, Python daemon, SQLite, Wine launch)
• ✅ Phase 2 — Smart Installer (YAML scripts, Catalog browser, Winetricks integration)
• ✅ Phase 3 — Auto-Fix Engine (Log analysis, error DB, one-click fixes, community sync)
• ✅ Phase 4 — Platform Maturity (Micro-VM sandbox for DRM-heavy complex apps)
• 🔄 Phase 5 — Public Launch (AppImage packaging, CI/CD, community growth)

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📄 License

WineLayer is free software licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

See LICENSE for full terms.

WineLayer is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wine Project or WineHQ.

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Made with ❤️ for the Linux desktop community.

⭐ Star this repo · 🐛 Report a Bug · 💡 Request a Feature