Overview
This manual is the long-form user guide for WbW-QGIS.
WbW-QGIS (Whitebox Workflows for QGIS) is the QGIS frontend for Whitebox Next Gen. It provides a QGIS-native way to discover, configure, and run Whitebox tools through the Processing framework and plugin UI.
Whitebox Next Gen uses a layered architecture:
- backend geospatial engines and tools in Rust,
- frontend runtimes for Python, R, and QGIS,
- shared tool taxonomy and capability metadata.
Whitebox Next Gen is intentionally full-stack: core geospatial capabilities that are often delegated to external C/C++ dependencies in other GIS platforms (for example raster I/O, projections, geometry/topology operations, and lidar handling) are implemented in the Whitebox codebase itself. This architecture is unusual in GIS and provides practical benefits for users: consistent behavior across platforms, tighter control over correctness and performance, fewer system-level dependency issues during installation, and faster iteration when fixing bugs or introducing new capabilities.
Within this model, WbW-QGIS is intentionally a thin integration layer. It handles QGIS presentation and orchestration while computation remains in the Whitebox backend runtime.
What This Manual Covers
This guide focuses on practical use of WbW-QGIS:
- setting up the plugin and runtime correctly,
- understanding discovery and provider refresh,
- running tools through QGIS Processing,
- handling output and troubleshooting common issues.
The manual is written for both analysts and developers who use QGIS as the primary working environment.
Goals
- Provide a stable onboarding path for local installation.
- Document the operational behavior of plugin discovery and execution.
- Clarify tier and licensing behavior in QGIS.
- Reduce setup friction and runtime ambiguity.
How to Use This Manual
For first-time setup, read chapters in order:
- Installation and Setup
- Build and Preview
- Quick Start
- Runtime and Discovery
After setup is stable, use the remaining chapters as reference material.