Abstract The self-centering structure has good recentering capacity and seismic performance, and its application in timber structures can significantly reduce the residual displacement of the structure. In this paper, the seismic performance of the self-centering glulam (SCG) frame with friction damper (FD) is studied from three aspects: the test of beam-to-column joint, the seismic design method of frame and the dynamic time history analysis of frame. Firstly, a low-cycle reversed loading test was carried out on the glulam beam-to-column joint with the initial post-tensioned (PT) force as a variable. According to the test results, the beam-to-column joint showed both good self-centering capacity and hysteretic behavior. Then, a simplified performance-based seismic design method of the FD-SCG frame was proposed, with a 6-story self-centering frame structure as the design example. The nonlinear dynamic time history analysis and parametric analysis of the frame were conducted by the OpenSees. The dynamic time history analysis proves from both the global and local response that the frame has a good seismic response under the design basis earthquake (DBE) and the maximum considered earthquake (MCE), while the frame also has safety reserve under the MCE level. The average values of the maximum inter-story drift of the frame under the DBE and MCE levels are 0.31% and 1.92%, respectively, which are less than the design limitation. The parametric analysis results showed that the increase of the PT tendons number, that is, the increase of the second stiffness can reduce the damage of acceleration-sensitive nonstructural components.