capacitor-platforms

Capacitor Platforms (Desktop)

Bring a Capacitor app to macOS, Windows, and Linux with the Capawesome desktop platforms: @capawesome/capacitor-electron and @capawesome/capacitor-tauri. Both use the standard Capacitor workflow (cap add / cap sync / cap run), report Capacitor.isNativePlatform() as true, and deliver deep links through the standard @capacitor/app events.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Electron	Tauri
Node.js	LTS (18+)	LTS (18+)
Capacitor	6+	8+
Electron	>= 28 (installed by the scaffold)	—
Rust toolchain + system dependencies	—	Required — see the Tauri prerequisites guide

On Capacitor 6 and 7, the Capacitor CLI ignores the exit code of platform hooks — a failing npx cap sync still reports success. Check the log output for [capacitor-electron] errors. Capacitor 8 fails the command properly.

Agent Behavior

• Auto-detect before asking. Read package.json and the Capacitor config to determine installed platforms and plugins before prompting the user.
• Help choose the platform first. If the user has not committed to Electron or Tauri, apply Step 1 — plugin requirements usually decide it.
• Always use the full package name with Capacitor CLI commands (e.g. npx cap sync @capawesome/capacitor-electron). A bare npx cap sync electron or npx cap sync tauri silently does nothing.
• Check plugin compatibility early. On Tauri, list the app's Capacitor plugins and verify each is covered by a web implementation or a curated shim (see references/tauri.md) before recommending it.

MCP Servers

Two hosted MCP servers serve the current documentation, so both are always ahead of the guidance bundled with this skill:

• Capawesome MCP server — the Capawesome plugins, the Capawesome CLI, and Capawesome Cloud.
• Capacitor MCP server (unofficial) — Capacitor itself: the CLI, the capacitor.config file, the native Android and iOS projects, and the official plugin APIs.

Both expose search_docs and get_doc_page, so pick the server by topic before calling either.

• If the MCP tools are available, call search_docs on the server that owns the topic and read the matching page with get_doc_page before applying the guidance below. Where the two disagree, follow the documentation.
• If they are not available, mention once that the servers can be added with the commands below, then continue with this skill. Never block on it.

claude mcp add --transport http capawesome "https://mcp.capawesome.io/mcp"
claude mcp add --transport http capacitor "https://capacitor-mcp.capawesome.io/mcp"

Neither server needs an account or a token for documentation. See the capawesome-mcp and capacitor-mcp skills for full setup, including the Capawesome Cloud tools.

Procedures

Step 1: Choose a Platform

The app needs…	Choose
Reuse of Capacitor plugins with native (Node) desktop implementations	Electron
Web-bundle over-the-air updates	Electron (Capawesome Cloud Live Updates via @capawesome/capacitor-live-update >= 8.5.0, requires Capacitor 8 — see references/electron.md; Tauri compiles web assets into the binary — only full signed binary updates)
A single, predictable bundled Chromium across all OSes	Electron
Smallest binaries (~3–10 MB vs ~85–120 MB) and lowest memory use	Tauri
A deny-by-default security model with a Rust core	Tauri
No Rust toolchain in dev/CI	Electron

Tauri's trade-offs are inherent, not bugs: no Node runtime (so no arbitrary Capacitor plugin reuse), three different system webviews (WKWebView/WebView2/WebKitGTK), no web-bundle OTA, and a required Rust toolchain. If in doubt, read the Honest Limitations section of the Tauri platform README.

Step 2: Install and Add the Platform

Electron:

npm install @capawesome/capacitor-electron
npx cap add @capawesome/capacitor-electron
cd electron && npm install && cd ..

Then add a postinstall script to the app's root package.json so the Electron dependencies are always installed together with the main app dependencies:

{
  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "cd electron && npm ci && cd .."
  }
}

Tauri (verify rustc --version works first; if not, stop and walk the user through the Tauri prerequisites):

npm install @capawesome/capacitor-tauri
npx cap add @capawesome/capacitor-tauri

Both scaffolds contain only files the user owns (config, icons, a few-line entry point); all runtime logic lives in the versioned package/crate and updates via npm update / cargo update.

Step 3: Sync and Run

npx cap sync @capawesome/capacitor-electron   # or @capawesome/capacitor-tauri
npx cap run @capawesome/capacitor-electron    # or @capawesome/capacitor-tauri

Electron sync copies web assets and regenerates the plugin manifest. Tauri sync additionally scans the app's Capacitor plugin dependencies and generates a deny-by-default capability file, the curated tauri-plugin-* crate dependencies, and the Rust plugin registrations.

For live reload on either platform, set server.url in the Capacitor config to the local dev server and run the platform — see the platform reference for details.

Step 4: Configure

• Electron: typed options in electron/capacitor.electron.config.ts (window, CSP, deep links, hooks) — see references/electron.md.
• Tauri: src-tauri/tauri.conf.json (window, CSP, deep links via plugins.deep-link.desktop.schemes, bundle) — see references/tauri.md.

Step 5: Package for Distribution

• Electron: cd electron && npm run pack (electron-builder; vendors the runtime and plugin implementations automatically) — see references/electron.md.
• Tauri: npx cap sync @capawesome/capacitor-tauri && npx tauri build (native installers per OS) — see references/tauri.md.

References

• references/electron.md — scaffold layout, configuration, live reload, deep links, plugin support and plugin development contract, packaging and vendoring, app updates (binary updates and Live Updates), migration from @capacitor-community/electron.
• references/tauri.md — Rust prerequisites, scaffold layout, sync-time codegen, the plugin tier model (built-in / curated / web fallback), configuration, live reload, deep links, packaging, honest limitations.

Related Skills

• capacitor-app-creation — Create a new Capacitor app before adding a desktop platform.
• capacitor-app-development — General Capacitor development topics, configuration, and troubleshooting.
• capacitor-plugins — Install and configure Capacitor plugins, including checking desktop platform support.
• capawesome-cloud — Set up Capawesome Cloud Live Updates for the Electron platform (same app and config as Android/iOS).
• capawesome-mcp — Connect an MCP client to the hosted Capawesome MCP server for always-current documentation and Capawesome Cloud management.