tauri

Tauri

Overview

Tauri is a framework for building desktop and mobile applications using web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript) for the UI and Rust for the backend logic. It produces small, fast binaries by leveraging the OS webview instead of bundling a browser engine. The IPC layer connects the frontend to Rust commands through a capability-based permission system.

When to use: Cross-platform desktop/mobile apps with web UIs, system-level integrations (tray, notifications, file system), apps requiring small bundle sizes, security-sensitive applications needing fine-grained permission control.

When NOT to use: Pure web apps with no native requirements, Electron apps that depend heavily on Node.js APIs with no Rust migration path, projects where the team has no capacity to maintain Rust code.

Quick Reference

Pattern	API / Config	Key Points
Create project	cargo create-tauri-app or pnpm create tauri-app	Scaffolds Rust backend + frontend framework
Define command	#[tauri::command] fn name() {}	Must register in generate_handler!
Invoke from frontend	invoke('cmd_name', { arg: value })	Returns Promise, args as camelCase JSON
Emit event (frontend)	emit('event-name', payload)	Global event, all listeners receive
Listen event	listen('event-name', handler)	Returns unlisten function
Manage state	app.manage(MyState {}) + State<'_, MyState>	No Arc needed, Mutex for mutability
Window creation	WebviewWindowBuilder::new(app, label, url)	Label must be unique per window
System tray	TrayIconBuilder::new().menu(&menu).build(app)	Requires tray-icon Cargo feature
Add plugin (Rust)	.plugin(tauri_plugin_name::init())	Register in Builder chain
Add plugin (frontend)	@tauri-apps/plugin-name	NPM package per plugin
Define capability	src-tauri/capabilities/*.json	Scoped to windows, merged at build
Grant permission	"permissions": ["plugin:scope"]	Commands inaccessible without explicit grant
Sidecar binary	tauri.conf.json bundle.externalBin	Name must match {name}-{target_triple}
Custom protocol	tauri::Builder::default().register_uri_scheme_protocol	Intercept custom scheme:// URLs
Auto-updater	tauri-plugin-updater + JSON endpoint	Requires code signing
App bundle/sign	cargo tauri build	Platform-specific signing via env vars

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Correct Pattern
Multiple generate_handler! calls	Pass all commands to a single generate_handler! invocation
Using &str in async command args	Use owned String types in async commands
Forgetting to add capability for plugin	Add permission identifier in src-tauri/capabilities/*.json
Wrapping state in Arc	Tauri State handles reference counting internally
Using std::sync::Mutex across .await points	Use tokio::sync::Mutex for async commands holding locks across awaits
Wrong sidecar binary name	Binary must be named {name}-{target_triple} (e.g., mybin-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc)
Assuming all windows share capabilities	Each window/webview gets capabilities scoped by label
Using SystemTray (v1 API)	Use TrayIconBuilder from tauri::tray module in v2
Not signing app before enabling updater	Auto-updater requires valid code signing on all platforms
Using window title for security decisions	Capabilities use window labels, not titles

Delegation

• Command pattern discovery: Use Explore agent
• Security review: Use Task agent
• Code review: Delegate to code-reviewer agent

If the rust skill is available, delegate Rust language patterns, error handling, and async/concurrency to it. If the react-patterns skill is available, delegate React frontend patterns to it. If the svelte skill is available, delegate Svelte frontend patterns to it. If the vite skill is available, delegate build tooling and dev server configuration to it. If the github-actions skill is available, delegate CI/CD pipeline and release workflow configuration to it.

References

• Project setup, configuration, and directory structure
• IPC commands, events, and channels
• State management patterns
• Window management and multi-window apps
• System tray and menus
• Plugin system and official plugins
• Security model, capabilities, and permissions
• Sidecar binaries and custom protocols
• App signing, distribution, and auto-updates