Tauri Desktop Application Framework

Tauri is an open-source framework for building cross-platform desktop and mobile applications using web frontend technologies for the user interface and a Rust backend for system-level operations. Unlike Electron, which bundles a complete Chromium browser instance with each application, this framework uses the operating system's native webview component, resulting in application binaries that are typically ten times smaller and consume significantly less memory at runtime. The architecture splits an application into two isolated processes: the webview process renders the UI using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with any frontend framework including React, Vue, Svelte, or vanilla JavaScript, while the Rust core process handles file system access, database operations, network requests, and system API calls. Communication between the two processes occurs through a command system where the Rust backend exposes functions that the frontend can invoke asynchronously, with automatic serialization and deserialization of parameters and return values through TypeScript type definitions generated at build time. Security is enforced through a capability-based permission system where each application window declares which Rust commands it is allowed to invoke, preventing the webview from accessing system resources that have not been explicitly granted. The framework supports all three desktop platforms including macOS, Windows, and Linux, with mobile support for iOS and Android in active development. Application configuration includes window properties, menu bar definitions, system tray icons, protocol handlers, and bundle settings for platform-specific installers including MSI, NSIS, AppImage, DMG, and App Store packages. Plugins extend the core with functionality like database access, HTTP client, file dialogs, clipboard, notifications, and biometric authentication, with a growing ecosystem of community-maintained extensions.