Tauri Development

Overview

Tauri is a framework for building lightweight, secure desktop applications using web technologies for the frontend and Rust for the backend. This skill provides guidance for Tauri v2 development including:

Creating and registering commands (Rust-to-JS communication)
Event system for background operations
State management across commands
Plugin development with permissions
Best practices for security and performance

Quick Reference

Project Structure

my-app/
├── src/                    # Frontend (React/Vue/Svelte/etc.)
├── src-tauri/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs          # App setup, command registration
│   │   ├── main.rs         # Binary entry point
│   │   └── commands/       # Command modules (recommended)
│   │       ├── mod.rs
│   │       └── feature.rs
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   ├── tauri.conf.json     # App configuration
│   └── capabilities/       # Permission definitions
└── package.json

Essential Imports

Rust:

use tauri::{command, AppHandle, State, Emitter, Runtime};
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};

JavaScript/TypeScript:

import { invoke } from '@tauri-apps/api/core';
import { listen } from '@tauri-apps/api/event';

Creating Commands

Basic Command

#[tauri::command]
fn greet(name: &str) -> String {
    format!("Hello, {}!", name)
}

pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![greet])
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Call from frontend:

const result = await invoke('greet', { name: 'World' });

Async Commands

Use async for I/O operations, database queries, or network requests:

#[tauri::command]
async fn fetch_data(url: String) -> Result<String, String> {
    reqwest::get(&url)
        .await
        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?
        .text()
        .await
        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
}

Important: Async commands cannot use borrowed types (&str). Convert to owned types:

// Won't compile:
async fn bad(name: &str) -> String { ... }

// Use this instead:
async fn good(name: String) -> String { ... }

Commands with AppHandle

Access application-wide functionality:

#[tauri::command]
async fn save_file(app: tauri::AppHandle, content: String) -> Result<(), String> {
    let app_dir = app.path().app_data_dir().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
    std::fs::write(app_dir.join("data.txt"), content).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
}

Commands with WebviewWindow

Access the calling window:

#[tauri::command]
fn get_window_label(window: tauri::WebviewWindow) -> String {
    window.label().to_string()
}

Error Handling

Simple String Errors

#[tauri::command]
fn divide(a: f64, b: f64) -> Result<f64, String> {
    if b == 0.0 {
        Err("cannot divide by zero".to_string())
    } else {
        Ok(a / b)
    }
}

Custom Error Types (Recommended)

use thiserror::Error;
use serde::Serialize;

#[derive(Debug, Error)]
pub enum AppError {
    #[error("database error: {0}")]
    Database(#[from] rusqlite::Error),
    #[error("file not found: {0}")]
    NotFound(String),
    #[error("permission denied")]
    PermissionDenied,
}

impl Serialize for AppError {
    fn serialize<S>(&self, serializer: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error>
    where
        S: serde::ser::Serializer,
    {
        serializer.serialize_str(self.to_string().as_ref())
    }
}

type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, AppError>;

#[tauri::command]
fn load_config() -> Result<Config> {
    // Errors auto-convert via From trait
}

Frontend error handling:

try {
    const result = await invoke('load_config');
} catch (error) {
    console.error('Command failed:', error);
}

State Management

Share data across commands using managed state:

use std::sync::Mutex;

struct AppState {
    counter: Mutex<i32>,
    config: Config,
}

#[tauri::command]
fn increment(state: tauri::State<AppState>) -> i32 {
    let mut counter = state.counter.lock().unwrap();
    *counter += 1;
    *counter
}

#[tauri::command]
fn get_config(state: tauri::State<AppState>) -> Config {
    state.config.clone()
}

pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .manage(AppState {
            counter: Mutex::new(0),
            config: Config::default(),
        })
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![increment, get_config])
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Async commands with state require owned access:

#[tauri::command]
async fn async_with_state(state: tauri::State<'_, AppState>) -> Result<String, String> {
    // Clone what you need before async operations
    let config = state.config.clone();
    // Now safe to await
    Ok(format!("{:?}", config))
}

Event System

Emit events from Rust to notify frontend of background operations:

Emitting Events

use tauri::Emitter;

#[tauri::command]
async fn long_running_task(app: AppHandle) -> Result<(), String> {
    app.emit("task-started", ()).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;

    for i in 0..100 {
        // Do work...
        app.emit("task-progress", i).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
    }

    app.emit("task-complete", "done").map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
    Ok(())
}

Listening in Frontend

import { listen } from '@tauri-apps/api/event';

const unlisten = await listen('task-progress', (event) => {
    console.log('Progress:', event.payload);
});

// Clean up when done
unlisten();

Typed Event Payloads

#[derive(Clone, Serialize)]
struct ProgressPayload {
    step: usize,
    total: usize,
    message: String,
}

app.emit("progress", ProgressPayload {
    step: 50,
    total: 100,
    message: "Processing...".to_string(),
})?;

Organizing Commands

For larger applications, organize commands in modules:

src-tauri/src/commands/mod.rs:

pub mod files;
pub mod database;
pub mod auth;

src-tauri/src/commands/files.rs:

use tauri::command;

#[command]
pub fn read_file(path: String) -> Result<String, String> {
    std::fs::read_to_string(&path).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
}

#[command]
pub fn write_file(path: String, content: String) -> Result<(), String> {
    std::fs::write(&path, content).map_err(|e| e.to_string())
}

src-tauri/src/lib.rs:

mod commands;

pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![
            commands::files::read_file,
            commands::files::write_file,
            commands::database::query,
            commands::auth::login,
        ])
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Performance Optimization

Large Data Returns

Bypass JSON serialization for binary data:

use tauri::ipc::Response;

#[tauri::command]
fn read_binary_file(path: String) -> Result<Response, String> {
    let data = std::fs::read(&path).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
    Ok(Response::new(data))
}

Streaming with Channels

For real-time data streaming:

use tauri::ipc::Channel;

#[tauri::command]
fn stream_logs(channel: Channel<String>) {
    std::thread::spawn(move || {
        loop {
            let log_line = get_next_log();
            if channel.send(log_line).is_err() {
                break; // Frontend closed channel
            }
        }
    });
}

Plugin Development

Plugin Structure

Initialize with: npx @tauri-apps/cli plugin new my-plugin

tauri-plugin-my-plugin/
├── src/
│   ├── lib.rs          # Plugin entry point
│   ├── commands.rs     # Plugin commands
│   ├── error.rs        # Error types
│   └── models.rs       # Data structures
├── permissions/        # Permission definitions
├── guest-js/           # TypeScript bindings
└── Cargo.toml

Basic Plugin

src/lib.rs:

use tauri::{
    plugin::{Builder, TauriPlugin},
    Manager, Runtime,
};

mod commands;
mod error;

pub fn init<R: Runtime>() -> TauriPlugin<R> {
    Builder::new("my-plugin")
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![
            commands::do_something
        ])
        .setup(|app, api| {
            // Initialize plugin state
            Ok(())
        })
        .build()
}

src/commands.rs:

use tauri::{command, AppHandle, Runtime};

#[command]
pub async fn do_something<R: Runtime>(app: AppHandle<R>) -> Result<String, String> {
    Ok("done".to_string())
}

Using Plugins

pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_my_plugin::init())
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Plugin Permissions

Define in permissions/default.toml:

[default]
description = "Default permissions for my-plugin"
permissions = ["allow-do-something"]

[[permission]]
identifier = "allow-do-something"
description = "Allows the do_something command"
commands.allow = ["do_something"]

See references/plugin-development.md for comprehensive plugin guidance.

Security Best Practices

Validate all input from frontend before processing
Use capabilities to explicitly allow commands in tauri.conf.json
Never trust paths - validate and sanitize file paths
Avoid shell commands when possible; use Rust APIs
Define granular permissions for plugin commands
Use the isolation pattern for applications with untrusted content

Resources

References

references/commands-reference.md - Detailed command patterns and examples
references/plugin-development.md - Complete plugin development guide

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