Tauri

Tauri is an open-source framework for building tiny, blazing-fast, and secure cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies. Unlike Electron, which bundles a full Chromium browser engine with each application, Tauri leverages the operating system's native webview to render the user interface. This approach significantly reduces the bundle size and memory footprint of the applications.

Key Features of Tauri:

1. Rust Backend: Tauri uses Rust for its backend logic, allowing developers to write high-performance, secure, and robust native code. This also enables direct access to operating system APIs when needed.
2. Native Webview: It utilizes the operating system's default webview (e.g., WebView2 on Windows, WKWebView on macOS, WebKitGTK on Linux) to display the web-based UI. This leads to smaller binaries and better performance compared to embedding an entire browser.
3. Frontend Agnostic: Developers can use any frontend framework they prefer, such as React, Vue, Svelte, Angular, or even vanilla HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
4. Cross-Platform: Applications built with Tauri can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux from a single codebase.
5. Security Focused: Tauri prioritizes security with features like Content Security Policy (CSP), API allowlisting, and the ability to disable Node.js integration by default, which is a common security concern in Electron.
6. Inter-process Communication (IPC): It provides a secure and efficient way for the web frontend to communicate with the Rust backend through custom commands, allowing the frontend to invoke native Rust functions.
7. Smaller Bundle Sizes: Due to the use of native webviews and a Rust backend, Tauri apps are typically much smaller in size than Electron apps.
8. Automatic Updates: Built-in support for automatic application updates.

How it works:

* Frontend: Your web application (HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript) runs inside the native webview.
* Backend: A Rust process handles all the native interactions, system calls, and any complex logic that requires performance or access to the OS. The frontend communicates with this Rust backend via IPC, invoking Rust functions (commands).

Tauri is an excellent choice for developers looking to build desktop applications with modern web technologies while prioritizing performance, security, and a minimal footprint.

// src-tauri/src/main.rs

// Prevents additional console window on Windows in release, DO NOT REMOVE!!
#![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]

// Learn more about Tauri commands at https://tauri.app/v1/guides/features/command
// This macro exposes the `greet` function to the frontend as a command.
#[tauri::command]
fn greet(name: &str) -> String {
    format!("Hello, {}! You've been greeted from Rust!", name)
}

fn main() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        // Register our `greet` command so the frontend can invoke it.
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![greet])
        // Run the Tauri application.
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

/*
To set up a new Tauri project, you would typically use:

1.  Initialize a Tauri project:
    npm create tauri-app@latest
    # or yarn create tauri-app
    # or pnpm create tauri-app

    Follow the prompts to choose your frontend framework (e.g., React, Vue, Svelte) and package manager.

2.  Navigate into your project directory:
    cd your-app-name

3.  Run the application in development mode:
    npm run tauri dev
    # or yarn tauri dev
    # or pnpm tauri dev

Frontend (e.g., src/main.js or src/App.vue) interaction example:

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

async function sendGreeting() {
  const nameInput = document.querySelector('#name-input'); // Assuming an HTML input with id='name-input'
  const name = nameInput ? nameInput.value : 'World';
  
  // Invoke the 'greet' command defined in Rust, passing a 'name' argument.
  const greeting = await invoke('greet', { name: name });
  
  console.log(greeting); // This will log: "Hello, [input_name]! You've been greeted from Rust!"
  
  // You could update a UI element, e.g., a paragraph with id='greeting-text'
  // const greetingText = document.querySelector('#greeting-text');
  // if (greetingText) greetingText.textContent = greeting;
}

// You would typically attach sendGreeting to an event, e.g., a button click:
// document.querySelector('#greet-button').addEventListener('click', sendGreeting);
*/