Introduction

Tauri is a framework for building tiny, blazing fast binaries for all major desktop platforms. Developers can integrate any front-end framework that compiles to HTML, JS and CSS for building their user interface.

Why Tauri?

Unlike Electron which bundles Chromium, Tauri uses the underlying OS's webview. This results in:

Architecture

The core of a Tauri app is written in Rust, which handles system interactions. The UI is just a web app.

Quick Start

Create a new Tauri app with one command:

$npm create tauri-app@latest

Follow the prompts to select your frontend stack (e.g., React/TypeScript).

Calling Rust from React

With Tauri's invoke system, calling native code is simple.

Rust Command (`main.rs`):

#[tauri::command]
fn greet(name: &str) -> String {
    format!("Hello, {}! You've been greeted from Rust!", name)
}

React Component:

import { invoke } from "@tauri-apps/api/tauri";
function App() {
  const [greetMsg, setGreetMsg] = useState("");
  async function greet() {
    setGreetMsg(await invoke("greet", { name: "World" }));
  }
  return <button onClick={greet}>Greet</button>;
}

Conclusion

Tauri is changing the desktop app landscape by proving you don't need a heavy runtime to build cross-platform apps with web technologies.