Programming

Will Tauri become the next big thing to build desktop apps?

Tauri is a free, open-source framework that allows developers to build minimal and compact desktop apps with any JavaScript front-end library.

Hamza Mousa

• 3 min read

Rust is a general-purpose statically-typed programming language that focuses on performance, safety, and concurrency. As it is popularity is growing, Rust community gained a proper attentive for Electron, which allows developers to build a desktop apps using web technologies, HTML, JavaScript, and JavaScript frameworks. So, here comes Tauri.

Tauri is a free, open-source framework that allows developers to build minimal and compact desktop apps with any JavaScript front-end library.

It currently supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. However, developers should expect mobile and  WebAssembly support in the near future.

Tauri is in active development, and it is gaining new features, bug fixes with every release.

As it is the community is still small, and few applications are built using it. Also, the documents are still in development and missing some essential parts. However, the source code for many apps are available and can work as a great reference for newcomers.  

Unlike Electron and similar Node.js based desktop frameworks, Tauri does not require localhost to run the apps, and does not use Chromium to run the web app which lowers the application size.

Application built with Tauri

Here are some apps built with the Tauri framework:

mdSilo is an outstanding open-source note-taking app for the active mind
What is mdSilo?mdSilo is a super lightweight knowledge-base and note-taking software for people who constantly taking notes. It leverages Markdown for note-taking, internal tagging and backlinks, and building a connected network between notes for easy browsing. mdSilo is built using Tauri, a revolu…
MEDevel.comHamza Musa
UsTaxes is an open-source free tax filing app for the USA
What is UsTaxes? UsTaxes is a free, open-source tax filing application that can be used to file the Federal 1040 form. It is available in both web and desktop versions. It is provided free of charge and requires no sharing of personal data. Interested in contributing? Get Started Supported Income
MEDevel.comHamza Musa
Orange is an open-source fast desktop search engine
Orange is a super lightweight open-source desktop search engine that allows you to search for and inside your local files and folders. Its compact tiny size because it is written using Tauri; a revolutionary Rust-based framework for building desktop using web technologies. Orange in actionUnder the…
MEDevel.comHamza Musa

Features

  1. Easy to setup, install, configure and use
  2. Lightweight app
  3. Minimal footprint
  4. Command-line app
  5. It comes with JS API that works well with the Rust backend
  6. It offers Vue CLI plugin for Tauri
  7. Supports HOT reload
  8. Self-update
  9. Copy buffer
  10. Supports multi-window mode
  11. It supports transparent window mode
  12. Tray icon
  13. It offers a built-in system notification
  14. Builds Linux, macOS, and Windows binaries in no-time.
  15. Faster lunchtime than other frameworks on Linux, Windows, and macOS
  16. Supports Multithreading
  17. Custom App Icon
  18. Supports Sidecar Binaries

Platforms

Tauri runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. It only requires Rust, and Node.js installed on your system.

It supports application building for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with many custom features like menu app for macOS, Tray icon support, App icons, Se

License

  • Code: (c) 2015 - 2021 - The Tauri Programme within The Commons Conservancy.
  • MIT or MIT/Apache 2.0 where applicable.
  • Logo: CC-BY-NC-ND

Resources