Desktop build (Tauri)

Status: scaffolded, not verified#

This repo now has a src-tauri/ directory with a Tauri v2 config, a Cargo.toml, and a minimal main.rs. That is all that exists. Nobody has run tauri dev or tauri build against this scaffold in this environment (no Rust toolchain was installed, no binary was produced). Treat every claim below about "it will work" as unverified until a human actually runs it once and reports back.

What is verified:

• npm run typecheck and npm run build still pass with src-tauri/ present and with @tauri-apps/cli added to devDependencies. TypeScript only picks up src/ (see tsconfig.json's "include": ["src"]), so the Rust project does not interfere with the web build.
• package-lock.json was regenerated with @tauri-apps/cli resolved, so npm install should pick it up without extra steps.

What is NOT verified:

• That the app actually launches in a webview.
• That the window opens at 1280x800 with the configured min size.
• That a release bundle actually builds on any platform.
• Icons: tauri.conf.json references icons/32x32.png, icons/128x128.png, icons/128x128@2x.png, icons/icon.icns, and icons/icon.ico under src-tauri/icons/. None of those files exist yet. tauri build will fail (or the CLI's tauri icon step needs to be run) until real icon assets are generated from source art.

What a human needs to do to actually build this#

1. Install the Rust toolchain#

Tauri v2 apps are native Rust binaries with a webview shell. Install Rust via rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.org | sh

On Windows, install via the rustup-init.exe installer instead.

2. Install platform-specific dependencies#

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file \
  libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

Package names vary by distro; consult the current Tauri v2 prerequisites page since library names shift between releases (e.g. webkit2gtk 4.0 vs 4.1).

macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install). No other system packages are required. Building macOS bundles for distribution outside your own machine additionally needs an Apple Developer account for code signing and notarization.

Windows: Microsoft C++ Build Tools (via Visual Studio Installer, "Desktop development with C++" workload) plus WebView2, which ships with Windows 10 21H2+ and Windows 11 by default; older Windows 10 builds may need the WebView2 runtime installed separately.

3. Generate real icons#

Replace the placeholder icon paths in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json with real artwork. From a single source PNG (ideally 1024x1024), the Tauri CLI can generate the full icon set:

npx tauri icon path/to/source-icon.png

This writes the files into src-tauri/icons/. Until this is done, a release build will fail on the icon step.

4. Install JS dependencies#

npm install

This pulls in @tauri-apps/cli, already declared in devDependencies. That install was not attempted end-to-end in the environment that produced this scaffold beyond regenerating package-lock.json (which did succeed, implying registry access works); a full npm install should be re-run and watched for errors before relying on it.

5. Dev loop#

npm run tauri:dev

This runs tauri dev, which starts the Vite dev server (devUrl in tauri.conf.json points at the local dev server) and opens it in a native window.

6. Production build#

npm run tauri:build

This runs beforeBuildCommand (npm run build, producing dist/) and then compiles the Rust shell, embedding dist/ per frontendDist in tauri.conf.json. Output bundle locations (standard Tauri v2 layout, under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/):

• Linux: .deb, .rpm, and/or AppImage under bundle/deb, bundle/rpm, bundle/appimage.
• macOS: .app and .dmg under bundle/macos and bundle/dmg.
• Windows: .msi and/or .exe (NSIS) under bundle/msi and bundle/nsis.

7. Signing (not set up)#

No code signing identity, certificate, or notarization credentials are configured anywhere in this repo. Unsigned builds will trigger OS warnings (Gatekeeper on macOS, SmartScreen on Windows) and macOS builds cannot be notarized without an Apple Developer account and a signing identity. This is entirely open work, not started.

Data and persistence#

The game already runs against localStorage/IndexedDB in the browser (see src/persistence/local.ts), which is why the desktop shell needs no custom Rust storage code: the webview provides both APIs. No changes were made to persistence code for this task.