Build a Desktop App with Tauri 2.0 (No Electron)
· Tutorials
Build a cross-platform desktop app with Tauri 2.0, React, and Vite — 2.8 MB instead of 180 MB. Real gotchas from a first-time Rust developer.
Last updated: July 9, 2026 · 5-minute read
My first Tauri build compiled to 2.8 MB. The equivalent Electron app I had built two months prior for the same project shipped at 180 MB. That 98.4% size reduction is not a typo — it is the difference between bundling a Chromium runtime and calling native OS APIs through a thin Rust bridge.
Setting Up Tauri 2.0 with React + Vite
The init process is straightforward if you have Node and Rust installed. I ran the scaffolding command and picked React as my frontend template. Tauri 2.0 uses Vite under the hood, so the dev experience is identical to any React SPA — hot module replacement, fast refresh, the works.
One thing that bit me: Rust toolchain versioning. The Tauri docs recommend Rust 1.77 or later, but I was on 1.76 from an older project. The error message was unhelpful — just a cascade of crate compilation failures. A Reddit thread on r/Tauri had someone describing the exact same issue. Upgrading via rustup fixed it in 90 seconds.
The project structure splits cleanly into a src-tauri/ folder for Rust backend code and a src/ folder for React frontend. Commands you want to expose from Rust to JavaScript go into an invoke handler system. Here is what a basic command looks like:
You call it from the frontend with invoke('greet', { name: 'World' }). The serialization happens automatically through serde — no manual JSON parsing required.
The Build Size Difference Is Real
I compared the release builds side by side. The Electron app — a minimal window with a React frontend and no assets — came in at 180.4 MB on macOS. The Tauri equivalent was 2.8 MB. On Windows the gap was even wider: 172 MB vs 1.9 MB.
A Reddit thread on r/rust last month had a solid breakdown of why this happens. Electron ships a full Chromium rendering engine and a Node.js runtime. Tauri uses the system's native WebView — WebKit on macOS, WebView2 on Windows. You are not bundling a browser. You are borrowing the one the OS already has.
The startup time difference is noticeable too. The Electron app took 1.2 seconds to show a window on my M2 MacBook. Tauri was under 200 milliseconds. For a simple utility app, that matters more than most people admit.
The Rust Learning Curve — What Actually Stopped Me
I am not a Rust developer. I write TypeScript and React for a living. The parts of Rust that slowed me down were not the ones I expected.
Ownership and borrowing took about two hours of focused reading to click. The compiler errors are famously helpful — someone on X posted a screenshot of a 14-line Rust error that basically wrote the fix for you. I found that accurate. Where I struggled was the async ecosystem. Calling async Rust code from a Tauri command requires wrapping it in tauri::asyncruntime::blockon or making the command itself async, and the docs on which approach to use when are scattered across three different pages.
Another gotcha: file system permissions. Tauri 2.0 introduced a capability-based permission system. Your app cannot read or write files without explicitly declaring scopes in a JSON config. Coming from Electron where you have full Node.js access by default, this felt restrictive — but it is the right call for security.
Common Gotchas I Hit
The WebView2 runtime on Windows is not pre-installed on older machines. You need to either bundle the installer or handle the missing runtime gracefully. I spent an hour debugging a blank window before finding a r/Tauri post that explained this.
On macOS, code signing is required for distribution. The free Apple developer certificate works for local testing, but Ad Hoc distribution is more involved than Electron's drag-and-drop DMG approach. Not a dealbreaker — just something nobody warns you about upfront.
Auto-updates work differently too. Tauri uses a custom updater that requires hosting JSON metadata and signatures. Electron's electron-updater just works with GitHub releases out of the box. I ended up writing a small update server for Tauri — not hard, but not zero effort.
Was It Worth It
For a utility app where size and startup speed matter — yes, absolutely. For something that needs deep OS integration or complex native modules, the Rust learning curve is a real cost. I would not recommend Tauri for a team that has no Rust experience and a tight deadline.
This entire portfolio site is built with web tech, and seeing how far that stack can stretch — from a browser to a native desktop window — is genuinely exciting. Check out the projects section to see what else I have shipped, or head over to the lab for experiments that did not make the cut.
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Not affiliated with Tauri or the Rust Foundation. Tools used: Tauri 2.0, React 19, Vite 6, Rust 1.82.