The Tauri 2.0 Release Candidate: Building Desktop Applications with Rust

Exciting news for developers as Tauri announces the release candidate for version 2.0 on August 1. This release comes after a year and a half of beta versions and over a year of alpha releases. The Tauri project has been working hard to make mobile a first-class citizen in their framework, leading to a foundation that can support mobile development. Despite the delays, mobile plugins are available in Tauri’s official repository and apps have already been successfully built for Android and iOS using Tauri.

So, what exactly is Tauri? It’s a framework that allows developers to build desktop applications in Rust with a focus on a small footprint. Compared to apps built with the Electron framework, Tauri applications are lighter and faster. Developers have the freedom to use any front-end framework that compiles to HTML, JavaScript, and CSS for building user interfaces, while leveraging languages like Rust, Kotlin, and Swift for back-end logic.

The stable version of Tauri 2.0 is set to be released later this month. This version builds on the improvements introduced in Tauri 1.7.0, such as enhanced shell API performance and a custom Windows codesign script. One of the key features in Tauri 2.0 is the ability for the Tauri CLI to connect to the built-in development server when targeting Android or iOS, making development more seamless and secure. No longer will developers need to expose their development server to the public network, enhancing the overall development experience.

With Tauri 2.0, developers can look forward to a more robust framework that simplifies desktop application development and enhances the capabilities for mobile app development. Stay tuned for the official release of Tauri 2.0 and explore the endless possibilities of building cross-platform applications with Rust.