ARCHIVED: Tauri has been replaced by Electron. This skill is no longer active. For Electron desktop app work, use the electron skill instead. Historical reference kept below for context.

Tauri Debugger Skill

Debug Tauri 2.x desktop app issues including dialogs, CSP, plugins, and Vite integration.

Trigger Patterns

• Tauri dialog not opening / not appearing
• File save dialog doesn't work
• CSP (Content Security Policy) errors in Tauri
• virtual:pwa-register errors
• Click handlers not working in Tauri
• Tauri dev vs build differences
• XDG Portal issues on Linux

Quick Diagnostics

1. Check Tauri Detection in Vite

// vite.config.ts should have:
const isTauri =
  process.env.TAURI_ENV_PLATFORM !== undefined ||  // Build
  process.env.TAURI_DEV !== undefined              // Dev

// tauri.conf.json must set TAURI_DEV in dev:
"beforeDevCommand": "TAURI_DEV=true npm run dev"

2. Check XDG Portal (Linux)

# Portal service running?
systemctl --user status xdg-desktop-portal

# zenity installed (fallback)?
which zenity || echo "INSTALL: sudo apt install zenity"

# FileChooser portal working?
gdbus call --session \
    --dest org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop \
    --object-path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop \
    --method org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get \
    org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser version

3. Check PWA Plugin Configuration

WRONG (causes CSP errors):

!isTauri && VitePWA({ ... })  // No stub modules provided!

CORRECT:

VitePWA({
  disable: isTauri,  // Provides empty stub modules
  ...
})

4. Check Dialog Plugin (Cargo.toml)

# For Linux with XDG Portal support:
tauri-plugin-dialog = { version = "2.6", default-features = false, features = ["xdg-portal"] }

# NOTE: Can't enable both gtk3 AND xdg-portal - they conflict!

5. Check Capabilities (src-tauri/capabilities/default.json)

{
  "permissions": [
    "dialog:default",
    "dialog:allow-save",
    "dialog:allow-open",
    "fs:default",
    {
      "identifier": "fs:allow-write-text-file",
      "allow": [
        { "path": "$DOWNLOAD/**" },
        { "path": "$HOME/**" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Common Issues & Solutions

Issue: CSP Error virtual:pwa-register/vue

Symptoms:

• Console shows "Refused to load virtual:pwa-register/vue because it does not appear in the script-src directive"
• Click handlers don't fire
• Vue events seem broken

Root Cause: PWA plugin conditionally excluded but import statements still exist in code. No stub modules provided.

Solution:

// vite.config.ts
VitePWA({
  disable: isTauri,  // This provides empty stub modules
  ...
})

Issue: isTauri is false during tauri dev

Symptoms:

• PWA enabled in Tauri dev mode
• Tauri-specific code not running

Root Cause: TAURI_ENV_PLATFORM only set during tauri build, not tauri dev.

Solution:

// tauri.conf.json
{
  "build": {
    "beforeDevCommand": "TAURI_DEV=true npm run dev"
  }
}

Issue: Dialog doesn't appear on Linux

Symptoms:

• dialog.save() returns immediately with no dialog
• No errors in console

Checklist:

1. Install zenity: sudo apt install zenity
2. Check XDG Portal is running: systemctl --user status xdg-desktop-portal
3. Use xdg-portal feature in Cargo.toml (not gtk3)
4. Ensure DISPLAY/WAYLAND_DISPLAY env vars are set

Issue: Blocking dialog freezes app

Symptoms:

• App hangs when calling blocking_save_file()

Root Cause: Blocking API can't acquire GTK MainContext from certain threads.

Solution: Use async API instead:

#[tauri::command(async)]
async fn save_file(app: AppHandle) -> Option<PathBuf> {
    app.dialog()
        .file()
        .save_file()
        .await
        .map(|p| p.into_path())
        .flatten()
}

Key Files Reference

File	Purpose
vite.config.ts	Tauri detection, PWA disable
src-tauri/tauri.conf.json	beforeDevCommand, CSP, devUrl
src-tauri/Cargo.toml	Plugin versions and features
src-tauri/capabilities/default.json	Permissions for dialogs, fs
src-tauri/src/lib.rs	Rust commands

Version Compatibility

Package	Minimum Version	Notes
@tauri-apps/plugin-dialog	2.6.0	XDG Portal support
@tauri-apps/plugin-fs	2.4.5	Better error messages
tauri-plugin-dialog (Rust)	2.6	xdg-portal feature
zenity (Linux)	any	Fallback dialog renderer

WebKitGTK Testing Workflow (CRITICAL — read before debugging)

The Problem with Blind Deploys

WebKitGTK bugs only appear in Tauri — NOT in Chrome/Firefox/Safari. Deploying fixes without testing in WebKitGTK leads to wasted build cycles. Use these testing methods:

Method 1: Python WebKitGTK 4.1 Wrapper (Fastest for CSS)

Uses the exact same engine as Tauri's wry (libwebkit2gtk-4.1). Injects .tauri-app class for CSS parity.

# Start Vite on port 6366
npx vite --port 6366 &

# Open WebKitGTK 4.1 window with Tauri CSS parity
python3 scripts/webkit-dev.py

• CSS changes auto-reload via HMR — no Rust rebuild
• Right-click → Inspect Element for DevTools
• Limitation: Cannot reproduce CSP issues or tauri:// protocol bugs (uses http://localhost)

Method 2: cargo tauri dev (For Tauri-specific bugs)

# Terminal 1: Start Vite manually
TAURI_DEV=true npm run dev

# Terminal 2: Run Tauri (skip beforeDevCommand)
cargo tauri dev --no-dev-server-wait

Method 3: Epiphany (GNOME Web) — WRONG ENGINE

Epiphany uses WebKitGTK 6.0 (GTK4), Tauri uses WebKitGTK 4.1 (GTK3). Different rendering behavior. DO NOT rely on Epiphany for Tauri bug reproduction.

When Each Method Works

Issue Type	Python Wrapper	cargo tauri dev	Production Build
CSS layout/clipping	✅	✅	✅
CSS with .tauri-app overrides	✅ (injected)	✅	✅
CSP blocking styles	❌	❌ (no CSP in dev)	✅ only
tauri:// protocol issues	❌	❌	✅ only
NPopover/dropdown visibility	✅	✅	may differ (CSP)

Key Insight: Dev vs Production Differences

• Dev mode (cargo tauri dev): Loads from http://localhost:5546 — no CSP nonce injection
• Production build (cargo tauri build): Loads from tauri://localhost/ — CSP nonces added to all <style> tags at compile time
• Runtime-injected <style> tags (from CSS-in-JS like Naive UI's css-render) get silently blocked in production

CSP + CSS-in-JS (Naive UI) — CRITICAL

The Problem

Naive UI uses css-render which injects <style> tags at runtime via document.head.appendChild(). In Tauri production builds, the CSP nonce system blocks these runtime-injected styles because they lack the compile-time nonce. This makes components like NPopover, NDropdown, NSelect invisible (DOM exists but has zero styling).

The Fix

// src-tauri/tauri.conf.json → app.security
{
  "dangerousDisableAssetCspModification": ["style-src"],
  "csp": {
    "style-src": "'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://fonts.googleapis.com",
    ...
  }
}

dangerousDisableAssetCspModification: ["style-src"] tells Tauri NOT to add nonces to style-src, so 'unsafe-inline' actually works for css-render's runtime style injection.

Reference: Tauri Discussion #8578

Diagnosing CSP Issues

Build with devtools enabled to see CSP violation errors:

cargo tauri build --debug
# Then right-click → Inspect → Console
# Look for: "Refused to apply inline style because it violates..."

NPopover Tips for Tauri

• raw prop is fine — strips Naive UI wrapper, uses custom styling
• to="body" teleport works correctly with CSP fix
• If dropdown appears with double shadow: check if raw is missing (Naive UI wrapper adds its own background/shadow)

WebKitGTK CSS Gotchas (confirmed bugs)

Issue	Cause	Fix
Sidebar items 24px wide	contain: layout on parent	Remove layout from contain
overflow: clip hides content	Not supported in WebKitGTK	Use overflow: hidden + /* WebKitGTK-safe */
display: inline-flex collapses in flex chains	WebKitGTK sizes to intrinsic content	Use display: flex; width: 100%
Fonts show as "serif"	False positive in test — "sans-serif" contains "serif"	Use regex /(?<![a-z-])serif/
Nested <button> breaks clicks	Invalid HTML per spec	Use <span role="button" tabindex="0">

Related Skills

• supabase-debugger - For Supabase connection issues in Tauri
• dev-debugging - General Vue/Pinia debugging
• tauri - Build, sign, deploy pipeline