Tauri is a framework for building desktop applications using a Rust backend and web frontend technologies. It renders the frontend interface through the system's native WebView, rather than bundling a complete Chromium browser like Electron.
Core architecture includes:
- Frontend Layer: Can use any web framework (React, Vue, Svelte, etc.)
- Core Layer: Rust-written backend logic providing system API access
- WebView Layer: Uses the operating system's native WebView (WKWebView on macOS, WebView2 on Windows, WebKitGTK on Linux)
Main advantages:
- Smaller installation package size (typically 80-90% smaller than Electron)
- Lower memory footprint
- Better performance
- Enhanced security (default minimum permission principle)
- More flexible build configuration
Tauri uses IPC (Inter-Process Communication) mechanisms to enable communication between the frontend and Rust backend, achieving bidirectional data transfer through invoke and emit methods.