Desktop App Development

Build cross-platform desktop apps from web projects. Three production-ready frameworks: Electron (Node.js), Tauri v2 (Rust), and Wails (Go). Each uses a web frontend with a native backend for OS access.

Core Philosophy

1. Detect before recommending -- Check the project for existing framework signals before suggesting one. Never assume.
2. Web skills transfer -- All three frameworks use HTML/CSS/JS frontends. The backend language (Node.js, Rust, Go) is the key differentiator.
3. Size and performance matter -- Users notice 150 MB downloads and 300 MB memory usage. Choose the lightest framework that meets requirements.
4. Ship incrementally -- Get a working desktop wrapper first, then add native features (tray, auto-update, deep links) one at a time.
5. Test on all platforms -- Tauri and Wails use OS WebViews that render differently. Electron bundles Chromium for consistency but at size cost.