For littler personal projects, I’ve used python’s webview to avoid having to bundle a whole browser when the app (it uses the operating system’s default engine). It also didn’t require a learn a whole framework… I could just hook a web front end to some python functions, and run it as a desktop app.
Tauri is solid, but after 10 years of navigating the space and shipping desktop apps. My best advice is JUST USE ELECTRON. I know! it hurts to ship a bloated shell, but it works like charm
Yesterday was kicking the tires on
https://helixnotes.com/, a Tauri app. It's really slick and performance is really good. Loads fast, opens quick, etc.
So, I see that as evidence that Tauri is really solid.
egui is very neat indeed. With agentic coding, Rust UI dev is as easy as electron dev without the bloat. Electron was relevant when we had to manually code stuff.
For littler personal projects, I’ve used python’s webview to avoid having to bundle a whole browser when the app (it uses the operating system’s default engine). It also didn’t require a learn a whole framework… I could just hook a web front end to some python functions, and run it as a desktop app.
Tauri is solid, but after 10 years of navigating the space and shipping desktop apps. My best advice is JUST USE ELECTRON. I know! it hurts to ship a bloated shell, but it works like charm
There is Slint - https://github.com/slint-ui/slint/
- UI renders natively (without a browser)
- Slint uses a declarative UI that should be intuitive to use for developers / designers / agents.
- Can be interfaced from different languages such as Rust / JS / TS / Python
(disclaimer, I am working for Slint)
Yesterday was kicking the tires on https://helixnotes.com/, a Tauri app. It's really slick and performance is really good. Loads fast, opens quick, etc.
So, I see that as evidence that Tauri is really solid.
Sciter[1] has been around for a while and ships much smaller executables.
[1]: https://sciter.com/
Tauri, electrobun, React Native for Desktop, Flutter, actually building a proper native app... there's loads of alternatives.
I maintain a Tauri app. It's fine. I've not seen any reason to go back to Electron.
I don't think that it's a common thing. There are many alternatives like MoBrowser, Electrobun, Wails. The choice depends on the project requirements.
So many, Flutter being one, as well as Rust GUIs like egui, iced, Dioxus Native etc.
tauri if you still want a web ui, otherwise iced/egui and skip the browser stack
egui is very neat indeed. With agentic coding, Rust UI dev is as easy as electron dev without the bloat. Electron was relevant when we had to manually code stuff.