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Description
Proposal: Use Tauri 2.0 for Native Desktop Application
🎯 Objective
Transition from a purely browser-based deployment of the Betaflight Configurator to a native desktop application using Tauri 2.0, while preserving the current PWA frontend.
✅ Benefits of Tauri 2.0
- Lightweight native wrapper around web frontends (Rust backend)
- Secure and sandboxed communication
- Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Easy integration with OS-level features (USB, networking, mDNS)
🧱 Phase 1: Add Initial Tauri Support
- Status - Add initial Tauri v2 support #4379
Tasks:
- Add Tauri 2.0 as optional backend for the project.
- Configure tauri.conf.json to point to Vite build output.
- Add basic Tauri build and dev scripts (pnpm tauri dev, pnpm tauri build).
- Ensure clean separation of web vs native contexts (via feature detection or platform guards).
🔌 Phase 2: Add Serial Support
- Plugin: tauri-plugin-serial
Tasks:
- Install the plugin in Cargo.toml
- Register the plugin in src-tauri/src/main.rs
- Expose serial open/write/read functionality to frontend via JavaScript bindings
- Ensure compatibility with Betaflight USB devices (auto-detection, correct baud rates)
🔌 Phase 3: Add DFU Support
- Plugin: rusb or dfu-libusb
Pro's:
- Built on rusb, which is cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Provides a high-level DFU interface: handles state transitions, block transfers, detaching, etc.
- Much easier than implementing DFU from scratch over rusb
- Can be embedded cleanly in a Tauri command and called from the frontend
🌐 Phase 4: Add Network Plugin
- Plugin: tauri-plugin-network
Use Cases:
- Detect current network state and interfaces (used for device auto-discovery and status UI)
Tasks:
- Add to Cargo.toml and register plugin
- Provide utility commands to frontend (e.g., get IP address, interface list)
🌍 Phase 5: Add mDNS Support
- Add library: mdns-sd
Use Case:
- Auto-discover flight controllers or telemetry devices over LAN (e.g., WiFi-enabled devices)
Tasks:
- Create Tauri command to asynchronously browse for _betaflight._udp.local, _http._tcp.local, etc.
- Return list of IP addresses + ports to frontend
- Optionally: implement mDNS advertisement for PC-hosted services
📦 Packaging & Distribution
- Package app via pnpm tauri build
- Generate platform-specific binaries (AppImage, MSI, DMG, etc.)
- Sign and notarize if targeting macOS and Windows
🔄 Ongoing Considerations
- Fallback to Web Serial when Tauri not available (pure browser use case)
- Use feature flags or tauri.isAvailable to toggle native functionality
- Consider eventual migration to full native runtime (e.g., Capacitor for mobile + Tauri for desktop)
- Requires changes to serial, serial_backend and port_handler
- Requires changes to STM32, DFU protocol and related MSP helpers.
📋 Summary Table
| Feature | Plugin / Tool | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Tauri 2.0 | PR #4379 | ✅ In Progress |
| Serial Port | tauri-plugin-serial | ⏳ Planned |
| DFU | dfu-libusb | ⏳ Planned |
| Network | tauri-plugin-network | ⏳ Planned |
| mDNS Browser | mdns-sd crate | ⏳ Planned |