Google Chat Desktop

A small Rust/Tauri desktop wrapper for Google Chat.

The app opens https://chat.google.com/ in a native desktop webview and adds a simple native menu with reload, back, forward, and quit actions.

The Icon menu can switch the active window icon between the color, dark, and white Google Chat variants.

Installation

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

Windows

Run the .exe installer or the .msi package — no additional dependencies needed.

macOS

Open the .dmg, drag the app to Applications, then right-click → Open the first time to bypass Gatekeeper.

Linux

Arch Linux

# Install the pre-built package directly
sudo pacman -U google-chat-desktop-*-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

# Or build from source using the PKGBUILD
curl -O https://github.com/madratzz/tauri-google-chat/releases/latest/download/PKGBUILD
makepkg -si

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt install ./Google.Chat.Desktop_*_amd64.deb

Fedora / RPM-based

sudo rpm -i Google.Chat.Desktop-*.x86_64.rpm

AppImage (any distro)

chmod +x Google.Chat.Desktop_*_amd64.AppImage
./Google.Chat.Desktop_*_amd64.AppImage

---

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• npm
• Rust and Cargo
• Tauri platform prerequisites for your OS

For macOS, Tauri generally needs Xcode Command Line Tools:

xcode-select --install

Install Rust with:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Run

npm install
npm run dev

Build

npm run build

The bundled app will be created under src-tauri/target/release/bundle.

Notes

Google Chat authentication happens inside the Tauri webview. If Google blocks sign-in because it does not trust the embedded browser on your platform, use Google Chat in your system browser instead.

Icon Attribution

Google Chat icon from selfh.st/icons, surfaced by Dashboard Icons, licensed under CC BY 4.0.