Building Native Cross-Platform Desktop Apps with Next.js and Tauri

The landscape of cross-platform desktop app development has evolved rapidly in recent years. Gone are the days when building a native app for Windows, macOS and Linux required completely separate codebases and specialized knowledge of each platform.

Today, developers have a wide range of options for creating desktop apps using familiar web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Frameworks like Electron, NW.js and Neutralinojs have made it possible to package web apps into native desktop binaries that can be installed and run like any other program.

But what if we could leverage the power and flexibility of a modern web framework like Next.js to build desktop apps that are not only cross-platform, but also fast, secure, and easy to maintain? Enter Tauri, a novel Rust-based framework that‘s redefining what‘s possible with web-powered desktop apps.

In this in-depth guide, we‘ll explore the process of building a native desktop app using Next.js and Tauri. We‘ll cover key concepts, walk through practical code examples, and provide insights and best practices from years of experience as a full-stack developer. Let‘s dive in!

The Rise of Next.js for Web App Development

Before we delve into the specifics of Tauri, it‘s worth taking a closer look at Next.js and why it‘s become such a popular choice for building modern web applications.

Next.js is a React-based framework that enables server-side rendering (SSR), automatic code splitting, and a host of other performance optimizations out of the box. It‘s used by some of the largest companies in the world, including Netflix, Uber, Twilio, Nike, and many others.

According to the State of JS 2022 survey, Next.js is now the most popular React framework, with 47% of respondents using it regularly. This represents a significant increase from previous years, as shown in the chart below:

(Source: State of JS 2022)

So what makes Next.js so compelling for web developers? Here are a few key advantages:

• 🚀 Server-side rendering: Next.js allows you to render React components on the server, which can dramatically improve initial load times and SEO. This is especially important for content-heavy sites and applications.

• ⚡️ Automatic code splitting: Next.js automatically splits your JavaScript bundles into smaller chunks, ensuring that only the code needed for each page is loaded. This can significantly reduce bundle sizes and improve performance.

• 🔧 Simplified API routes: With Next.js API routes, you can easily create backend API endpoints as Node.js serverless functions, without needing a separate server. This enables full-stack development with a single language and shared code.

• 🎨 CSS-in-JS support: Next.js provides built-in support for CSS-in-JS libraries like styled-components and emotion, making it easy to scope and optimize your styles.

• 📂 File-system routing: Next.js uses a file-system based router, which makes it intuitive to organize your pages and routes. You can also use dynamic routes with parameters and catch-all routes.

• 🔍 Static site generation: Next.js supports static site generation (SSG) out of the box, allowing you to pre-render pages at build time for maximum performance and SEO benefits. You can even mix SSG and SSR on a per-page basis.

With its powerful features and developer-friendly ecosystem, Next.js has become a go-to choice for building scalable, performant web applications. But can we take those same benefits and apply them to native desktop app development? That‘s where Tauri comes in.

How Tauri is Revolutionizing Desktop App Development

Tauri is a relatively new framework that takes a novel approach to building cross-platform desktop apps with web technologies. While it shares some similarities with Electron, it has a number of distinct advantages that make it a compelling choice for certain types of applications.

At its core, Tauri is a Rust-based backend that provides a bridge between a web frontend (e.g. a Next.js app) and the native operating system. It uses the system‘s own webview (WebKit on macOS, WebView2 on Windows, WebKitGTK on Linux) to render the frontend, rather than bundling a full browser like Chromium.

This architecture has several key benefits:

• Smaller bundle sizes: By leveraging the operating system‘s webview, Tauri apps can be much smaller than Electron apps. A typical Tauri app might be around 3-5MB, compared to 40-50MB for an equivalent Electron app.

• Faster performance: Tauri apps generally launch faster and use less memory than Electron apps, thanks to their smaller footprint and native integrations. This is especially noticeable on resource-constrained devices.

• Improved security: Tauri takes a secure-by-default approach, with the frontend sandbox preventing access to any native APIs unless explicitly enabled. The backend Rust process is also more secure than a Node.js runtime.

• Extensible architecture: Tauri provides a plugin system that allows you to write custom Rust code to extend the backend functionality. This can be used to add features like cryptography, media processing, or machine learning.

To quantify some of these benefits, let‘s take a look at some real-world benchmarks. In a performance test conducted by the Tauri team, a basic Tauri app used significantly less memory and CPU compared to an equivalent Electron app:

Metric	Electron	Tauri
Memory usage (MB)	180.4	17.6
CPU usage (%)	0.7	0.1
Launch time (seconds)	1.02	0.35

(Source: Tauri Performance)

As you can see, the Tauri app used almost 10x less memory and 7x less CPU than the Electron app, while launching nearly 3x faster. These performance advantages can make a significant difference in user experience, especially for resource-intensive applications.

Of course, raw performance isn‘t the only factor to consider when choosing a framework for desktop app development. Tauri also offers a number of other benefits that make it well-suited for certain types of applications:

• Native OS integrations: Tauri provides a unified API for accessing native operating system features like menus, notifications, and dialogs. This makes it easy to create desktop apps that feel native and integrate smoothly with the underlying platform.

• Cross-platform compatibility: With Tauri, you can write your frontend code once and package it for multiple platforms, without needing to maintain separate codebases. Tauri abstracts away many of the platform-specific differences, making it simple to build and distribute your app for Windows, macOS and Linux.

• Familiar web tooling: If you‘re already familiar with web development tools and workflows, you‘ll feel right at home with Tauri. You can use your favorite libraries, frameworks and build tools to create your frontend, while Tauri handles the native integration and packaging.

• Strong typing with Rust: Tauri is built with Rust, a systems programming language known for its performance, safety, and concurrency features. Rust‘s strong typing and ownership system help prevent common bugs and memory leaks, while also enabling powerful optimizations.

• Growing ecosystem: Although still young compared to Electron, the Tauri ecosystem is growing rapidly. There are a number of official and community-maintained plugins for common use cases, as well as bindings for popular frontend frameworks like React, Vue, and Svelte.

With its combination of performance, security, and developer experience advantages, Tauri offers a compelling option for building native desktop apps with web technologies. By pairing it with a powerful frontend framework like Next.js, you can create even more capable and feature-rich applications.

Use Cases and Real-World Examples

So what kinds of desktop apps are well-suited for building with Tauri and Next.js? Here are a few potential use cases and real-world examples:

1. Productivity Tools: Applications like note-taking apps, task managers, and time-tracking tools can benefit from Tauri‘s native integrations and performance optimizations. For example, Nota is a Markdown-based note-taking app built with Tauri and Vue.js.

2. Developer Tools: IDEs, code editors, and other developer tools can leverage Tauri‘s extensibility to add powerful features like code analysis, refactoring, and plugin systems. Zed is a high-performance code editor built with Tauri and React.

3. Multimedia Apps: Video players, music producers, and photo editors can take advantage of Tauri‘s efficient resource usage and GPU acceleration. Glide is a tool for building custom desktop apps with a drag-and-drop interface, powered by Tauri and Vue.js.

4. System Utilities: Monitoring tools, backup solutions, and other system utilities can use Tauri‘s low-level OS APIs to interact with hardware and manage system resources. Rememory is a cross-platform memory game built with Tauri and Svelte.

5. Blockchain and Crypto: Crypto wallets, blockchain explorers, and other decentralized apps can benefit from Tauri‘s security features and Rust backend. Anode is a decentralized peer-to-peer communication app built with Tauri and React.

These are just a few examples of the kinds of desktop apps that can be built with Tauri and web technologies. As the ecosystem continues to grow and mature, we can expect to see even more diverse and innovative use cases emerge.

Conclusion and Future Directions

Building native desktop apps with web technologies has never been more accessible or powerful, thanks to frameworks like Tauri and Next.js. By combining the performance, security, and native integration features of Tauri with the developer experience and rich ecosystem of Next.js, you can create desktop apps that are fast, reliable, and easy to maintain.

As a full-stack developer with years of experience building web and desktop apps, I‘ve been impressed by the rapid progress and innovation happening in the Tauri community. The framework‘s unique architecture and Rust-based backend provide a solid foundation for creating high-quality, cross-platform desktop apps.

Of course, Tauri is still a relatively young project compared to more established frameworks like Electron. There are certainly areas where it can continue to improve and mature, such as:

• Mobile support: Currently, Tauri is focused on desktop apps, but there is growing interest in mobile support as well. The ability to use the same codebase for desktop and mobile apps could be a game-changer for many developers.

• Accessibility: As with any web-based framework, ensuring full accessibility support can be a challenge. The Tauri team is actively working on improving the framework‘s accessibility features and documentation.

• Community Resources: While the Tauri community is growing quickly, there is still a need for more learning resources, tutorials, and examples. Continued investment in documentation, guides, and community support will be crucial for attracting new developers.

Despite these challenges, I believe that Tauri has a bright future ahead of it. Its unique approach to desktop app development, combined with the power and flexibility of web technologies, makes it an attractive choice for a wide range of applications.

As the framework continues to evolve and mature, I‘m excited to see what new possibilities emerge. Whether you‘re building a productivity tool, a developer utility, or a multimedia app, Tauri and Next.js provide a compelling stack for creating native desktop experiences with the speed, reach, and familiarity of the web.