The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Build tiny multi-platform apps with Tauri and web tech (Interview)

Jul 15, 2022

Daniel Thompson, a software engineer renowned for his work on Tauri, shares insights on building lightweight multi-platform apps with web technologies and Rust. He discusses Tauri's journey to its 1.0 release, emphasizing its focus on security and environmental sustainability compared to Electron. Daniel explores the project's open-source roots, its resistance to venture capital, and the importance of community contributions. He also touches on performance optimizations and the role of Rust in creating fast, efficient applications, making a compelling case for developers to consider Tauri for future projects.

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ANECDOTE

Tauri's Origin Story

Tauri's origin traces back to Daniel Thompson's work with Quasar and Purism.
Initial excitement over small app sizes led to Hacker News visibility and community growth, followed by COVID burnout and VC interest.

INSIGHT

Open Source vs. Floss

Open-sourcing a project doesn't guarantee alignment with Floss community needs.
Protecting open-source projects from VC influence is crucial to maintain original vision.

ADVICE

What is Tauri?

Tauri lets you build cross-platform desktop apps with web technologies.
It combines a Rust core for security with a web UI for flexibility and performance.

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Get the app

This week we’re talking with Daniel Thompson about Tauri and their journey to their recent 1.0 release. Tauri is often compared to Electron - it’s a toolkit that lets you build software for all major desktop operating systems using web technologies. It was built for the security-focused, privacy-respecting, and environmentally-conscious software engineering community. The core libraries are written in Rust and the UI layer can be written using virtually any frontend framework. We get into all the details, why Rust, how the project was formed, their resistance (thus far) to venture capital, their full commitment to the freedom virtues of open source, and all the technical bits you need to know to consider it for your next multi-platform project.

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Featuring:

Daniel Thompson – GitHub, LinkedIn
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!