Proposal: Use Tauri 2.0 for Native Desktop Application

[haslinghuis]

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 native support for desktop and android (Tauri) #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