Building – AnyCowork

Guide for building AnyCowork Tauri desktop application.

Prerequisites

Rust: 1.77.2+ (rustup.rs (opens in a new tab))
Node.js: 18+ (nodejs.org (opens in a new tab))

System Dependencies (Linux only):

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev patchelf
 
# Fedora
sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel libappindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel
 
# Arch
sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1 libappindicator-gtk3 librsvg

Development Mode

Run backend and frontend together with hot-reload:

# Install frontend dependencies (first time only)
cd frontend && npm install && cd ..
 
# Run the app in dev mode
cd src-tauri
cargo tauri dev

This starts:

Vite dev server for frontend (hot-reload)
Rust backend with debug symbols
Native window with DevTools access

Tip: Press Ctrl+Shift+I in the app window to open DevTools.

Production Build

Quick Build

npm run tauri build

Output location: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

Build Outputs by Platform

Platform	Format	Location
Linux	`.deb`	`target/release/bundle/deb/`
Linux	`.AppImage`	`target/release/bundle/appimage/`
macOS	`.app`	`target/release/bundle/macos/`
macOS	`.dmg`	`target/release/bundle/dmg/`
Windows	`.exe`	`target/release/bundle/nsis/`
Windows	`.msi`	`target/release/bundle/msi/`

Platform-Specific Instructions

Linux

# Build all Linux formats
npm run tauri build
 
# Build specific format
npm run tauri build -- --bundles deb
npm run tauri build -- --bundles appimage

macOS

# Build .app and .dmg
npm run tauri build
 
# For Apple Silicon (M1/M2)
npm run tauri build -- --target aarch64-apple-darwin
 
# For Intel Macs
npm run tauri build -- --target x86_64-apple-darwin
 
# Universal binary (both architectures)
npm run tauri build -- --target universal-apple-darwin

Code Signing (for distribution):

# Set signing identity
export APPLE_SIGNING_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAM_ID)"
 
# Build with signing
npm run tauri build

Windows

# Build .exe and .msi
npm run tauri build
 
# Build specific format
npm run tauri build -- --bundles nsis
npm run tauri build -- --bundles msi

Code Signing (optional):

# Set certificate path and password
set TAURI_PRIVATE_KEY=path/to/key.pfx
set TAURI_KEY_PASSWORD=your_password
 
npm run tauri build

Cross-Compilation

Linux → Windows

# Install cross-compilation toolchain
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
sudo apt install mingw-w64
 
# Build
npm run tauri build -- --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

Using Docker

# Build for Linux in Docker
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/app -w /app rust:latest \
  sh -c "apt update && apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev && \
         cargo tauri build"

CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Create .github/workflows/build.yml:

name: Build Release
 
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'
 
jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        include:
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
          - os: macos-latest
            target: x86_64-apple-darwin
          - os: macos-latest
            target: aarch64-apple-darwin
          - os: windows-latest
            target: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
 
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
 
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Install Rust
        uses: dtolnay/rust-action@stable
        with:
          targets: ${{ matrix.target }}
 
      - name: Install Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
 
      - name: Install Linux dependencies
        if: matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest'
        run: |
          sudo apt update
          sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install
 
      - name: Build Tauri app
        run: npm run tauri build -- --target ${{ matrix.target }}
 
      - name: Upload artifacts
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: anycowork-${{ matrix.target }}
          path: src-tauri/target/${{ matrix.target }}/release/bundle/*

Configuration

Tauri Configuration

Edit src-tauri/tauri.conf.json:

{
  "identifier": "com.anycowork.app",
  "productName": "AnyCowork",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "bundle": {
    "active": true,
    "targets": "all",
    "icon": [
      "icons/32x32.png",
      "icons/128x128.png",
      "icons/128x128@2x.png",
      "icons/icon.icns",
      "icons/icon.ico"
    ]
  }
}

App Icons

Generate icons from a source image:

# Using Tauri CLI
cargo tauri icon path/to/icon.png

Or manually place icons in src-tauri/icons/:

32x32.png - 32x32 pixels
128x128.png - 128x128 pixels
128x128@2x.png - 256x256 pixels
icon.icns - macOS icon bundle
icon.ico - Windows icon

Troubleshooting

Build Fails with Missing WebKit

Linux: Install system dependencies (see Prerequisites).

Solution:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

Frontend Not Loading

Ensure frontend is built:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run build

Check src-tauri/tauri.conf.json has correct frontendDist path.

Large Binary Size

Optimize in Cargo.toml:

[profile.release]
lto = true
codegen-units = 1
strip = true

Slow First Build

First build compiles all dependencies. Subsequent builds are faster.

Tip: Use cargo build separately to pre-compile Rust dependencies:

cd src-tauri
cargo build --release  # Pre-compile deps
cargo tauri build      # Much faster now

Quick Reference

# Development
cd src-tauri && cargo tauri dev
 
# Production build
cd src-tauri && cargo tauri build
 
# Build specific bundle
cd src-tauri && cargo tauri build --bundles deb
 
# Generate icons
cargo tauri icon source-icon.png
 
# Check Tauri setup
cargo tauri info

Connectors & Integrations UI Design Guidelines