archived-rfcs/texts/0005-tauri-config-restructure.md

• Feature Name: tauri_config_restructure
• Start Date: 2023-12-20
• RFC PR: tauri-apps/rfcs#13
• Tracking Issue:

Summary

Restructuring the tauri.conf.json for more simplicity, consistency and clarity.

Motivation

The current tauri.conf.json has a bunch of objects that don't necessarily follow a rule that could reason why they exist there and thus makes it awkward to figure out where to add new fields for example tauri > bundle object is a configuration for the CLI, why does it exist inside tauri object, another example is the plugins object which is a tauri feature, why does it exist outside of tauri object? These inconsistencies will make it harder to add new fields to the config.

Guide-level explanation

• Unpack package fields to the root object.
• Rename tauri object to app.
• Move tauri > bundle > identifier to the root object as it is used by other places in tauri other than bundling.
• Remove bundle > updater as the only useful key it has, is pubkey field and that should be moveed to plugin > updater > pubkey. This will require changes in the CLI to only sign the bundles when TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY key is set . This will also fix a huge DX when using tauri-plugin-updater and you endup having to configure updater-related configs once in bundle > updater and plugin > updater.
• Move build > withGlobalTauri to the new app > withGlobaltauri object.
• Move tauri > pattern to app > security > pattern and make it accept a simple string for brownfield.
• Move tauri > cli and tauri > update fields to plugins > cli and plugins > update as they are plugins now.
• Rename build > distDir to build > frontendDist to explicitly set the intent of the option.
• Rename build > devPath to build > devUrl and only accept urls, if users don't have a devServer, they should remove this field and only set build > frontendDist which will make the CLI start its built-in devServer or fallback to embed the assets if --no-dev-server is used.
• Move tauri > bundle to root object.

Current Config

New Config

{ "build": { "beforeDevCommand": "pnpm dev", "beforeBuildCommand": "pnpm build", "devPath": "http://localhost:8080/", "distDir": "../src", "withGlobalTauri": true }, "package": { "productName": "tauri-app", "version": "0.0.0" }, "tauri": { "allowlist": { "all": true }, "bundle": { "active": true, "targets": "all", "identifier": "com.taasduri.dev", "icon": [ "icons/32x32.png", "icons/128x128.png", "icons/128x128@2x.png", "icons/icon.icns", "icons/icon.ico" ] }, "updater": { "active": true, "pubkey": "", "endpoints": ["http://localhost:8080/update.json"], "windows": { "installMode": "basicUi" } }, "cli": {}, "macOSPrivateApi": false, "security": { "csp": null }, "pattern": { "use": "brownfield" }, "systemTray": { "iconPath": "./path/to/icon" }, "windows": [ { "title": "tauri-app", "width": 800, "height": 600 } ] } }

{ "productName": "tauri-app", "version": "0.1.0", "identifier": "com.tauri.dev", "build": { "beforeDevCommand": "pnpm dev", "beforeBuildCommand": "pnpm build", "devUrl": "http://localhost:8080/", "frontendDist": "../src" // or ["../src/index.html", "../src/main.js"] if need to include specific files }, "app": { "windows": [ { "title": "tauri-app", "width": 800, "height": 600 } ], "withGlobalTauri": true, "macosPrivateApi": false, "trayIcon": { "iconPath": "./path/to/icon" }, "allowlist": { // soon to be replaced with permissions and cababilities "all": true }, "security": { "pattern": "brownfield", "csp": null }, "plugins": { "cli": {}, "updater": { "pubkey": "", "endpoints": ["http://localhost:8080/update.json"], "windows": { "installMode": "basicUi" } } } }, "bundle": { "active": true, "targets": "all", "icon": [ "icons/32x32.png", "icons/128x128.png", "icons/128x128@2x.png", "icons/icon.icns", "icons/icon.ico" ] } }

Community Considerations

This will be a breaking change and so users will need to restructure the config themselves or rely on tauri migrate command.

Drawbacks

Almost all current Tauri users will need to migrate to the new breaking changes but it is better to do this now in a major release.