Best Tauri Boilerplates for Desktop Apps in 2026

Tauri: The Lean Electron Alternative

Tauri v2 shipped stable in 2024, adding iOS and Android support alongside its desktop targets. In 2026, Tauri is the fastest-growing desktop development framework — GitHub stars exceeded 80k, and production apps include the official Tauri Studio, Clash Verge, Clippy, and hundreds of developer tools.

The value proposition is clear: a Tauri app bundle is 3-30MB compared to Electron's 50-200MB, and memory usage is 10-50MB vs 100-500MB.

Quick Comparison

Starter	Price	Frontend	TypeScript	Mobile	Best For
create-tauri-app	Free	Any	✅	✅ v2	Official baseline
tauri-nextjs-template	Free	Next.js	✅	❌	Next.js desktop apps
tauri-svelte-template	Free	SvelteKit	✅	❌	Svelte desktop apps
tauri-react-template	Free	React+Vite	✅	❌	React desktop apps

The Starters

create-tauri-app — Official Baseline

Price: Free | Creator: Tauri team

The official project generator. Choose your frontend framework (React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, Angular, Vanilla), package manager, and TypeScript preference. Generates a minimal working Tauri app with the correct Rust project structure.

npm create tauri-app@latest
# ✔ Project name: my-app
# ✔ Choose which language to use for your frontend: TypeScript / JavaScript
# ✔ Choose your package manager: npm
# ✔ Choose your UI template: React

Project structure:

├── src/              # Frontend (React/Vue/Svelte)
│   ├── App.tsx
│   └── main.tsx
├── src-tauri/        # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs   # Tauri app entry
│   │   └── lib.rs    # Commands and event handlers
│   ├── Cargo.toml    # Rust dependencies
│   └── tauri.conf.json  # Window config, permissions
└── package.json

Choose if: You want the official minimal starting point for any frontend framework.

tauri-nextjs-template — Best Next.js Desktop

Price: Free | Creator: Community

Tauri configured with Next.js for server-side static export. Static export mode (output: 'export') generates HTML/CSS/JS that Tauri's webview loads locally. Includes API routes disabled (expected for desktop), TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS.

Choose if: Your team knows Next.js and wants to reuse that knowledge for desktop apps.

Tauri's Rust Backend

Tauri's core difference from Electron is the Rust backend. Frontend (web UI) communicates with Rust via commands:

// src-tauri/src/lib.rs
#[tauri::command]
fn read_file(path: String) -> Result<String, String> {
    std::fs::read_to_string(&path)
        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())
}

#[tauri::command]
async fn fetch_data(url: String) -> Result<String, String> {
    let response = reqwest::get(&url).await
        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
    response.text().await.map_err(|e| e.to_string())
}

fn main() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![read_file, fetch_data])
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

// Frontend - invoke Rust commands
import { invoke } from '@tauri-apps/api/core';

const content = await invoke<string>('read_file', { path: '/home/user/file.txt' });
const data = await invoke<string>('fetch_data', { url: 'https://api.example.com' });

Do You Need to Know Rust?

For basic apps: No. The default Tauri commands cover file system, HTTP, and shell operations without writing Rust.

For advanced features: Yes. If you need custom OS integrations, native libraries, or performance-critical background processing, Rust knowledge is required.

Learning curve: Most web developers can write basic Rust Tauri commands within a few days. The Tauri API documentation is excellent.

Bundle Size Comparison

App	Framework	Bundle Size
VS Code	Electron	~150MB
Notion	Electron	~185MB
Typical new app	Electron	~80MB
Typical new app	Tauri	~5-15MB
Tauri with large assets	Tauri	~30MB

The size advantage is most valuable for distribution (download time, storage) and less critical for developer tools that users install once.

When to Choose Tauri Over Electron

Tauri wins when:

• Distribution size matters (file download, disk usage)
• Memory efficiency is important (background apps, menubar apps)
• You need iOS/Android support alongside desktop (Tauri v2)
• Your team is comfortable with some Rust

Electron wins when:

• You need Chromium-level CSS/JS compatibility everywhere
• The npm ecosystem has critical dependencies
• Your team has zero Rust experience
• Time to market is more important than bundle size

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