Building the Desktop App

Build Canopy from source for development or custom distribution.

Prerequisites

1. Install Rust

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

After installation, restart your terminal or run:

source $HOME/.cargo/env

Verify the installation:

rustc --version

2. Platform-Specific Dependencies

macOS

xcode-select --install

Windows

• Install Microsoft Visual Studio C++ Build Tools
• Select "Desktop development with C++" during installation

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
    build-essential \
    curl \
    wget \
    file \
    libssl-dev \
    libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
    librsvg2-dev

3. Node.js Dependencies

npm install

Development

Start Dev Server

npm run tauri dev

This starts:

1. Vite dev server (frontend with hot-reload)
2. Tauri app (native window)

Frontend changes apply automatically. Rust code changes trigger recompilation.

Frontend-Only Development

For pure frontend development without Tauri:

npm run dev

Production Build

Create Build

npm run tauri build

The build process:

1. Compiles the frontend (npm run build)
2. Compiles the Rust backend code
3. Creates platform-specific installers

Build Output

Files are located in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/:

Platform	File Type	Path
macOS	DMG Installer	dmg/Canopy_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg
macOS	App Bundle	macos/Canopy.app
Windows	MSI Installer	msi/Canopy_0.1.0_x64.msi
Windows	NSIS Installer	nsis/Canopy_0.1.0_x64-setup.exe
Linux	Debian Package	deb/canopy_0.1.0_amd64.deb
Linux	AppImage	appimage/canopy_0.1.0_amd64.AppImage

Debug Build

For faster builds without optimizations:

npm run tauri build -- --debug

Specific Target

Build for a specific platform:

npm run tauri build -- --target aarch64-apple-darwin

Code Signing

macOS

Requirements:

• Apple Developer Account ($99/year)
• Developer ID Application Certificate

In src-tauri/tauri.conf.json:

{
  "bundle": {
    "macOS": {
      "signingIdentity": "Developer ID Application: Your Name (XXXXXXXXXX)"
    }
  }
}

For notarization (recommended for macOS 10.15+):

export APPLE_ID="your@email.com"
export APPLE_PASSWORD="xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx"
export APPLE_TEAM_ID="XXXXXXXXXX"

npm run tauri build

Windows

Requirements:

• Code Signing Certificate (e.g., from DigiCert, Sectigo)

In src-tauri/tauri.conf.json:

{
  "bundle": {
    "windows": {
      "certificateThumbprint": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
      "timestampUrl": "http://timestamp.digicert.com"
    }
  }
}

Configuration

App Metadata

In src-tauri/tauri.conf.json:

{
  "productName": "Canopy",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "identifier": "com.canopy.jira-viewer"
}

Window Size

{
  "app": {
    "windows": [{
      "width": 1200,
      "height": 800,
      "minWidth": 800,
      "minHeight": 600
    }]
  }
}

Icons

Icons are in src-tauri/icons/. Generate all sizes from a 1024x1024 PNG:

npm run tauri icon src-tauri/icons/icon.png

Troubleshooting

"error: linker cc not found"

macOS:

xcode-select --install

Linux:

sudo apt install build-essential

"webkit2gtk not found"

Linux:

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

Slow Build Times

# Debug build (faster)
npm run tauri build -- --debug

# Clear caches
rm -rf src-tauri/target
rm -rf node_modules && npm install