jac-desktop 0.1.1

Native desktop target and plugin manager for Jac (PyTauri-based).

jac-desktop

Native desktop target and plugin manager for Jac, built on PyTauri -- no Rust toolchain required.

This package extracts the desktop functionality that used to live inside jac-client so that web-only users don't have to pull in pytauri/anyio and so that desktop-specific commands can grow without bloating the client surface.

What you get

• A desktop build target registered with jac-client's target registry, so jac setup desktop, jac build --client desktop, and jac start --client desktop --dev all keep working -- install this package and the target appears.

• A native CLI for managing the pytauri plugins your app links against, without ever opening a Python file:

  jac desktop plugin list                # show available + installed
  jac desktop plugin add dialog fs       # add to [plugins.desktop].tauri_plugins, regen caps + npm
  jac desktop plugin remove dialog       # remove from jac.toml and regenerate
  jac desktop plugin sync                # idempotent regen after manual edits
  

Install

pip install jac-client jac-desktop

jac-desktop depends on jac-client because the desktop target extends WebTarget (the same web/vite pipeline) for its frontend build.

Project flow

jac create --use fullstack my-app       # or start from an existing web app
cd my-app
jac setup desktop                       # one-time scaffold of src-pytauri/
jac desktop plugin add dialog fs        # opt into tauri plugins
jac start --client desktop --dev        # live-reload dev shell
jac build --client desktop              # production-style staging build

Distribution status

jac build --client desktop is a dev/build pipeline, not a shipping platform yet:

• Sidecar (Jac backend): PyInstaller-frozen standalone binary; no Python required at runtime.
• Shell (PyTauri webview): runs via python app.py; requires Python and pytauri-wheel on the machine that launches the app.

Build output under src-pytauri/dist/ includes run.sh / run.bat launchers for local testing. The sidecar under src-pytauri/binaries/ is standalone; the shell still needs Python + pytauri-wheel. Standalone shell packaging is planned.

See the Building a Desktop App tutorial and jac-desktop Reference.