ADR 0001: Use Tauri as the Desktop Shell
- Status: Accepted
- Date: 2026-07-22
- Anchors: Desktop architecture · Overview
Context
JobJitsu is a desktop-native AI Career Operating System. The shell must feel native, light, and fast, keep a clear host/UI split, and respect the machine — not ship a heavy SaaS wrapper. Privacy requires privileged work (storage, local LLM, egress, plugins) to live outside the renderer.
Alternatives considered:
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Tauri | Small footprint, Rust host, strong IPC isolation, OS-native feel | Rust host learning curve |
| Electron | Huge ecosystem, pure JS | Heavy Chromium, weaker “light/fast” fit |
| Pure native (Swift/Kotlin) | Max native | Split codebases; slower open-source contribution |
Decision
Use Tauri as the desktop application shell.
- Host (Rust): storage orchestration, AI runtime lifecycle, agent, scheduler, plugin loader, send egress, event bus, OS notifications.
- UI (webview): React app; no ambient filesystem or career-payload network.
- All career egress goes host →
packages/send(see ADR 0009).
Consequences
Positive
- Aligns with “native, light, fast” and privacy-as-architecture.
- Natural process boundary for Agent · On-device chrome honesty and deny-by-default IPC (ADR 0013).
- Smaller distributables; respectful of user machines.
Negative / tradeoffs
- Host logic in Rust requires clear FFI/IPC contracts to TypeScript packages.
- Some Electron-only libraries unavailable; prefer Tauri plugins or host-side impl.
Follow-ups
- Define app bundle entitlements and user-data directory layout in storage ADR.
- Keep domain logic in TypeScript packages where practical for testability (ADR 0011).
