I wanted a Reddit client that lived on my desktop and my phone — without maintaining two separate apps. So I built one Vue app and gave it three homes: Tauri (Rust) wraps it as a desktop app for Windows/macOS/Linux, Capacitor wraps it for Android, and it still runs as a plain web app. One UI, one set of Reddit API calls, one OAuth flow — three targets.
It works. But "just wrap your web app" hides a few things. Here's the reality.
The shape
- A single Vue.js frontend: the whole UI, the Reddit API calls, the OAuth.
- Tauri for desktop — the webview is the OS's native one, the backend is Rust.
- Capacitor for Android — desktop got Tauri, Android got Capacitor. Use the wrapper that's mature for each target instead of forcing one tool everywhere.
- Plain web for anyone who just wants a URL.
Gotcha 1: you can't cross-compile
You cannot build a Windows .msi on your Mac. Tauri leans on each platform's native toolchain:
-
.msi/.exe→ built on Windows -
.dmg/.app→ built on macOS -
.deb/.AppImage→ built on Linux
"Ship for all platforms" really means a CI matrix with one runner per OS. Plan for it early — it shapes your whole release pipeline.
Gotcha 2: WebView2 on older Windows
Tauri doesn't ship a browser engine; it uses the system webview. Windows 11 has WebView2; Windows 7–10 might not — and a missing webview means users open the app to a blank white window. Bundle the WebView2 bootstrapper in your installer so it self-installs. Tiny detail, terrible first impression if you miss it.
Gotcha 3: OAuth redirect is the fiddly part
In a browser, OAuth is easy: Reddit redirects to your callback URL, you read the code, done. In a packaged app there's no web server at that URL. So you register a custom scheme / deep link, let the OS hand the redirect back to the app, and pull the code out of the incoming URL — on desktop and Android, each with its own quirks. Easily the most time-consuming part, and the bit tutorials skip.
Gotcha 4: a default Rust release binary is chunky
A handful of Cargo.toml flags make a real dent:
[profile.release]
panic = "abort" # drop the unwinding machinery
codegen-units = 1 # compile as one unit so the optimizer can do more
lto = true # link-time optimization
opt-level = "s" # optimize for size
strip = true # strip symbols from the binary
Free size win, no code changes.
Was it worth it?
Yes. One Vue codebase, native apps on desktop and Android, plus a web version — without three projects to keep in sync. If you're a web dev eyeing desktop/mobile, Vue + Tauri + Capacitor is a very reasonable way in — just budget time for the packaging and OAuth reality, not the happy-path demo.
I do this kind of cross-platform / custom-tooling work as a freelance dev at dibodev.fr. Happy to get into the OAuth deep-linking or the CI matrix in the comments.
