Tod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
Dangit I think I might need to actually learn Rust. In Electron, a minimal app to control blink(1)s weighs in at 285 MB on disk. An equivalent Tauri Rust app is 5.5 MB!
https://github.com/todbot/electron-blink1-toy/
https://github.com/todbot/tauri-blink1-toy/
Show threadJason Coon
@todbot could it be done as a regular web app? If not, I've used Bun to create simple web apps that need to run CLI commands. This one, for example, compiles to ~64 MB: https://github.com/jasoncoon/mac-power
Apr 6 at 7:03pmWeb
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot Bun can compile to Linux, macOS, and Windows, all arm64 & x64: https://bun.com/docs/bundler/executables
They're working on making the compiled executable files even smaller.
Single-file executable - Bun

Generate standalone executables from TypeScript or JavaScript files with Bun

Bun
Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@jasoncoon Interesting! I’ll look into it, thanks! The actual app I’m targeting makes use of many OS-level features (custom menus, taskbar icons, etc) and has background services to deal with network events. But if I can do that in Bun, I’d be stoked. Rust is cool but a big lift for my brain. I don’t like Javascript but at least I understand it
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot I haven't tried it yet, but this might be another option: https://blackboard.sh/electrobun/docs
Electrobun Documentation - Build ultra fast, tiny, cross-platform desktop apps

Complete documentation for Electrobun - build ultra fast, tiny, cross-platform desktop applications with TypeScript.

Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@jasoncoon Just spent some time porting my little toy app to electrobun. It’s kind of scam for my needs. The build result has a small download size (18 MB), but which turns into 74 MB on first run, with another 84 MB hiding in “~/Library/Application Support”. So the resulting 155 MB is around the same as an Electron app. But with a lot more hassle because you cannot use native Node modules. I’ll be interested to see how it evolves.
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot oh interesting. Do you know if that's using the default system webview, or with CEF bundled?
Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@jasoncoon looks like it’s using WebKit (I’m testing on Mac) so I’m not sure why it needs so much. Tauri/Rust is definitely still the winner in true small app size since it does use the native OS’s webview
Show threadSimen E. Sørensen2d ago

@todbot @jasoncoon fwiw I can really recommend the Tauri framework, I found it amazing how easy it was to bundle and ship a signed desktop app compared to doing it manually.

Doesn’t really fix the “need to learn Rust” problem, but I can at least vouch for an impressive and pleasant experience along the way from the framework side of things :)

(I’ve been using Tauri professionally/at work for about a year)