turbo_desktop

Distributing a Turbo Desktop app

Turbo Desktop apps are Tauri apps, so distribution means producing native installers per OS. This guide covers the easy path (a release workflow), local builds, and the optional-but-recommended signing/update setup.

TL;DR — cut a release by pushing a tag

This repo ships .github/workflows/release.yml. To release:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

CI then builds on three runners (Tauri can’t cross-compile) and attaches installers to a draft GitHub Release for you to review and publish:

Platform	You get
macOS (universal)	.dmg + .app (runs on Intel and Apple Silicon)
Windows	.msi + NSIS .exe
Linux	.deb + .AppImage

You can also run it manually from the Actions → Release → Run workflow button.

What ships inside the app

Turbo Desktop follows the Hotwire Native model: the shell loads server_url from turbo-desktop.config.json, baked in at build time. So a distributed app is a thin native shell pointing at your hosted Rails app — you ship the binary, your Rails app is the product. Set server_url to your production URL before building for release.

Building locally (to test a bundle)

npm run build                    # cargo tauri build — bundles for the current OS
npm run build:apple-silicon      # arm64 macOS only

Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Using this in your own app

npx turbo-desktop new myapp scaffolds a desktop/ project. To get the same one-tag releases, copy release.yml into your app’s .github/workflows/ and adjust projectPath if your Tauri project isn’t at the repo root. Everything else (matrix, deps, draft release) works as-is.

Signing & notarization (recommended before shipping to real users)

Unsigned builds trigger Gatekeeper (macOS) and SmartScreen (Windows) warnings. Builds are unsigned by default so a first release just works. To sign, uncomment the signing block in release.yml and set the matching repo secrets (don’t leave the env set to empty secrets — an empty APPLE_CERTIFICATE makes Tauri try, and fail, to import an empty certificate).

• macOS (Apple Developer ID + notarization): APPLE_CERTIFICATE, APPLE_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD, APPLE_SIGNING_IDENTITY, APPLE_ID, APPLE_PASSWORD, APPLE_TEAM_ID.
• Windows (Authenticode): configure bundle.windows.certificateThumbprint (or a signing command) in tauri.conf.json.

See the Tauri signing guides: macOS · Windows.

Auto-update (optional)

tauri.conf.json includes the updater plugin, but endpoints and pubkey are empty — updates are off until you configure them:

1. Generate a keypair: npx tauri signer generate.
2. Put the public key in tauri.conf.json → plugins.updater.pubkey and add your update-server endpoints.
3. Add the private key + password as the TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY / TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD secrets (the release workflow already passes them through).

Details: Tauri updater.

Status

• ✅ Cross-OS installers via one tag (this workflow).
• ⚙️ Signing / notarization — opt-in (uncomment the block + supply certs).
• ⚙️ Auto-update — plugin present, endpoints/keys not yet configured.

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More at the official site: turbo-desktop.dev.

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