tauri-mcp

tauri-plugin-mcp

Cross-platform Tauri test automation plugin via MCP (Model Context Protocol).

Enables AI assistants like Claude to interact with your Tauri desktop app for testing and automation.

Claude Code Plugin

This repo doubles as a Claude Code plugin. Install it to get the MCP server, QA agent, skills, and validation hooks all at once:

# 1. Add the marketplace source
claude plugin marketplace add DaveDev42/tauri-plugin-mcp

# 2. Install the plugin
claude plugin install tauri-mcp --scope project

Or inside a Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add DaveDev42/tauri-plugin-mcp
/plugin install tauri-mcp --scope project

During installation, you'll be prompted for:

• Tauri app directory: Path relative to project root (e.g., . for single-app repos, apps/desktop for monorepos)

This automatically configures the MCP server, QA agent, skills, and validation hooks. No manual .mcp.json setup needed.

What's included:

Component	Description
MCP Server	Auto-configured tauri-mcp (14 tools for app lifecycle, UI interaction, screenshots, logging)
tauri-qa skill	QA orchestration -- prepares test scenarios, delegates to QA agent, validates results
tauri-setup skill	Step-by-step guide for installing tauri-plugin-mcp in a Tauri v2 project
tauri-debug skill	Diagnostic decision trees for common MCP session issues
qa-tester agent	Testing agent (haiku) that executes test scenarios using MCP tools
QA validation hook	Verifies QA PASS results include actual tool call evidence

Features

• Cross-platform: Windows (Named Pipes) + macOS/Linux (Unix Sockets)
• No CDP dependency: Works on all WebView backends including macOS WKWebView
• MCP integration: Direct integration with Claude Code and other MCP clients
• Multi-window support: Target any window by label; auto bridge injection
• Unified logging: Build, runtime, console, and network logs with filtering
• Dynamic port allocation: Automatic random port assignment to avoid conflicts

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• Tauri v2.x
• pnpm (recommended) or npm
• Rust with cargo

Quick Start

1. Add Rust plugin to src-tauri/Cargo.toml
2. Install npm package: pnpm add github:DaveDev42/tauri-plugin-mcp#main
3. Register plugin in src-tauri/src/lib.rs
4. Add mcp:default permission
5. Initialize bridge in main.tsx
6. Create .mcp.json for Claude Code

Installation

1. Rust Plugin (src-tauri/Cargo.toml)

[dependencies]
tauri-plugin-mcp = { git = "https://github.com/DaveDev42/tauri-plugin-mcp" }

2. Frontend API (package.json)

pnpm add github:DaveDev42/tauri-plugin-mcp#main

3. MCP Server

The MCP server binary (tauri-mcp) is automatically available after installation. No additional setup required.

Setup

1. Register the plugin (src-tauri/src/lib.rs)

pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_mcp::init())
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

2. Add permissions

Option A: In tauri.conf.json or config/*.json5 (recommended)

{
  "security": {
    "capabilities": [{
      "identifier": "main-capability",
      "windows": ["main"],
      "permissions": ["core:default", "mcp:default"]
    }]
  }
}

Option B: Separate file (src-tauri/capabilities/default.json)

{
  "$schema": "../gen/schemas/desktop-schema.json",
  "identifier": "default",
  "windows": ["main"],
  "permissions": ["core:default", "mcp:default"]
}

3. Initialize the bridge (main.tsx)

// Initialize MCP bridge for E2E testing (dev mode only)
if (import.meta.env.DEV) {
  import('tauri-plugin-mcp').then(({ initMcpBridge }) => {
    initMcpBridge().catch(err => {
      console.warn('[MCP] Bridge initialization failed:', err);
    });
  });
}

Production-Safe Setup (Optional Dependency)

The basic setup above includes MCP in all builds. For production apps, you likely want MCP only in development and completely stripped from release binaries.

This approach uses Cargo's optional dependency feature so the plugin is compiled in only when explicitly requested.

1. Cargo optional dependency (src-tauri/Cargo.toml)

[features]
default = []
dev-tools = ["dep:tauri-plugin-mcp"]

[dependencies]
tauri-plugin-mcp = { git = "https://github.com/DaveDev42/tauri-plugin-mcp", optional = true }

2. Conditional plugin registration (src-tauri/src/lib.rs)

pub fn run() {
    let mut builder = tauri::Builder::default();

    #[cfg(feature = "dev-tools")]
    {
        builder = builder.plugin(tauri_plugin_mcp::init());
    }

    builder
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}