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. Three steps to a fully working setup:

1. Add the marketplace and install the plugin

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

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).

2. Run the installer command

/tauri-mcp:install

This auto-edits your Tauri project: Cargo.toml, src-tauri/src/lib.rs, capabilities, package.json, the frontend entry (main.tsx/main.ts), and .gitignore. Every write is previewed as a diff and requires your confirmation first.

3. Restart Claude Code

The tauri-mcp MCP server registers on restart. Verify with /mcp — it should show tauri-mcp as connected. You can now call start_session, snapshot, click, etc.

Why restart?

MCP servers are registered at Claude Code startup. Installing the plugin or changing tauri_app_dir both require a restart to take effect.

What the plugin ships

The MCP server ships as a self-contained single-file bundle (packages/tauri-mcp/dist/index.js) with all dependencies inlined — no node_modules needed on the target machine, so installation works identically on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

What's included:

Component	Description
MCP Server	Self-contained tauri-mcp bundle (14 tools for app lifecycle, UI interaction, screenshots, logging)
/tauri-mcp:install command	One-shot installer that edits your Tauri project to wire up the plugin
tauri-qa skill	QA orchestration — prepares test scenarios, delegates to QA agent, validates results
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.