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Documentation Index

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The OpenPencil desktop app is a cross-platform native application built with Tauri v2. It provides the same Figma-compatible design editor as the web app, but with native file system access, better performance, and offline capabilities.

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Architecture

The desktop app uses:
  • Tauri v2 — Rust-based framework for building native apps with web technologies
  • Vue 3 + Vite — Frontend bundled and served from dist/ folder
  • CanvasKit (Skia WASM) — Hardware-accelerated rendering via WebGL
  • Native file system — Direct .fig file read/write without browser limitations
The Rust backend (desktop/src/) provides:
  • File system operations (open, save, watch)
  • Native dialogs (file picker, save dialog)
  • Zstd compression for .fig export
  • System font enumeration via font-kit

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Plugins

The desktop app uses three Tauri plugins:
  • plugin-dialog — Native file picker and save dialogs
  • plugin-fs — File system access with watch capabilities
  • plugin-opener — Open URLs and files with system default apps

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Window Configuration

Default window settings (configured in desktop/tauri.conf.json):
  • Title: “OpenPencil”
  • Size: 1280×800px
  • Dev server: http://localhost:1420
  • Production: Bundled dist/ folder

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File Permissions

File system permissions are configured in desktop/tauri.conf.json. If you encounter “Internal error” when saving files, check that the required paths are whitelisted in the configuration.

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Dev Tools

The desktop app includes dev tools for debugging. Access via the menu bar (added programmatically in development mode).

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Bundle Targets

The app can be built for:
  • macOS — Universal binary (Intel + Apple Silicon) via universal-apple-darwin target
  • Windows — x64 and ARM64 executables with WebView2 runtime
  • Linux — x64 binary with WebKit2GTK dependencies
See Building for build instructions and Platform Requirements for prerequisites.