0019: Single web UI in a Tauri shell (D-019)
ADR-0019: Single web UI in a Tauri shell (D-019)
Section titled “ADR-0019: Single web UI in a Tauri shell (D-019)”- Status: Accepted
- Date: 2026-11-01
- Related: ADR-0005
Context
Section titled “Context”One interface must run natively on GNOME, KDE Plasma and Hyprland (Wayland and X11), serve a remote web gateway, keep accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) and i18n (Fluent), and avoid maintaining two frontends. Classic options would force a toolkit choice (GTK vs Qt) that splits the community.
Options considered
Section titled “Options considered”- GTK4 (Adwaita): native on GNOME; foreign on KDE/Hyprland.
- Qt (QML): strong cross-DE; not native on GNOME; team/skill split with the Rust backend.
- Electron: heavy runtime on a security product; poor optics and resource goals (idle RAM budget).
- Svelte 5 + TS in Tauri 2 (chosen): one UI for the desktop shell and the optional web gateway, Rust side stays a thin varlink client, small footprint, strict CSP, no remote content, updates via the distro.
Decision
Section titled “Decision”The UI is a single Svelte 5 + TypeScript app. The desktop ships as
Tauri 2 (app id com.ibexwall.IbexWall) with minimal capabilities and
strict CSP; ibexwall-web can serve the same UI remotely (off by
default). TypeScript types are generated from the JSON Schemas in
spec/. TUI is a separate ratatui frontend for terminals.
Consequences
Section titled “Consequences”- WebViews vary per-WebKitGTK version; e2e and visual review must cover the matrix over time.
- Accessibility depends on webview a11y bridges; must be tested (axe + keyboard walkthroughs), not assumed.
- Design tokens, i18n and components are defined once in the spec and reused by both delivery modes.