Gitpub Desktop

Gitpub Desktop is a lightweight, cross-platform Git client built with Tauri, Rust, and plain HTML/CSS/JavaScript. It connects to any compatible self-hosted Gitea instance (including Gitpub) without hardcoding a single backend.

Stack

• Tauri + Rust backend commands
• Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS frontend (no framework)
• System-installed Git for repository operations
• Gitea REST API for server-side repository listing and account context

Project Structure

• src-tauri/ Rust backend and Tauri application setup
• frontend/ vanilla frontend shell
• frontend/assets/ static assets
• frontend/css/ UI styles
• frontend/js/ application modules
• frontend/components/ shared component/template area

MVP Included

• First-launch setup flow for adding first Gitea server
• Multi-server backend management (add/edit/remove/switch/default)
• Dynamic API base URL generation (<server>/api/v1)
• Connection testing against Gitea API
• Repository dashboard with search and mock cards fallback
• Read-only repository viewer for remote Gitea repos and local clones
• Local repository open + recent repositories
• Rust Git commands: clone, pull, push, status, branch
• Settings for git path, clone directory, and theme placeholder

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js (npm comes with it)
• Rust via rustup (required for the Tauri backend)
• Platform-specific Tauri dependencies (WebView2 on Windows, Xcode tools on macOS, etc.) — see the Tauri prerequisites for your OS
• Git installed and available on your PATH (the app shells out to git for clone, pull, push, and related commands)

Start the app in dev mode

From the repository root:

npm install
npm run dev

This runs the Tauri dev process, which loads the static frontend from frontend/ and hot-reloads the Rust side when you change src-tauri/. Edit HTML/CSS/JS under frontend/ and refresh the window (or rely on your usual workflow) as needed.

Production build

npm install
npm run tauri:build

Installers and bundles are emitted under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/ (exact paths depend on the target platform).

Useful commands

Command	Purpose
npm run dev	Desktop app in development mode
npm run tauri:build	Release build and platform bundles
npm run tauri -- <args>	Forward arguments to the Tauri CLI (e.g. npm run tauri -- info)

Notes

• There is no separate Vite/webpack dev server; the UI is plain static files under frontend/.
• Point the app at a running Gitea-compatible instance during setup; API calls use <your-server>/api/v1.