Desktop Build Workflow

File: .github/workflows/desktop-build.yml

This workflow builds the Relate Mail desktop application for Windows, macOS, and Linux using Tauri 2. Each platform build runs on a native runner and produces installable artifacts.

Triggers

Event	Condition
Push to main	When desktop/**, packages/shared/**, or the workflow file changes
Pull request	Same path filters, targeting main
Manual dispatch	With platform selection

Manual Dispatch Input

Input	Options	Default	Description
platform	all, windows, macos, linux	all	Which platform(s) to build

Jobs

lint-typecheck -- Lint & Type Check

Runs on ubuntu-latest as the first quality gate.

Steps:

1. Checkout repository
2. Setup Node.js 20 with npm caching
3. npm ci -- install all workspace dependencies
4. npm run lint -w desktop -- ESLint on TypeScript sources
5. npx tsc --noEmit -p desktop/tsconfig.json -- TypeScript type checking

build-windows -- Build Windows

Depends on: lint-typecheck
Runs on: windows-latest
Condition: All triggers unless manually dispatched with a different platform

Steps:

1. Checkout repository
2. Setup Node.js 20
3. Setup Rust stable toolchain
4. Rust cache (Cargo registry + desktop/src-tauri/target)
5. npm ci -- install dependencies
6. npm run build:desktop -- Tauri build

Artifacts:

Artifact	Path	Format
desktop-windows-msi	desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/msi/*.msi	Windows Installer (MSI)
desktop-windows-nsis	desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsis/*.exe	NSIS installer (EXE)

The MSI artifact uses if-no-files-found: warn (warns if missing), while NSIS uses ignore (silently skips if not produced).

build-macos -- Build macOS

Depends on: lint-typecheck
Runs on: macos-latest
Condition: All triggers unless manually dispatched with a different platform

Steps:

1. Checkout repository
2. Setup Node.js 20
3. Setup Rust stable toolchain
4. Rust cache
5. npm ci -- install dependencies
6. npm run build:desktop -- Tauri build

Artifacts:

Artifact	Path	Format
desktop-macos-dmg	desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/*.dmg	macOS Disk Image

build-linux -- Build Linux

Depends on: lint-typecheck
Runs on: ubuntu-22.04 (pinned for library compatibility)
Condition: All triggers unless manually dispatched with a different platform

Steps:

1. Checkout repository
2. Install system dependencies:
   • libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev -- WebView rendering engine
   • libappindicator3-dev -- System tray support
   • librsvg2-dev -- SVG icon rendering
   • patchelf -- ELF binary patching for AppImage
   • libssl-dev -- TLS support
   • libdbus-1-dev -- D-Bus IPC
   • libsecret-1-dev -- Secure credential storage
3. Setup Node.js 20
4. Setup Rust stable toolchain
5. Rust cache
6. npm ci -- install dependencies
7. npm run build:desktop -- Tauri build

Artifacts:

Artifact	Path	Format
desktop-linux-appimage	desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/appimage/*.AppImage	Portable Linux app
desktop-linux-deb	desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/*.deb	Debian/Ubuntu package

build-summary -- Build Summary

Depends on: build-windows, build-macos, build-linux
Condition: Always runs

Generates a step summary table showing the build status for each platform.

Platform Runners

Each platform builds on a native GitHub Actions runner to ensure the correct toolchain and system libraries:

Platform	Runner	Reason
Windows	windows-latest	MSVC toolchain, Windows SDK
macOS	macos-latest	Xcode toolchain, Apple frameworks
Linux	ubuntu-22.04	Pinned for consistent libwebkit2gtk-4.1 availability

Linux is pinned to ubuntu-22.04 rather than ubuntu-latest to ensure the required WebKitGTK version and other system libraries are available at known versions.

Job Dependency Graph

lint-typecheck
    ├── build-windows
    ├── build-macos
    └── build-linux
           └── build-summary (always)

The three platform builds run in parallel after lint/typecheck passes.

Downloading Artifacts

Build artifacts are available for download from the GitHub Actions run page. Each platform produces one or more installable files:

• Windows: MSI installer for managed deployments, NSIS EXE for standalone installation
• macOS: DMG disk image that users mount and drag to Applications
• Linux: AppImage for portable use (no installation needed), .deb for Debian/Ubuntu package management

Artifacts are retained according to the repository's artifact retention policy (default: 90 days).

Caching

Rust compilation is cached using swatinem/rust-cache with the workspace set to desktop/src-tauri -> target. This caches:

• Cargo registry index and downloaded crates
• Compiled dependencies in the target directory

The cache key is based on Cargo.lock, so it invalidates when dependencies change. This typically saves 3-5 minutes per build by avoiding recompilation of unchanged dependencies.