tauri-plugin-persistent-window

Persist Tauri windows across close. A window marked persistent hides instead of being destroyed when the user closes it, keeping the app alive in the background, and is brought back from the tray (Windows/Linux) or the dock (macOS).

Install

# Cargo.toml
[dependencies]
tauri-plugin-persistent-window = "0.1"

Usage

use tauri_plugin_persistent_window::PersistentExt;

tauri::Builder::default()
    .plugin(tauri_plugin_persistent_window::init())
    .setup(|app| {
        let window = app.get_webview_window("main").unwrap();
        window.set_persistent(true); // closing it now hides instead of quitting
        Ok(())
    })
    .run(tauri::generate_context!())
    .expect("error while running tauri application");

That's the whole setup. Closing a persistent window hides it; clicking the tray icon (Windows/Linux) or the dock icon (macOS) brings the most recently hidden window back.

API

• window.set_persistent(bool) / window.is_persistent() — per-window toggle (on WebviewWindow).
• reopen(&AppHandle) — restore the last hidden window if none are visible. Wired internally to the tray and the dock; exposed for custom triggers.
• single_instance(&AppHandle, Vec<String>, String) — drop-in callback for the single-instance plugin (see below).

Reopen triggers

Trigger	Handled by	Needs single-instance?
Tray icon click / menu (Windows, Linux)	this plugin	no
Dock icon click (macOS)	this plugin (RunEvent::Reopen)	no
Re-launching the executable (desktop shortcut, Start menu) while hidden	—	yes

Clicking the running app's tray/dock presence is fully covered. The one gap is launching a fresh copy from a shortcut while the app sits hidden in the tray: that spawns a separate process the tray cannot intercept. This only matters on Windows/Linux — macOS reuses the running instance and fires Reopen instead.

To cover it, add tauri-plugin-single-instance (it must be the first plugin) and hand it this crate's ready-made callback:

let mut builder = tauri::Builder::default();

#[cfg(desktop)]
{
    builder = builder.plugin(tauri_plugin_single_instance::init(
        tauri_plugin_persistent_window::single_instance,
    ));
}

builder
    .plugin(tauri_plugin_persistent_window::init())
    // ...
    .run(tauri::generate_context!())
    .expect("error while running tauri application");

Need to handle launch args yourself? Wrap it:

tauri_plugin_single_instance::init(|app, argv, cwd| {
    handle_args(&argv, &cwd);
    tauri_plugin_persistent_window::single_instance(app, argv, cwd);
})

Platform notes

• macOS — reopens via the dock; no tray is created. Activation policy is left as Regular so the dock icon stays clickable.
• Windows — a tray icon (app icon) is created; left click reopens, right click shows the menu.
• Linux — a tray icon is created, but most environments do not deliver tray click events, so use the tray menu ("열기") to reopen.

The tray uses the app's default window icon when one is configured.

License

MIT © insd47