qxp desktop

Native desktop app for the Delta Chat protocol. Tauri 2 shell wraps a Rust daemon (server/) that bridges deltachat-jsonrpc to a Svelte 5 SPA (frontend/) over a loopback WebSocket. Builds to a single ~15 MB binary per OS (no Electron).

Layout

server/        # Rust crate `qxp-web` — axum + yerpc + deltachat-jsonrpc.
               # Compiles to a library (used by the Tauri shell) AND
               # a standalone binary (`cargo run` for headless dev).
frontend/      # Svelte 5 + Vite + TypeScript SPA.
src-tauri/     # Tauri 2 shell crate (`qxp-desktop`).
               # Spawns the daemon in-process; opens a native window.

Install on NixOS

The repo is a flake. Run the app without installing anything:

nix run github:qxpchat/qxp

Install it into your profile:

nix profile add github:qxpchat/qxp

Or declaratively — add the flake as an input and pull the package into your system or user config:

# flake.nix
inputs.qxp.url = "github:qxpchat/qxp";

# NixOS — configuration.nix (inputs threaded through via specialArgs)
environment.systemPackages = [ inputs.qxp.packages.${pkgs.system}.default ];

# …or home-manager
home.packages = [ inputs.qxp.packages.${pkgs.system}.default ];

packages.default and apps.default are exposed for x86_64-linux and aarch64-linux. The install also drops a desktop entry and icons, so qxp shows up in your application launcher. The binary is wrapped with WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1, so it renders correctly on NixOS out of the box.

Other distros: build from source — see below.

Prerequisites

NixOS shell already wires the GTK / WebKit deps Tauri needs on Linux:

nix-shell

Tauri CLI (one-time, inside the shell):

cargo install tauri-cli --version "^2"

Run the full app

cargo tauri dev

cargo tauri dev does three things in one command:

1. Spawns a Vite dev server at http://localhost:4040 (hot reload).
2. Compiles the Tauri Rust shell (which spawns the daemon thread on 127.0.0.1:4041).
3. Opens a native window pointing at Vite. The frontend's WebSocket connects to the daemon at the loopback port.

First compile takes ~10 minutes (deltachat-core); subsequent rebuilds are sub-minute.

Production bundle

cargo tauri build

Outputs platform-native bundles under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/:

• Linux: .AppImage, .deb
• macOS: .dmg (unsigned by default — see notes on macOS distribution)
• Windows: .msi / .exe

The frontend is built once via npm run build (configured as beforeBuildCommand in tauri.conf.json) and Tauri serves the resulting frontend/dist/ from tauri://localhost inside the bundle. The daemon listens on 127.0.0.1:4041 exactly as in dev; the frontend detects the Tauri context and connects there explicitly.

Standalone daemon (headless / web-style dev)

If you just want to iterate on the Svelte UI in a regular browser without booting Tauri:

make server   # cargo run --release-ish; daemon at 127.0.0.1:4041
make ui       # vite, 0.0.0.0:4040

make ui proxies /ws, /upload, /file to the daemon. Browser at http://localhost:4040.

Account data

Tauri places accounts under the per-OS app-data dir:

OS	Path
Linux	~/.local/share/chat.qxp.desktop/accounts
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/chat.qxp.desktop/accounts
Windows	%APPDATA%\chat.qxp.desktop\accounts

Standalone make server defaults to ./qxp-web-accounts/ relative to server/ (override with --accounts-dir).

Notes on macOS distribution

The unsigned bundle works locally but Gatekeeper blocks it on first launch for users (Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway). For friction-free distribution use Homebrew Cask (cask formulas auto-strip the quarantine xattr) or pay for an Apple Developer Program account ($99 + KYC) and signed/notarize the build. Auto-update via Tauri's updater plugin requires a Developer ID signature.