Tauri Syntax Menu

tauri-syntax-menu

Quick Reference

Menu Item Types (Rust)

PredefinedMenuItem Types (both Rust and JS)

Platform-standard items: About, Hide, HideOthers, ShowAll, CloseWindow, Quit, Copy, Cut, Paste, SelectAll, Undo, Redo, Minimize, Zoom, Separator, Fullscreen, Services, BringAllToFront.

SubmenuBuilder Convenience Methods (Rust)

TrayIconBuilder Key Methods (Rust)

JS Menu Classes

JS TrayIcon Event Types

JS TrayIcon Mouse Buttons

Left, Right, Middle

Critical Warnings

NEVER call Builder::on_menu_event() in Tauri 2 -- it was removed. Use App::on_menu_event() or the builder .on_menu_event() method instead.

NEVER use Tauri v1 menu type names (CustomMenuItem, SystemTray, MenuItem for predefined items) -- they are renamed in v2.

ALWAYS call .build() on MenuBuilder and SubmenuBuilder -- forgetting .build() produces a builder, not a usable menu.

ALWAYS match menu event IDs as strings using event.id().as_ref() in Rust -- menu item IDs are compared as string references, not typed enums.

ALWAYS use Menu.new() (not new Menu()) in JavaScript -- menu items are created via async factory methods.

Essential Patterns

Pattern 1: Application Menu (Rust)

use tauri::menu::{MenuBuilder, SubmenuBuilder, PredefinedMenuItem};

tauri::Builder::default()
    .menu(|app| {
        let file_menu = SubmenuBuilder::new(app, "File")
            .text("new", "New")
            .text("open", "Open")
            .separator()
            .quit()
            .build()?;

        let edit_menu = SubmenuBuilder::new(app, "Edit")
            .undo()
            .redo()
            .separator()
            .cut()
            .copy()
            .paste()
            .select_all()
            .build()?;

        MenuBuilder::new(app)
            .item(&file_menu)
            .item(&edit_menu)
            .build()
    })
    .on_menu_event(|app, event| {
        match event.id().as_ref() {
            "new" => println!("New file"),
            "open" => println!("Open file"),
            _ => {}
        }
    })
    .run(tauri::generate_context!())
    .expect("error running app");

Pattern 2: Application Menu (JavaScript)

import { Menu, MenuItem, Submenu, PredefinedMenuItem, CheckMenuItem } from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [
    await Submenu.new({
      text: 'File',
      items: [
        await MenuItem.new({
          text: 'Open',
          accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+O',
          action: () => { console.log('Open clicked'); },
        }),
        await MenuItem.new({
          text: 'Save',
          accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+S',
          action: () => { console.log('Save clicked'); },
        }),
        await PredefinedMenuItem.new({ item: 'Separator' }),
        await PredefinedMenuItem.new({ item: 'Quit' }),
      ],
    }),
    await Submenu.new({
      text: 'View',
      items: [
        await CheckMenuItem.new({
          text: 'Dark Mode',
          checked: false,
          action: (item) => { console.log('Toggled'); },
        }),
      ],
    }),
  ],
});

await menu.setAsAppMenu();

Pattern 3: Context Menu (JavaScript)

// Show context menu at cursor position
await menu.popup();

// Show context menu at specific position
await menu.popup({ x: 100, y: 200 });

Pattern 4: System Tray (Rust)

use tauri::tray::TrayIconBuilder;
use tauri::menu::MenuBuilder;
use tauri::image::Image;

tauri::Builder::default()
    .setup(|app| {
        let menu = MenuBuilder::new(app)
            .text("show", "Show Window")
            .text("hide", "Hide Window")
            .separator()
            .text("quit", "Quit")
            .build()?;

        let _tray = TrayIconBuilder::new()
            .icon(Image::from_path("icons/tray.png")?)
            .tooltip("My Tauri App")
            .menu(&menu)
            .show_menu_on_left_click(true)
            .on_menu_event(|app, event| {
                match event.id().as_ref() {
                    "show" => {
                        if let Some(w) = app.get_webview_window("main") {
                            w.show().unwrap();
                        }
                    }
                    "quit" => app.exit(0),
                    _ => {}
                }
            })
            .on_tray_icon_event(|tray, event| {
                println!("Tray event: {:?}", event);
            })
            .build(app)?;

        Ok(())
    })
    .run(tauri::generate_context!())
    .expect("error running app");

Pattern 5: System Tray (JavaScript)

import { TrayIcon } from '@tauri-apps/api/tray';
import { Menu, MenuItem } from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [
    await MenuItem.new({ text: 'Show', action: () => showWindow() }),
    await MenuItem.new({ text: 'Quit', action: () => exit(0) }),
  ],
});

const tray = await TrayIcon.new({
  icon: 'icons/tray-icon.png',
  tooltip: 'My App',
  menu,
  action: (event) => {
    if (event.type === 'Click') {
      console.log('Tray clicked with', event.button);
    }
  },
});

// Update at runtime
await tray.setTooltip('Updated tooltip');
await tray.setIcon('icons/new-icon.png');
await tray.setVisible(false);

Pattern 6: Menu Item Management (JavaScript)

// Dynamic menu manipulation
await menu.append(await MenuItem.new({ text: 'New Item', action: () => {} }));
await menu.prepend(await MenuItem.new({ text: 'First Item', action: () => {} }));
await menu.insert(1, await MenuItem.new({ text: 'At Index 1', action: () => {} }));
await menu.remove('item-id');
await menu.removeAt(0);

const item = await menu.get('item-id');
const allItems = await menu.items();

Menu Event Handling (Rust)

// On the builder
.on_menu_event(|app, event| {
    match event.id().as_ref() {
        "new" => println!("New file"),
        "open" => println!("Open file"),
        _ => {}
    }
})

The event.id() returns a MenuId. Use .as_ref() to get a &str for pattern matching.

Tray Configuration in tauri.conf.json

{
  "app": {
    "trayIcon": {
      "iconPath": "icons/icon.png",
      "iconAsTemplate": true
    }
  }
}

Permissions

Menu operations require core:menu:default and tray operations require core:tray:default in the capability file.

{
  "permissions": [
    "core:menu:default",
    "core:tray:default"
  ]
}

v1 to v2 Migration Names

Reference Links

• references/methods.md -- Complete API signatures for Menu, Tray, and all item types
• references/examples.md -- Working code examples for menu and tray patterns
• references/anti-patterns.md -- What NOT to do with menus and tray, with WHY explanations

Official Sources

• https://v2.tauri.app/develop/menu/
• https://v2.tauri.app/develop/system-tray/
• https://v2.tauri.app/reference/javascript/api/namespacemenu/
• https://v2.tauri.app/reference/javascript/api/namespacetray/