Tauri Architecture Isolation Pattern

Tauri v2 Isolation Pattern

The Isolation pattern interposes a sandboxed iframe between your frontend and the Core IPC channel. Every invoke() payload from the main frontend is routed through that sandbox, given to a hook function you control (__TAURI_ISOLATION_HOOK__), then AES-GCM encrypted with a per-launch key before Core sees it. If a compromised dependency in your main frontend tries to make a malicious invoke(), your hook gets first look and can sanitize, log, or reject.

It's the default-on recommendation for any app whose frontend has third-party dependencies — which is essentially every app.

When to use

Tauri's own guidance: use it always. The runtime cost is negligible (AES-GCM is fast, payloads are small) and the threat model — a compromised npm dependency calling invoke('write_file', { path: '/etc/passwd' }) from inside your bundle — is real for any non-trivial frontend.

Skip only if:

• You ship a fully air-gapped frontend with zero third-party JS, or
• You're prototyping and don't yet have a sensible hook to install.

What it mitigates

The hook is a sanitization point at the edge of the WebView, before Core. It is not a substitute for ACLs (tauri-security) or for writing safe commands. Defense in depth.

How it works

1. Frontend calls invoke('cmd', args).
2. Tauri's injected bridge does not post directly to Core. Instead it posts to an invisible sandboxed iframe (sandbox="", no allow-same-origin) loaded from your isolation app directory.
3. Inside the iframe, Tauri calls your window.__TAURI_ISOLATION_HOOK__(payload). You return the (possibly modified) payload, or throw to reject.
4. Tauri encrypts the returned payload with AES-GCM using a key generated at app launch and shared with Core out-of-band.
5. Encrypted payload posts to Core, which decrypts and dispatches.

The encryption is what prevents an attacker in the main frontend from bypassing the iframe — they can't fabricate a valid ciphertext without the key, and the key only lives in the sandboxed iframe and in Core.

Setup

1. Configure the pattern

Edit src-tauri/tauri.conf.json:

{
  "build": {
    "frontendDist": "../dist"
  },
  "app": {
    "security": {
      "pattern": {
        "use": "isolation",
        "options": {
          "dir": "../dist-isolation"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

dir is relative to src-tauri/ and points at a built isolation app. It must contain at minimum an index.html.

2. Author the isolation app

Two files. See templates/isolation/index.html and templates/isolation/index.js in this skill.

The hook signature:

window.__TAURI_ISOLATION_HOOK__ = (payload) => {
  // payload is { cmd, callback, error, ...args }
  // Return the payload (possibly modified) to forward.
  // Throw to reject the call.
  return payload;
};

Useful patterns:

// Reject a command outright
if (payload.cmd === 'delete_everything') throw new Error('blocked');

// Whitelist file paths
if (payload.cmd === 'read_file' && !payload.path?.startsWith('/Users/me/safe/')) {
  throw new Error('path not allowed');
}

// Log to a local-only sink
console.log('[isolation]', payload.cmd);

The hook may be async (return a Promise of the payload).

3. Build the isolation app

Keep it brutally simple. The Tauri docs are explicit: minimal dependencies, minimal build steps. If your isolation app has a 500-dep build chain, you've reintroduced the supply-chain risk you were trying to defend against.

Recommended:

• No bundler. Plain index.html + index.js.
• No npm dependencies. Hand-write the hook.
• One file each, both checked into source control.

A single cp -r src-isolation/ dist-isolation/ in your build script is enough.

Constraints and gotchas

One isolation app per Tauri app

You can configure exactly one dir. All invoke() calls from all windows/webviews route through that single sandboxed iframe. There's no per-window isolation app.

Windows: no ES Modules in the sandbox

Windows' sandboxed iframes can't load external module scripts. Tauri inlines <script src="..."> tags at build time as a workaround, but <script type="module"> and ESM import statements won't work inside the isolation app. Stick to classic scripts and traditional <script src="index.js"></script> tags.

If you need to split code, concatenate at build time, not load at runtime.

Performance

AES-GCM encryption per invoke() is fast — usually well under a millisecond per call for typical payloads. Key generation runs once at launch. For most apps this is undetectable. If you're already at the ~1k calls/sec bridge ceiling (see tauri-architecture-ipc-internals), the isolation overhead becomes a measurable fraction; consider batching or Channel<T> instead.

The hook is the trust boundary

If an attacker can modify the isolation app's source on disk, isolation is bypassed. Code-sign and notarize the bundle (tauri-bundling) — that's what protects the isolation app at rest.

Switching back to brownfield

The default (no pattern config, or "use": "brownfield") routes IPC straight to Core with no interposition. Useful for prototypes, never for production.

See also

• tauri-architecture-ipc-internals — what the hook is intercepting
• tauri-security — ACLs (the orthogonal, complementary defense)
• tauri-bundling — code-signing the bundle so the isolation app can't be tampered with
• tauri-setup — initial config files this pattern edits