Tauri Plugin Dev Mobile Bridges

Mobile Bridges in a Tauri v2 Plugin

A mobile-capable Tauri plugin has three layers stacked:

JS  (guest-js)        — invoke('plugin:foo|do_thing', { ... })
 ↓
Rust (src/mobile.rs)  — handle.run_mobile_plugin("doThing", payload)
 ↓
Native (Kotlin/Swift) — @Command fun doThing(invoke: Invoke) / @objc func doThing(_ invoke: Invoke)

Desktop bypasses the bottom two layers entirely — src/desktop.rs implements the same public API in pure Rust. The plugin's public Rust struct exposes one method per command, picking the right implementation behind a #[cfg(mobile)] / #[cfg(desktop)] split that tauri plugin new scaffolds for you.

Builds on tauri-plugin-dev (scaffolding, lifecycle hooks) and tauri-plugin-dev-permissions-manifest (every native command still needs a permission like its desktop sibling).

Scaffolding

# New plugin with both platforms
bunx @tauri-apps/cli plugin new my-plugin --android --ios

# Existing plugin — add one platform later
bunx @tauri-apps/cli plugin android add
bunx @tauri-apps/cli plugin ios add

android add produces an Android library project under android/ (Gradle + a Kotlin Plugin class). ios add produces a Swift package under ios/ (Package.swift + a Swift Plugin class). Both are referenced from Cargo.toml via Tauri's mobile-plugin build glue; you do not have to hand-wire them.

Android (Kotlin)

The plugin entry point is a Kotlin class annotated with @TauriPlugin. Each @Command-annotated method gets exposed to Rust:

package com.plugin.myplugin

import android.app.Activity
import android.webkit.WebView
import app.tauri.annotation.Command
import app.tauri.annotation.InvokeArg
import app.tauri.annotation.TauriPlugin
import app.tauri.plugin.Invoke
import app.tauri.plugin.JSObject
import app.tauri.plugin.Plugin

@InvokeArg
internal class OpenCameraArgs {
    lateinit var quality: Integer
    var allowEdit: Boolean = false
}

@TauriPlugin
class MyPlugin(private val activity: Activity) : Plugin(activity) {
    override fun load(webView: WebView) {
        // initialization (called once per webview)
    }

    @Command
    fun openCamera(invoke: Invoke) {
        val args = invoke.parseArgs(OpenCameraArgs::class.java)
        val result = JSObject()
        result.put("path", "/path/to/photo.jpg")
        invoke.resolve(result)
    }
}

Argument marshaling (@InvokeArg)

Args come in as JSON; parseArgs deserializes to the annotated class. Required vs optional vs default field shape matters:

• Required: lateinit var name: String — missing → exception
• Optional: var timeout: Int? = null — missing → null
• Default value: var quality: Int = 100 — missing → 100

Inner objects must also be @InvokeArg-annotated.

Threading & ANR

Commands run on the main thread. Block it and you get an Application Not Responding dialog. Wrap long work in a coroutine and resolve later:

import kotlinx.coroutines.*
val scope = CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO + SupervisorJob())

@Command
fun loadFile(invoke: Invoke) {
    scope.launch {
        val data = readBigFile()
        invoke.resolve(JSObject().apply { put("data", data) })
    }
}

iOS (Swift)

import Tauri
import WebKit

class OpenCameraArgs: Decodable {
    let quality: Int
    var allowEdit: Bool?
}

class MyPlugin: Plugin {
    @objc public override func load(webview: WKWebView) {
        // initialization
    }

    @objc public func openCamera(_ invoke: Invoke) throws {
        let args = try invoke.parseArgs(OpenCameraArgs.self)
        invoke.resolve(["path": "/path/to/photo.jpg"])
    }
}

Each command method must be @objc and take a single Invoke argument — that's how Tauri's Swift side discovers it via the Objective-C runtime. Drop @objc and the command silently doesn't register.

Optional fields are var ... : Type?. Default values are not supported — use nil and default at the call site.

Calling native code from Rust (src/mobile.rs)

The scaffold gives you a struct that wraps a PluginHandle. Each public Rust method serializes its args, calls the named native method, and deserializes the result:

use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
use tauri::{plugin::PluginHandle, Runtime};

#[derive(Serialize)]
#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
pub struct CameraRequest {
    pub quality: u32,
    pub allow_edit: bool,
}

#[derive(Deserialize)]
pub struct Photo {
    pub path: std::path::PathBuf,
}

pub struct MyPlugin<R: Runtime>(pub(crate) PluginHandle<R>);

impl<R: Runtime> MyPlugin<R> {
    pub fn open_camera(&self, payload: CameraRequest) -> crate::Result<Photo> {
        self.0
            .run_mobile_plugin("openCamera", payload)
            .map_err(Into::into)
    }
}

The string "openCamera" must match the Kotlin fun openCamera / Swift func openCamera name exactly — camelCase, no plugin: prefix.

The permissions UX (checkPermissions / requestPermissions)

Some OS features (camera, notifications, location) require runtime user consent. Tauri ships a standard pattern: every plugin gets two implicit commands, checkPermissions and requestPermissions, that consumers call from JS to drive the consent flow.

Android

Declare the OS permissions you care about on the @TauriPlugin annotation:

import android.Manifest
import app.tauri.annotation.Permission

@TauriPlugin(
    permissions = [
        Permission(strings = [Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS], alias = "postNotification"),
        Permission(strings = [Manifest.permission.CAMERA], alias = "camera"),
    ]
)
class MyPlugin(private val activity: Activity) : Plugin(activity) { /* ... */ }

Tauri auto-implements checkPermissions / requestPermissions against these aliases — the JS gets back { postNotification: "granted" | "denied" | "prompt" | "prompt-with-rationale", camera: ... }.

iOS

Override the two methods manually — iOS doesn't have a manifest-driven model the way Android does:

class MyPlugin: Plugin {
    @objc public override func checkPermissions(_ invoke: Invoke) {
        invoke.resolve(["camera": "prompt"])
    }

    @objc public override func requestPermissions(_ invoke: Invoke) {
        AVCaptureDevice.requestAccess(for: .video) { granted in
            invoke.resolve(["camera": granted ? "granted" : "denied"])
        }
    }
}

The string values must come from the PermissionState set (granted / denied / prompt / prompt-with-rationale) — the JS-side @tauri-apps/api/core type checks against that.

Debugging the native side

• Android: open android/ in Android Studio. Set breakpoints in the Kotlin Plugin class. Run the Tauri dev command (bunx tauri android dev) — Android Studio attaches to the running process. Log.d(TAG, ...) shows up in Logcat.
• iOS: open the Tauri-generated .xcworkspace (under src-tauri/gen/apple/ of the consuming app, not the plugin itself) in Xcode. Set breakpoints in the Swift Plugin class. Run via bunx tauri ios dev. print(...) goes to the Xcode console.
• Rust ↔ native boundary: if run_mobile_plugin("doThing", ...) errors, the native side either (a) doesn't have a method with that exact name, (b) threw an exception before resolving, or (c) failed to deserialize the payload (camelCase mismatch is the usual cause — keep #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")] on the Rust struct).

Common traps

• camelCase mismatch: Rust serializes allow_edit but Kotlin/Swift expects allowEdit. Always derive #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")] on the Rust args struct.
• Method-name typo: run_mobile_plugin("openCammera", ...) fails silently as "no such method" with no compile-time check. Keep the names in one place if you can.
• Forgetting @objc on Swift: the method exists at Swift level but Tauri can't see it via the Objective-C runtime. It will appear as missing at runtime only.
• Blocking the Android main thread: any work over ~16ms in a @Command fn freezes the UI. Use CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch { ... } and resolve the Invoke from there.
• Permission alias collisions: if two Android plugins both use alias "notifications", the runtime can't tell them apart. Prefix with the plugin name (alias = "my-plugin-notifications").

Templates

• templates/MyPlugin.kt — Kotlin @TauriPlugin with @Command, @InvokeArg, permission declarations, and a coroutine-backed long-running command.
• templates/MyPlugin.swift — Swift Plugin subclass with @objc commands, Decodable args, and overridden checkPermissions / requestPermissions.
• templates/mobile-bridge.rs — src/mobile.rs skeleton wrapping PluginHandle::run_mobile_plugin calls.