@multiplatform.one/desktop

Capability interfaces for desktop-only concerns — file system, dialogs, paths, and updater — behind one import that no-ops (or throws clearly) everywhere the capability does not exist.

Install

pnpm add @multiplatform.one/desktop

Peers (Tauri builds only, all optional): @tauri-apps/api, @tauri-apps/plugin-dialog, @tauri-apps/plugin-fs, @tauri-apps/plugin-updater.

What it owns

• fs — readTextFile, writeTextFile, exists, mkdir, remove, rename, copyFile
• dialog — open, save, message, ask, confirm, prompt
• paths — well-known directories (home, app data, …)
• updater — check/install app updates

Each API is an interface plus a default implementation, so shared code (for example @multiplatform.one/frappe-ui's FrappeForm delete confirm) can import it unconditionally on every platform.

State of play. Tauri is the one backend with a full implementation: each API has a .tauri file (selected at build time in Tauri bundles) that rides the matching @tauri-apps/plugin-* peer. A Tauri window running the plain web bundle (dev mode) gets the web defaults, which work there — the webview has the browser modals.

Outside Tauri: dialog.message, .ask, .confirm and .prompt are the browser's modal globals and are therefore web-only. On GNOME they throw a named error: GJS has no window.confirm, and neither silently returning false (a confirm button that appears broken) nor silently returning true (a delete nobody agreed to) is a defensible default for a confirmation. dialog.open and .save return null on both. fs and paths report unsupported outside Tauri; updater is a no-op there.

The GNOME target has real GTK equivalents available (Gtk.FileDialog, Adw.AlertDialog, GLib.get_user_*_dir); wiring them up as index.gnome.ts files behind these same interfaces is the natural next step — the interfaces exist precisely so that lands as an implementation rather than an API change.

What it must not do

• No UI and no window management — this package wraps capabilities, not chrome

Usage

import { dialog, fs } from "@multiplatform.one/desktop";

export async function exportNotes(contents: string) {
  const path = await dialog.save({ defaultPath: "notes.md" });
  if (!path) return;
  await fs.writeTextFile(path, contents);
  await dialog.message("Notes exported");
}

License

Apache-2.0