tauri-plugin-mdns

mDNS service discovery (browse) for Tauri apps on desktop and Android, backed by the mdns-sd crate in Rust on every supported platform: service-type enumeration, instance browsing with resolution and removal events, interface selection with protocol flags, daemon metrics, and instance verification.

Mobile support is Android-only: iOS is not supported and there are no plans to port the plugin to it (iOS builds fail with an explicit error).

On Android the plugin additionally handles the ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK runtime permission, which Android 17 mandates for apps targeting SDK 37+: without it local-network access — including mDNS — is blocked by default, so browsing refuses to start while access is not granted. The permission declaration travels in the plugin manifest (merged into the host app, surviving tauri android init); the consent flow is driven from the frontend (see below).

Quick Start

Add the plugin to your src-tauri/Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
tauri-plugin-mdns = "0.1"

Register it and grant the plugin's default permission in your app's capabilities so the frontend can invoke its commands:

tauri::Builder::default()
    .plugin(tauri_plugin_mdns::init())

{
    "permissions": [
        "mdns:default"
    ]
}

Commands

The plugin registers its commands under the plugin:mdns| namespace: browse_types, browse_many, stop_browse, verify, subscribe_interfaces, set_interfaces, get_protocol_flags, set_protocol_flags, subscribe_metrics, local_network_status, and request_local_network_access. Discovery results arrive as window events: service-type-found, service-resolved, service-removed, interfaces-changed, and metrics-changed.

JavaScript API

The tauri-plugin-mdns-api package wraps these commands and events for JavaScript frontends:

npm add tauri-plugin-mdns-api

import {
  browseMany,
  browseTypes,
  localNetworkStatus,
  onServiceResolved,
  onServiceTypeFound,
  requestLocalNetworkAccess,
  stopBrowse,
} from 'tauri-plugin-mdns-api';

const status = await localNetworkStatus();
if (status !== 'granted') {
  // Show a rationale, then request from a user gesture. While denied,
  // gate discovery on a blocking empty state with guidance to
  // Settings → Apps → Permissions → Nearby devices.
  await requestLocalNetworkAccess();
}

const unlisten = await onServiceTypeFound(({ service_type }) => {
  void browseMany([service_type]);
});
await browseTypes();

How it works

The plugin manages the shared mdns-sd daemon and all browsing state itself, so no additional .manage() is required. The browsing commands check local-network access before starting (Android 17+ targeting SDK 37); below Android 17 access is implicitly granted and the check short-circuits to granted without prompting.

License

MIT-0