If you've ever dreamed of using your web development skills to build **desktop applications**, you're in luck—**JavaScript** can now power not just websites, but full-fledged apps on **Windows, macOS, and Linux**. Two of the most popular tools for this are **Electron** and **Tauri**. Though both achieve similar results, they differ in how they do it, and in what they prioritize. #### <br>What is Electron? **Electron** is a well-established framework developed by **GitHub**, and it's the engine behind apps like **Visual Studio Code**, **Slack**, and **Discord**. Electron works by bundling a **Chromium browser** and a **Node.js** runtime into your app. That means every Electron app is essentially a mini web server running a full browser instance. The advantage? You can build an app using **HTML**, **CSS**, and **JavaScript**, and it’ll look and behave the same across platforms. Here's a minimal Electron app to illustrate: ```javascript // main.js const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron') function createWindow () { const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 }) win.loadFile('index.html') } app.whenReady().then(createWindow) ``` The `main.js` is your *entry point*. It tells Electron to create a window and load your frontend. You can even use frameworks like **React**, **Vue**, or **Svelte** for the UI. #### <br>But What’s the Catch? Electron apps are often **heavy** because each app includes its own Chromium instance. This can mean downloads of over **100MB**, even for a simple app. --- #### <br>Enter Tauri **Tauri** is a newer, leaner alternative. It lets you build your UI using your favorite frontend framework (like Electron does), but instead of bundling a whole browser, Tauri uses the **native webview** provided by the operating system. That results in apps that are much **smaller and more memory-efficient**. The backend in Tauri is written in **Rust**, but don't worry—most of the time you’ll write only JavaScript or TypeScript unless you're doing something low-level. Here’s an example of how simple it can be: ```javascript // src-tauri/command.rs (Rust backend) #[tauri::command] fn greet(name: &str) -> String { format!("Hello, {}!", name) } ``` ```javascript // Frontend JS import { invoke } from '@tauri-apps/api/tauri' invoke('greet', { name: 'World' }).then((response) => { console.log(response) // Hello, World! }) ``` You can **invoke Rust commands** directly from JavaScript, which gives you **native performance** and **strong security** with low overhead. --- ### <br>So Which One Should You Use? If your priority is **speed of development**, community support, and **rich Node.js ecosystem**, go with **Electron**. It’s mature, battle-tested, and widely used. But if you care about **performance**, **small binary sizes**, and **security**, **Tauri** is the rising star. Tauri apps can be as small as **3MB**, which is a fraction of a typical Electron app. --- ### <br>Final Thoughts Whether you pick **Electron** or **Tauri**, the amazing part is that **JavaScript is no longer just for browsers**. You can build, test, and deploy real desktop apps using the same tech stack you already know. In short: * 🧠 Use **Electron** for speed and compatibility. * ⚡ Use **Tauri** for performance and security. Both allow you to bring the **power of the web** to the **desktop world**.