tauri-plugin-automation

HTTP automation server for Tauri apps. Enables external control and automated testing.

Rust crate: Tauri v2 only JavaScript API: Supports both Tauri v1 and v2

Why?

Tauri's WebDriver support doesn't work on macOS (WKWebView lacks a driver). This plugin provides a lightweight HTTP API alternative that works everywhere.

Features

HTTP API on port 9876 for external control
DOM commands: click, type, getText, navigate, waitFor, etc.
Screenshots: Capture the current page as PNG
Works on macOS: No WebDriver needed
Scriptable: Perfect for automated testing tools and AI assistants

Installation

Rust (Cargo.toml)

[dependencies]
tauri-plugin-automation-server = { git = "https://github.com/dcherrera/tauri-plugin-automation" }

Note: The Rust crate requires Tauri v2. For Tauri v1 projects, you can still use the JavaScript API which auto-detects the Tauri version, but the Rust HTTP server won't be available.

Rust (main.rs)

use tauri_plugin_automation_server;

// Define your own command that calls the plugin
#[tauri::command]
fn automation_screenshot_data(data: String) {
    tauri_plugin_automation_server::set_screenshot_data(data);
}

fn main() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .setup(|app| {
            // Start automation server
            tauri_plugin_automation_server::start_server(app.handle().clone());
            Ok(())
        })
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![
            automation_screenshot_data,
            // ... your other commands
        ])
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

JavaScript

Copy guest-js/src/ to your project, then initialize in your app:

import { initAutomation } from './automation'

// Async version (recommended)
await initAutomation()

// Or sync version for boot files
import { initAutomationSync } from './automation'
initAutomationSync()

API

Health Check

curl http://localhost:9876/automation/health

{"status": "ok", "port": 9876, "version": "0.2.0", "tauri": "v2"}

Execute Command

curl -X POST http://localhost:9876/automation/execute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"command": "click", "args": {"selector": "#my-button"}}'

Screenshot

curl http://localhost:9876/automation/screenshot --output screenshot.png

Available Commands

Command	Args	Description
`navigate`	`{path}`	Navigate to route
`click`	`{selector}`	Click element
`type`	`{selector, text}`	Type into input
`clear`	`{selector}`	Clear input
`getText`	`{selector}`	Get element text
`getValue`	`{selector}`	Get input value
`getAttribute`	`{selector, attribute}`	Get attribute
`exists`	`{selector}`	Check if element exists
`waitFor`	`{selector, timeout?}`	Wait for element
`select`	`{selector, value}`	Select dropdown option
`check`	`{selector}`	Check checkbox
`uncheck`	`{selector}`	Uncheck checkbox
`getUrl`	-	Get current URL
`getTitle`	-	Get page title
`focus`	`{selector}`	Focus element
`blur`	`{selector}`	Blur element
`pressKey`	`{key, selector?}`	Press keyboard key
`scrollTo`	`{selector}`	Scroll to element
`submit`	`{selector}`	Submit form
`wait`	`{ms}`	Wait milliseconds
`eval`	`{script}`	Execute JavaScript
`getElements`	`{selector}`	Get all matching elements
`getHtml`	`{selector?}`	Get element HTML

Example: Automated Testing

import requests

BASE = "http://localhost:9876/automation"

# Navigate to login
requests.post(f"{BASE}/execute", json={
    "command": "navigate",
    "args": {"path": "/login"}
})

# Fill form
requests.post(f"{BASE}/execute", json={
    "command": "type",
    "args": {"selector": "#email", "text": "test@example.com"}
})

requests.post(f"{BASE}/execute", json={
    "command": "type",
    "args": {"selector": "#password", "text": "password123"}
})

# Submit
requests.post(f"{BASE}/execute", json={
    "command": "click",
    "args": {"selector": "#login-button"}
})

# Take screenshot to verify
response = requests.get(f"{BASE}/screenshot")
with open("result.png", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

Security

This plugin opens an HTTP server on localhost. For production:

Disable in release builds using Cargo features:

[features]
default = []  # Don't include automation by default
automation = ["tauri-plugin-automation-server"]

Only enable when needed:

cargo build --features automation

Changelog

v0.2.0

Breaking: Rust crate now requires Tauri v2 (Cargo can't have both v1 and v2 due to native lib conflicts)
JavaScript API auto-detects Tauri version (works with both v1 and v2)
Added initAutomationSync() for boot files

v0.1.0

Initial release (Tauri v1 only)

License

MIT Transparency License - see LICENSE

tauri-plugin-automation-server 0.2.0