Tauri Plugin: Remote Push Notifications

A plugin for Tauri v2 that enables applications to receive remote push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) on Android and Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) on iOS.

Due to the security sandboxing of the Tauri plugin system, a fully automated setup is not possible. This plugin requires manual modification of your native host application code to integrate the necessary notification services.

Prerequisites

• A working Tauri v2 project.
• A Firebase project for Android.
• An Apple Developer account with push notification capabilities for iOS.

Setup

There are two parts to the setup: installing the plugin package and configuring the native host project.

1. Install Plugin Package

Add the plugin to your Cargo.toml and install the JavaScript package:

cargo add tauri-plugin-remote-push

npm install tauri-plugin-remote-push-api
# or
yarn add tauri-plugin-remote-push-api
# or
pnpm add tauri-plugin-remote-push-api
# or
bun add tauri-plugin-remote-push-api

2. Register the Plugin

You must register the plugin with Tauri in your src-tauri/src/lib.rs file:

// src-tauri/src/lib.rs
pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_remote_push::init())
        // ... other setup
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Platform-Specific Configuration

This is the critical manual step required to make the plugin functional. Before you begin, ensure you have generated the native mobile projects by running:

tauri android init
tauri ios init

iOS Configuration

1. Add Capabilities in Xcode: Open your src-tauri/gen/apple/app.xcodeproj project in Xcode.

   • Select the root project, then your app target.
   • Go to the "Signing & Capabilities" tab.
   • Click + Capability and add Push Notifications.
   • Click + Capability again and add Background Modes. In the expanded section, check Remote notifications.

2. Modify your AppDelegate: Open src-tauri/src/ios/app/AppDelegate.swift and make the following changes to register for notifications and forward them to the plugin.

   import UIKit
   import Tauri
   import UserNotifications // 1. Import UserNotifications
   import tauri_plugin_remote_push // 2. Import your plugin
   
   class AppDelegate: TauriAppDelegate {
     override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
       // 3. Set the notification center delegate
       UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self
   
       return super.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions)
     }
   
     // 4. Add the token registration handlers
     override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken deviceToken: Data) {
       PushNotificationPlugin.instance?.handleToken(deviceToken)
     }
   
     override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError error: Error) {
       print("Failed to register for remote notifications: \(error.localizedDescription)")
     }
   
     // 5. Add the notification-handling delegate method
     override func userNotificationCenter(_ center: UNUserNotificationCenter, willPresent notification: UNNotification, withCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping (UNNotificationPresentationOptions) -> Void) {
       PushNotificationPlugin.instance?.handleNotification(notification.request.content.userInfo)
       // You can customize the presentation options here
       completionHandler([.banner, .sound, .badge])
     }
   }
   

Android Configuration

1. Add google-services.json:

   • Go to your Firebase project settings.
   • Download the google-services.json file for your Android app.
   • Place this file in the src-tauri/gen/android/[YOUR_APP_NAME]/app/ directory.

2. Modify build.gradle files:

   • Project-level (src-tauri/gen/android/[YOUR_APP_NAME]/build.gradle): Add the Google services classpath.

     // buildscript -> dependencies
     dependencies {
         classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.4.1'
     }
     

   • App-level (src-tauri/gen/android/[YOUR_APP_NAME]/app/build.gradle): Add the Google services plugin and Firebase Messaging dependency.

     // At the top of the file
     apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'
     
     // dependencies { ... }
     dependencies {
         implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:23.4.1'
     }
     

3. Modify AndroidManifest.xml: Open src-tauri/gen/android/[YOUR_APP_NAME]/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml and register the FCMService inside the <application> tag.

   <application ...>
       ...
       <service
           android:name="app.tauri.remotepush.FCMService"
           android:exported="false">
           <intent-filter>
               <action android:name="com.google.firebase.MESSAGING_EVENT" />
           </intent-filter>
       </service>
       ...
   </application>
   

API

import {
  getToken,
  requestPermission,
  onNotificationReceived,
  onTokenRefresh
} from 'tauri-plugin-remote-push-api';

// Request user permission for notifications
const permission = await requestPermission();
if (permission.granted) {
  // Get the device token
  const token = await getToken();
  console.log('Device token:', token);
}

// Listen for incoming notifications
const unsubscribe = await onNotificationReceived((notification) => {
  console.log('Received notification:', notification);
});

// Listen for token refreshes
const unsubscribeToken = await onTokenRefresh((token) => {
  console.log('Token refreshed:', token);
});

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Troubleshooting

Android Build Error: Could not resolve project :tauri-plugin-remote-push

If you encounter this error during an Android build, it means the main application project (:app) does not know where to find the native Android source code for the plugin.

The Tauri build system relies on a special metadata section in the plugin's Cargo.toml file ([package.metadata.tauri-plugin]) to auto-discover the native code. If this section is missing or incorrect, the plugin will not be automatically added to your Android project's settings.gradle, causing the build to fail.

Ensure your plugin version is up-to-date and that its Cargo.toml contains the correct metadata, then try running cargo update in your application.