shopify-ai-backup/DESKTOP_BUILD_FIX_SUMMARY.md

Desktop Build Fix Summary

Problem

The Windows desktop build was failing in GitHub Actions with the error:

Error Input watch path is neither a file nor a directory.

This error occurred after the UI preparation step completed successfully, indicating that Tauri couldn't find the expected UI distribution directory.

Root Causes Identified

1. Incorrect distDir path: tauri.conf.json specified "distDir": "../ui-dist" which pointed to the wrong location

   • Expected: /home/engine/project/ui-dist
   • Actual: /home/engine/project/windows-app/ui-dist

2. Missing build.rs: Tauri requires a build.rs file in the src-tauri directory to generate necessary build artifacts

3. Incompatible tauri-plugin-store dependency: The plugin version 0.6 is incompatible with Tauri 1.5 (v0.6 doesn't exist, only v2.x which is for Tauri v2)

4. Missing tauri-build dependency: The Cargo.toml was missing the required tauri-build in [build-dependencies]

Changes Made

1. Fixed tauri.conf.json

File: windows-app/tauri.conf.json

• Changed "distDir": "../ui-dist" to "distDir": "./ui-dist"
• This ensures Tauri looks for the UI in the correct location relative to the tauri.conf.json file

2. Created build.rs

File: windows-app/src-tauri/build.rs (NEW)

fn main() {
    tauri_build::build()
}

• Required by Tauri to generate build-time configuration and resources

3. Updated Cargo.toml

File: windows-app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml

Removed:

• tauri-plugin-store = "0.6" from dependencies
• features = ["api-all"] from tauri dependency (to avoid potential issues)

Added:

• tauri-build = { version = "1.5", features = [] } in [build-dependencies]
• Updated features to properly reference tauri:

  [features]
  default = ["custom-protocol"]
  custom-protocol = ["tauri/custom-protocol"]
  

Final dependencies:

[dependencies]
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
serde_json = "1.0"
anyhow = "1.0"
reqwest = { version = "0.11", features = ["json", "rustls-tls"] }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }
tauri = { version = "1.5", features = [] }

[build-dependencies]
tauri-build = { version = "1.5", features = [] }

4. Replaced tauri-plugin-store with Custom Implementation

File: windows-app/src-tauri/src/main.rs

Removed:

• use tauri_plugin_store::StoreBuilder;
• .plugin(tauri_plugin_store::Builder::default().build()) from main()

Added:

• Custom SecureStore struct that implements file-based JSON storage:

  #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, Debug, Default)]
  struct SecureStore {
      data: HashMap<String, String>,
  }
  

• Implements async load(), save(), get(), and insert() methods
• Changed store file from secure.store to secure.json
• Maintains same API surface for the rest of the application

Benefits:

• No external plugin dependencies
• Simpler, more maintainable code
• Same functionality as before
• Works with Tauri 1.5 without version conflicts

5. Generated Cargo.lock

File: windows-app/src-tauri/Cargo.lock (NEW)

• Generated with cargo generate-lockfile
• Ensures consistent dependency versions across builds
• GitHub Actions cache now properly uses this for cache key

GitHub Actions Workflow

File: .github/workflows/windows-app.yml

The workflow was already well-structured and didn't require changes. It now properly:

1. Checks out the code
2. Sets up Node.js and Rust
3. Caches cargo dependencies using Cargo.lock
4. Installs npm dependencies
5. Verifies UI source exists
6. Prepares UI with npm run prepare-ui
7. Verifies UI dist was created
8. Builds the desktop app with npm run build
9. Uploads build artifacts

Testing

The changes were designed to be minimal and focused on fixing the specific build issues:

• The UI preparation script (sync-ui.js) remains unchanged
• The application logic in main.rs remains functionally identical
• Only the storage backend was changed from plugin to custom implementation
• All Tauri commands remain the same

Expected Results

With these changes, the Windows build in GitHub Actions should:

1. ✅ Successfully find the UI distribution directory
2. ✅ Compile without dependency conflicts
3. ✅ Generate all required build artifacts
4. ✅ Produce Windows installer files (NSIS and MSI)
5. ✅ Upload artifacts for download

Notes for Future Maintenance

1. Tauri Version: Currently using Tauri 1.5. If upgrading to Tauri 2.x in the future:

   • Update Cargo.toml dependencies
   • Re-evaluate tauri-plugin-store (v2.x is compatible with Tauri 2.x)
   • Review tauri.conf.json schema changes
   • Update GitHub Actions workflow if needed

2. Custom SecureStore: The current implementation is simple and adequate. For enhanced security:

   • Consider encrypting the JSON file at rest
   • Use OS keychain/credential manager integration
   • Implement proper file permissions checks

3. Dependencies: Keep an eye on:

   • Tauri security updates
   • Rust toolchain updates
   • WebView2 runtime updates on Windows

Build Command

To build locally (on Windows):

cd windows-app
npm install
npm run prepare-ui
npm run build

To run in development mode:

cd windows-app
npm install
npm run prepare-ui
npm run dev