How to configure Tauri to load UI from an external static file server instead of bundling it?

[aryan-parmar]

Hi team,
I'm building a project where I want to keep my Tauri app completely separate from my frontend project. My goal is to make Tauri act as a container or shell that loads the UI dynamically from an external static file server (like one running my React app).

Specifically, I want:

Tauri to not embed or bundle any UI files at all.
Instead, Tauri should load a remote URL like http://localhost:3000 or a hosted URL like https://example.com/
Ideally, this approach should work both in development (for rapid iteration) and production (when the static files are hosted externally).

Questions:

• How can I configure Tauri to point to a remote/static URL as the app entry point?

• Are there any caveats in terms of permissions or security policies (CSP, origin settings, etc.) I should be aware of?

• Is this approach considered acceptable for production usage in terms of Tauri’s best practices?

Would really appreciate any guidance or examples. Thanks!

[FabianLars]

How can I configure Tauri to point to a remote/static URL as the app entry point?

You can change frontendDist to point directly to an url, then it also won't bundle any files.

Are there any caveats in terms of permissions or security policies (CSP, origin settings, etc.) I should be aware of?

If you used frontendDist then no. Tauri should act more or less browser like. The only thing is if you don't configure Access-Control-Allow-Origin to iirc also allow tauri://ipc.localhost and http://ipc.localhost tauri will fallback to a slower IPC implementation.

Is this approach considered acceptable for production usage in terms of Tauri’s best practices?

Acceptable in general? yes - In terms of best practices? ehh not really i guess 🤷

[aryan-parmar]

If you used frontendDist then no. Tauri should act more or less browser like. The only thing is if you don't configure Access-Control-Allow-Origin to iirc also allow tauri://ipc.localhost and http://ipc.localhost tauri will fallback to a slower IPC implementation.

Could you please guide me on how to do this?

[FabianLars]

That depends on your server (if it's yours). If you ask google for " Access-Control-Allow-Origin" it should tell you how to do it.
If you don't own the server and therefore can't modify the headers it sends, just ignore it and live with the slower IPC. There's nothing you could do except to have a localhost proxy server maybe but i have no guide for that.

[marcelmazon]

I wanted to add for others reading that in order to make it work in dev mode you have to also change "devUrl" to your desired url.

For example:

"devURL": "http://example.com"