Building from source

Prebuilt packages are on the releases page. This page describes how to build Cairn yourself.

Requirements

To build Cairn from source, you need:

Rust 1.90 or newer (rustup or your distribution's package)
Node.js 22.12 or newer and npm (Vitest runs on Node 22, 24, and 26 or later)
The Tauri system dependencies for your platform, listed at https://tauri.app/start/prerequisites/

Platform notes:

Linux: WebKitGTK 4.1 and its development headers. On Debian or Ubuntu: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev. On Arch: sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1 base-devel curl wget file openssl appmenu-gtk-module libappindicator-gtk3 librsvg.
macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install). Nobody has built or run Cairn on macOS yet, CI does not test it there, and releases have no macOS build.
Windows: Microsoft C++ Build Tools and the WebView2 Runtime. Clone the repository as described under Build on Windows, below.

Build the desktop app

Get the source code with Git. On Windows, clone it as described under Build on Windows, below. The clone makes a cairn folder: run the other commands on this page in that folder.

git clone https://github.com/lucas-pospor/cairn.git
cd cairn

Install the JavaScript dependencies once:

cd app && npm install

Run in development mode, with hot reload for the UI:

cd app && npx tauri dev

Build installable packages for the current OS (Linux: .deb, .rpm and AppImage; macOS: .app and .dmg; Windows: .msi and .exe):

cd app && npx tauri build

The packages end up in target/release/bundle/.

Build on Windows

To build Cairn on Windows, clone the repository as CI does, with LF line endings kept and long paths allowed:

git clone -c core.autocrlf=false -c core.longpaths=true https://github.com/lucas-pospor/cairn.git

Then build as above, in Command Prompt, Git Bash or PowerShell 7: Windows PowerShell 5.1, which comes with Windows, does not accept the && in these commands. cd app && npx tauri build --bundles nsis builds only the installer, as CI does.

Build the Android app

The Android app is built from the same code. In addition to the requirements above, you need:

rustup with the Android targets: rustup target add aarch64-linux-android armv7-linux-androideabi i686-linux-android x86_64-linux-android (a distribution's Rust package cannot add targets)
JDK 17 or newer
The Android SDK with platform 37, build tools, the NDK and platform tools. With the command-line tools: sdkmanager "platform-tools" "platforms;android-37.0" "build-tools;36.0.0" "ndk;29.0.14206865"

scripts/android-env.sh sets ANDROID_HOME, NDK_HOME, JAVA_HOME and PATH for the default locations; edit it if yours differ.

. scripts/android-env.sh

Build an APK for phones (arm64) and for the x86_64 emulator:

cd app && npx tauri android build --apk --target aarch64 --target x86_64

For a debug build on a connected phone or a running emulator:

cd app && npx tauri android dev

You have to sign a release APK before you can install it. See https://tauri.app/distribute/sign/android/.