Shell

GitHub npm crates.io

API Reference

Access the system shell. Allows you to spawn child processes and manage files and URLs using their default application.

Supported Platforms

This plugin requires a Rust version of at least 1.75

Platform	Level	Notes
windows
linux
macos
android		Only allows to open URLs via open
ios		Only allows to open URLs via open

Setup

Install the shell plugin to get started.

Automatic

Use your project’s package manager to add the dependency:

npm

npm run tauri add shell

yarn

yarn run tauri add shell

pnpm

pnpm tauri add shell

bun

bun tauri add shell

cargo

cargo tauri add shell

Manual

1. Run the following command in the src-tauri folder to add the plugin to the project’s dependencies in Cargo.toml:

   cargo add tauri-plugin-shell

2. Modify lib.rs to initialize the plugin:

   src-tauri/src/lib.rs

   #[cfg_attr(mobile, tauri::mobile_entry_point)]
   pub fn run() {
       tauri::Builder::default()
           .plugin(tauri_plugin_shell::init())
           .run(tauri::generate_context!())
           .expect("error while running tauri application");
   }

3. Install the JavaScript Guest bindings using your preferred JavaScript package manager:

   npm

   npm install @tauri-apps/plugin-shell

   yarn

   yarn add @tauri-apps/plugin-shell

   pnpm

   pnpm add @tauri-apps/plugin-shell

   bun

   bun add @tauri-apps/plugin-shell

Usage

The shell plugin is available in both JavaScript and Rust.

JavaScript

import { Command } from '@tauri-apps/plugin-shell';
// when using `"withGlobalTauri": true`, you may use
// const { Command } = window.__TAURI__.shell;

let result = await Command.create('exec-sh', [
  '-c',
  "echo 'Hello World!'",
]).execute();
console.log(result);

Rust

use tauri_plugin_shell::ShellExt;

let shell = app_handle.shell();
let output = tauri::async_runtime::block_on(async move {
    shell
        .command("echo")
        .args(["Hello from Rust!"])
        .output()
        .await
        .unwrap()
});
if output.status.success() {
    println!("Result: {:?}", String::from_utf8(output.stdout));
} else {
    println!("Exit with code: {}", output.status.code().unwrap());
}

Permissions

By default all potentially dangerous plugin commands and scopes are blocked and cannot be accessed. You must modify the permissions in your capabilities configuration to enable these.

See the Capabilities Overview for more information and the step by step guide to use plugin permissions.

src-tauri/capabilities/main.json

{
  "$schema": "../gen/schemas/desktop-schema.json",
  "identifier": "main-capability",
  "description": "Capability for the main window",
  "windows": ["main"],
  "permissions": [
    {
      "identifier": "shell:allow-execute",
      "allow": [
        {
          "name": "exec-sh",
          "cmd": "sh",
          "args": [
            "-c",
            {
              "validator": "\\S+"
            }
          ],
          "sidecar": false
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Default Permission

This permission set configures which shell functionality is exposed by default.

Granted Permissions

It allows to use the open functionality without any specific scope pre-configured. It will allow opening http(s)://, tel: and mailto: links.

• allow-open

Permission Table

Identifier	Description
shell:allow-execute	Enables the execute command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:deny-execute	Denies the execute command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:allow-kill	Enables the kill command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:deny-kill	Denies the kill command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:allow-open	Enables the open command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:deny-open	Denies the open command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:allow-spawn	Enables the spawn command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:deny-spawn	Denies the spawn command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:allow-stdin-write	Enables the stdin_write command without any pre-configured scope.
shell:deny-stdin-write	Denies the stdin_write command without any pre-configured scope.