This guide covers how to set up the development environment and build Handy from source across different platforms.
- Rust (latest stable)
- Bun package manager
- Tauri Prerequisites
- Xcode Command Line Tools
- Install with:
xcode-select --install
- Microsoft C++ Build Tools
- Visual Studio 2019/2022 with C++ development tools
- Or Visual Studio Build Tools 2019/2022
-
Build essentials
-
ALSA development libraries
-
Install with:
# Ubuntu/Debian sudo apt update sudo apt install build-essential libasound2-dev pkg-config libssl-dev libvulkan-dev vulkan-tools glslc libgtk-3-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev libgtk-layer-shell0 libgtk-layer-shell-dev patchelf cmake # Fedora/RHEL sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools" sudo dnf install alsa-lib-devel pkgconf openssl-devel vulkan-devel \ gtk3-devel webkit2gtk4.1-devel libappindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel \ gtk-layer-shell gtk-layer-shell-devel \ cmake # Arch Linux sudo pacman -S base-devel alsa-lib pkgconf openssl vulkan-devel \ gtk3 webkit2gtk-4.1 libappindicator-gtk3 librsvg gtk-layer-shell \ cmake
git clone git@github.com:cjpais/Handy.git
cd Handybun installbun tauri devbun run tauri buildThis compiles a release binary and generates platform-specific bundles (deb, rpm, AppImage on Linux; dmg on macOS; msi on Windows).
The raw binary (src-tauri/target/release/handy) cannot run standalone — it needs Tauri resource files (tray icons, sounds, VAD model) to be co-located at the expected path.
Install from the deb bundle (works on any Linux distro):
cd /tmp
ar x /path/to/Handy/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/Handy_*_amd64.deb data.tar.gz
tar xzf data.tar.gz
sudo cp usr/bin/handy /usr/bin/
sudo cp -r usr/lib/Handy /usr/lib/
sudo cp -r usr/share/icons/hicolor/* /usr/share/icons/hicolor/
sudo cp usr/share/applications/Handy.desktop /usr/share/applications/After subsequent rebuilds, only the binary needs re-copying:
sudo cp src-tauri/target/release/handy /usr/bin/Resources only need re-copying if they change upstream (new icons, sounds, etc.).
linuxdeploy bundles its own strip binary which is too old to process system libraries built with newer toolchains on rolling-release distros (Arch, CachyOS, Manjaro, EndeavourOS).
The error from Tauri:
Bundling Handy_*_amd64.AppImage
failed to bundle project `failed to run linuxdeploy`
Tauri swallows the real linuxdeploy error. To see it, run linuxdeploy manually:
cd src-tauri/target/release/bundle/appimage
~/.cache/tauri/linuxdeploy-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run \
--appdir Handy.AppDir --plugin gtk --output appimageWorkaround: The binary, deb, and rpm bundles all build fine — only the AppImage step fails. To skip it:
bun run tauri build -- --bundles debThen install using the deb extraction method above.