Linux PWA Manager

Linux desktop app for turning websites into app-style launchers with isolated profiles, generated .desktop entries, and a shared GUI/CLI core.

Stack

• Tauri v2
• React + TypeScript + Vite
• Rust backend with SQLite

Current MVP

• Create, edit, delete, list, and launch saved web apps
• Detect installed browsers and store the preferred runtime
• Normalize URLs and prevent duplicates
• Auto-fetch or upload icons and save them under XDG data directories
• Generate per-app .desktop launchers
• Provide a CLI for add/edit/remove/list/launch/browsers
• Save global defaults for new web apps and launch-on-login behavior
• Export and import backups as JSON, including icons and settings
• Keep tray-enabled setups running in the background when the main window closes

Linux prerequisites

On Debian/Ubuntu-based systems, install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
  libappindicator3-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev \
  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev \
  rpm \
  librsvg2-dev \
  libsoup-3.0-dev \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  patchelf

Local development

npm install
npm run check:ts
npm run fmt:check
npm run lint:rust
npm test
npm run tauri dev

CLI examples

linux-pwa-manager add --name YouTube --url youtube.com --browser chromium
linux-pwa-manager list --json
linux-pwa-manager launch YouTube
linux-pwa-manager export ~/backups/web-apps.json
linux-pwa-manager import ~/backups/web-apps.json --replace-existing

linux-pwa-manager add now uses the saved default browser and default window mode when those flags are omitted.

XDG paths

• Database: $XDG_DATA_HOME/linux-pwa-manager/webapps.db
• Icons: $XDG_DATA_HOME/linux-pwa-manager/icons/
• Profiles: $XDG_DATA_HOME/linux-pwa-manager/profiles/
• Desktop entries: $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/
• Config: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/linux-pwa-manager/
• State: $XDG_STATE_HOME/linux-pwa-manager/

Backup Format

Backups are JSON files that include:

• Saved web apps
• Embedded custom icons as data URLs
• Saved application settings

Imports can either merge into the current library or replace it completely.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.