Z User 3f0893cdf7 refactor: switch from sidecar IPC to webview-based RustDesk integration

Previous approach used Tauri sidecar binary with IPC commands. New approach
uses the RustDesk web architecture correctly:

- RustDesk server runs as native binary in --server mode (ports 21115-21119)
- RustDesk web client (Flutter web build) loaded in a Tauri webview window
- Web client communicates with server via WebSocket (21118/21119)

Backend changes:
- main.rs: Simplified IPC - start/stop server + open webview window
- Removed tokio dependency (no longer needed)
- Removed sidecar bundle config from tauri.conf.json

Frontend changes:
- RemoteDesktop.js: Toggle server on/off, launch web client webview
- New UI with server control section + web client launcher
- Updated CSS for the new layout
- Updated HTML with server URL input and launch button

Documentation:
- Updated binaries/README.md with full build pipeline:
  1. Build RustDesk native binary
  2. Build Flutter web client
  3. WASM bridge dependency note
  4. Server ports reference

2026-04-06 19:35:50 +00:00

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RustDesk Integration — Build Instructions

Architecture

Shelled OS (Tauri)
├── Main Window: OS desktop UI (taskbar, popups)
├── RustDesk Server: Native binary (--server mode, ports 21115-21119)
└── RustDesk Web Client: Flutter web build loaded in a Tauri webview
    └── Connects to server via WebSocket (ws://localhost:21118, ws://localhost:21119)

Step 1: Build RustDesk Native Binary

The RustDesk binary is built from shelled/rustdesk-as-ref/.

Prerequisites (Windows)

Rust toolchain (rustup)
vcpkg with: libvpx, libyuv, opus, aom
Visual Studio Build Tools (C++ workload)

set VCPKG_ROOT=C:\path\to\vcpkg
cd shelled\rustdesk-as-ref
cargo build --release

Copy binary

mkdir shelled\shelled-os-ui\src-tauri\binaries
copy target\release\rustdesk.exe shelled\shelled-os-ui\src-tauri\binaries\rustdesk.exe

Step 2: Build RustDesk Web Client

The web client is a Flutter web build that communicates with the server via WebSocket.

Prerequisites

Flutter SDK 3.24+
The flutter/web/js/ WASM bridge (from rustdesk-web-client project)

Build

cd shelled\rustdesk-as-ref\flutter

# Install web dependencies
flutter pub get
flutter create --platforms web .   # Generate web/ directory if missing

# Build Flutter web
flutter build web --release

Copy to Shelled OS

mkdir shelled\shelled-os-ui\rustdesk-web
xcopy build\web\* shelled\shelled-os-ui\rustdesk-web\ /E

Note on the WASM Bridge

The RustDesk web client requires a JS/WASM bridge layer that provides:

setByName(name, value) — Flutter → Rust/WASM commands
getByName(name, value) — Rust/WASM → Flutter data
init() — Initialize the connection

This bridge was removed from the main RustDesk repo. You'll need to get it from:

GitHub Releases: web_deps.tar.gz from rustdesk/doc.rustdesk.com
Or the MonsieurBiche/rustdesk-web-client fork's fix-build branch

Step 3: Run Shelled OS

cd shelled\shelled-os-ui
npm run dev

Using the Remote Desktop

Click the Remote Desktop icon in the taskbar
Click "Start Server" to launch the RustDesk server
Click "Launch" to open the web client in a new window
Connect to remote machines through the web client

Server Ports

Port	Protocol	Purpose
21115	TCP	NAT type test
21116	TCP+UDP	ID registration & signaling
21117	TCP	Relay server
21118	TCP/WS	WebSocket signaling (web client)
21119	TCP/WS	WebSocket relay (web client)

WebSocket URLs (for web client)

Signal: ws://localhost:21118 (or wss:// behind reverse proxy)
Relay: ws://localhost:21119 (or wss:// behind reverse proxy)

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