tauri-crabnebula-devtools

name	tauri-crabnebula-devtools
description	Use CrabNebula DevTools for Tauri 2 Rust-side debugging, IPC analysis, tracing spans, config inspection, and command/event timing. Trigger when browser devtools are insufficient because the issue involves Rust commands, permissions, capability bundles, spans, logs, or backend performance.

CrabNebula DevTools for Tauri 2

Use this when the bug is not purely frontend. CrabNebula fills the visibility gap that browser devtools leave open.

Install and register

cargo add tauri-plugin-devtools

Register as early as possible and keep it debug-only:

fn main() {
    #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
    let devtools = tauri_plugin_devtools::init();

    let mut builder = tauri::Builder::default();

    #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
    {
        builder = builder.plugin(devtools);
    }

    builder
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Open modes

• Standalone desktop app: connect the CrabNebula DevTools app to the running Tauri app.
• Embedded drawer: requires Tauri v2 multi-WebView support and tauri-plugin-devtools-app.

What each area is best for

• Console: structured Rust logs, dependency logs, tracing context.
• Calls: IPC invocation timing, payloads, responses, slow commands, inner logs.
• Tauri / Config views: permissions, capability bundles, live config inspection.
• Sources: correlate emitted code and runtime behavior when source mapping matters.

Recommended workflow

1. Reproduce the bug once with minimal noise.
2. Keep the Console and Calls views open.
3. Perform the exact UI action that fails.
4. Identify:
   • which command/event fired
   • payload values
   • response or error payload
   • slow spans or nested logs
5. If permissions/capabilities are suspect, inspect config/capability data before changing app code.

Use CrabNebula when

• frontend shows a generic failure but you need the Rust cause
• IPC commands are slow, duplicated, or returning malformed payloads
• a permission/capability misconfiguration is likely
• tracing spans or dependency logs matter

Do not overuse it

• If the bug is obviously DOM/CSS-only, start with standard WebView inspector instead.
• Keep instrumentation debug-only; it can conflict with production logging expectations.