use-pake

name	use-pake
description	Package any website into a lightweight desktop app using Pake (Tauri/Rust). Use when the user wants to: wrap a URL as a native app, build a desktop app from a website, use Pake CLI to package a page, set up proxy for a packaged app, customize app icons or bundle IDs, or mentions 'pake', 'tauri package', 'website to app', 'wrap site'. Also trigger when the user asks about Pake CLI options, proxy configuration for packaged apps, or icon handling.
version	1.0.0
allowed-tools	["Bash","Read"]

Pake - Website to Desktop App

Pake wraps any webpage into a native desktop app via Tauri (Rust + system WebView). Output is ~5MB (vs Electron's ~150MB). Run the commands below from the root of this Pake repository.

Quick Start

# Build the CLI once (produces dist/cli.js); skip if dist/ already exists
pnpm run cli:build

node dist/cli.js "<URL>" --name <AppName> [options]

Workflow

1. Gather Requirements

Before running the build, confirm these with the user:

Parameter	Why it matters
URL	The target website
Name	Becomes the .app / .exe name and productName
Bundle ID (--identifier)	Defaults to com.pake.a{md5hash} — set explicitly for clean installs (e.g. com.pake.youtube)
Proxy (--proxy-url)	Baked into the binary at build time; not runtime-configurable. Format: http://host:port or socks5://host:port
Icon	Auto-fetched from website if omitted; can be a local path or URL

2. Handle Icons

Pake auto-fetches icons from multiple services (logo.dev, brandfetch, clearbit, Google favicons, direct favicon.ico). However:

The icon download does NOT use --proxy-url. That flag only configures the packaged app's WebView proxy. If the icon URL requires a proxy to reach (e.g. Google/GitHub assets from China), download it manually first:

curl -x http://<proxy-host>:<proxy-port> -o /tmp/icon.png "<icon-url>" --connect-timeout 15 -s

Then pass the local file:

node dist/cli.js "<URL>" --icon /tmp/icon.png ...

Icon tips:

• Prefer 256x256 or larger PNGs; SVG also works
• Pake auto-converts to platform format: .icns (macOS), .ico (Windows), .png (Linux)
• macOS icons get a squircle mask automatically
• If an old icon exists in src-tauri/icons/<name>.icns, Pake reuses it — rename/remove it to force re-fetch

3. Build

node dist/cli.js "<URL>" \
  --name <AppName> \
  --identifier <com.pake.xxx> \
  --proxy-url "http://host:port" \
  --icon /path/to/icon.png

Build takes ~40s with cache, ~2min cold. Output: <AppName>.dmg in the project root.

4. Verify

After build, confirm:

• DMG path printed in output
• Icon correctness (user should open and check)
• Bundle ID via: mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier <path-to>.app

CLI Options Reference

Common Options

Option	Default	Description
--name <string>	—	App name
--icon <string>	auto-fetch	Icon path (local file or URL)
--identifier <string>	com.pake.a{hash}	Bundle ID / app identifier
--proxy-url <url>	—	WebView proxy (http/https/socks5)
--width <number>	1200	Window width
--height <number>	780	Window height
--app-version <string>	1.0.0	App version

Window Behavior

Option	Default	Description
--fullscreen	false	Start fullscreen
--maximize	false	Start maximized
--always-on-top	false	Pin window on top
--hide-title-bar	false	Hide macOS title bar

Advanced

Option	Default	Description
--inject <files>	—	Inject CSS/JS files (comma-separated paths)
--user-agent <string>	—	Custom user agent
--debug	false	Enable devtools and verbose logging
--multi-arch	false	Build for both Intel and Apple Silicon
--multi-instance	false	Allow multiple app instances
--multi-window	false	Multiple windows in one instance
--new-window	false	Allow popup windows (needed for OAuth flows)
--incognito	false	Private browsing mode
--dark-mode	false	Force macOS dark mode
--zoom <number>	100	Initial zoom level (50-200)
--wasm	false	Enable WebAssembly
--enable-drag-drop	false	Drag & drop support
--camera	false	Camera permission (macOS)
--microphone	false	Microphone permission (macOS)
--ignore-certificate-errors	false	Ignore TLS errors
--targets <string>	auto	Build target format
--use-local-file	false	Package local HTML file

Platform Notes

Proxy Support

Platform	Status	Notes
Windows	Full	Via --proxy-server browser arg
Linux	Full	Via --proxy-server browser arg
macOS	macOS 14+	Uses Tauri native macos-proxy feature; auto-detected at build time

Chrome Extensions

Not supported. Pake uses system WebView (WKWebView on macOS, WebView2 on Windows, WebKitGTK on Linux), not a full Chrome browser. Use --inject to add custom JS/CSS as an alternative.

Common Patterns

Website behind proxy (icon also needs proxy)

# Step 1: Download icon via proxy
curl -x http://127.0.0.1:7890 -o /tmp/icon.png "<icon-url>" -s

# Step 2: Build with local icon
node dist/cli.js "https://example.com" \
  --name MyApp \
  --identifier com.pake.myapp \
  --proxy-url "http://127.0.0.1:7890" \
  --icon /tmp/icon.png

Force icon re-fetch

# Remove cached icon, then build without --icon
mv src-tauri/icons/<name>.icns src-tauri/icons/<name>.icns.bak
node dist/cli.js "https://example.com" --name MyApp

OAuth-dependent site

node dist/cli.js "https://accounts.google.com" \
  --name GoogleApp \
  --new-window \
  --ignore-certificate-errors