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

bash

# 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:

bash

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

Then pass the local file:

bash

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

bash

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)

bash

# 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

bash

# 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

bash

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