A small desktop shell with native responsibilities.
Messenger Next keeps web rendering in the operating system's WebView and moves desktop integration, file handling, updater behavior, and window control into a Tauri 2 application backed by Rust.
Tauri 2
The application shell uses Tauri 2 instead of bundling an Electron runtime. This keeps the installer compact and uses native platform capabilities for windows, notifications, menus, and updates.
Rust
Native commands and desktop boundaries are implemented in Rust, with explicit handling for downloads, platform permissions, updater operations, and window lifecycle behavior.
System WebView
Messenger renders through the WebView already provided by Windows, macOS, or Linux. The app does not ship a second full browser engine in every installer.
Typed integration
The Messenger-specific desktop UI is organized as typed modules that bridge browser events to constrained Tauri commands instead of relying on one monolithic injected script.
Release and update model
Stable and preview channels share one release catalog, with update checks deduplicated and cached to avoid unnecessary GitHub API use. The desktop updater verifies release metadata before installation, while rollback support provides a recovery route when a release is unsuitable for a particular system.
Distribution and source
Why is there only one macOS download?
The DMG contains a universal application for both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. A single artifact avoids architecture choices and update mismatches while preserving the same installation path across supported Mac hardware.
Why does Windows use an MSI installer?
MSI provides predictable installation, updating, and removal through the standard Windows Installer service. It also works well in managed Windows environments. The package uses the system WebView2 runtime instead of bundling a browser engine, so its small size is not the result of removing Messenger features.
Where is the source code?
The Messenger Next application is currently closed source. Releases, documentation, Discussions, issue reporting, and project history remain public. The reasoning and possible future direction are documented in issue #1.
What is public today
Messenger Next itself is currently closed source. Release artifacts, documentation, Discussions, issue reporting, and the public project history remain available in the Messenger repository. The source-code decision is documented in issue #1.
Developers can still contribute high-quality bug reports, platform reproduction steps, release feedback, documentation corrections, and security observations without access to the internal application code.