The Bedrud desktop client is a native Windows and Linux application built with Rust and the Slint UI toolkit. It provides the same core meeting experience as the web and mobile clients, compiled to a single binary with no runtime dependencies.

Technology Stack

Platform Support

Source Layout

apps/desktop/
├── Cargo.toml              # Crate definition
├── build.rs                # Slint compile step
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs             # Entry point - initialises app + event loop
│   ├── app.rs              # Top-level AppState and startup logic
│   ├── api/
│   │   ├── client.rs       # Shared HTTP client (base URL, JWT injection)
│   │   ├── auth.rs         # Login, register, refresh
│   │   ├── rooms.rs        # Room list, join, create
│   │   └── admin.rs        # Admin endpoints
│   ├── auth/
│   │   ├── session.rs      # JWT storage and refresh loop
│   │   └── passkey.rs      # FIDO2 passkey stub
│   ├── livekit/
│   │   ├── room.rs         # Room connection lifecycle
│   │   ├── tracks.rs       # Audio/video track management
│   │   └── devices.rs      # Microphone / camera enumeration
│   ├── store/
│   │   ├── instance.rs     # Multi-instance persistence
│   │   └── settings.rs     # User preferences
│   └── ui/
│       ├── mod.rs
│       └── bridge.rs       # Slint ↔ Rust callback wiring
└── ui/
    ├── app.slint            # Root component, page router
    ├── theme.slint          # Colours, typography, spacing tokens
    ├── components/          # Button, Input, Card, Avatar
    ├── auth/                # Login and Register screens
    ├── dashboard/           # Room list, Create-room dialog
    ├── meeting/             # Controls bar, participant tiles, chat
    ├── admin/               # Admin panel, user table
    └── settings.slint       # Settings screen

Architecture

flowchart TB
    subgraph UI ["Slint UI Layer"]
        direction TB
        SLINT[app.slint<br/>theme.slint<br/>components/ + screens]
    end
 
    subgraph Bridge ["Bridge Layer"]
        BRIDGE[ui/bridge.rs<br/>Slint ↔ Rust wiring]
    end
 
    subgraph Core ["Core Modules"]
        direction TB
        API[api/<br/>client.rs • auth.rs • rooms.rs • admin.rs]
        LIVEKIT[livekit/<br/>room.rs • tracks.rs • devices.rs]
        AUTH[auth/<br/>session.rs • passkey.rs]
        STORE[store/<br/>instance.rs • settings.rs]
    end
 
    SLINT -->|"callbacks /<br/>property bindings"| BRIDGE
    BRIDGE <-->|"async tasks<br/>+ Weak&lt;AppWindow&gt;"| Core
    API <--> LIVEKIT
    AUTH <--> STORE

Key design decisions

• Slint’s compile-time UI - .slint files are compiled into Rust at build time via build.rs. There is no layout engine at runtime; the UI is fully native.
• bridge.rs as the only UI↔logic boundary - all Slint callbacks are wired in one place, keeping business logic out of the UI layer and making the bridge easy to audit.
• Weak<AppWindow> in callbacks - Slint UI handles are !Send, so background tasks upgrade a stored Weak reference on the UI thread to set properties, rather than sharing the handle across threads.
• Multi-instance via store/instance.rs - identical to the mobile apps: instances are serialised to a JSON file in the OS config directory; each instance has its own APIClient and AuthSession.

Building Locally

Prerequisites

• Rust stable toolchain (rustup toolchain install stable)

• Linux: libfontconfig, libxkbcommon, libwayland, libgles2, libdbus, libsecret

  sudo apt-get install -y \
    libfontconfig1-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev \
    libwayland-dev libgles2-mesa-dev libegl1-mesa-dev \
    libdbus-1-dev libsecret-1-dev \
    libasound2-dev

• Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools (MSVC) with the C++ workload

Build

# Debug build (fast compile, no optimisations)
make dev-desktop          # runs the app immediately after build
 
# Release build
make build-desktop        # → target/release/bedrud-desktop (Linux)
                           # → target/release/bedrud-desktop.exe (Windows)

Or with Cargo directly:

cargo build -p bedrud-desktop                          # debug
cargo build -p bedrud-desktop --release                # optimised
cargo run   -p bedrud-desktop                          # run immediately

CI

The desktop app is built in CI on every push to main and on pull requests:

Release builds produce two artifacts: