Environment Setup

Sea Lantern is a Tauri 2 + Vue 3 + Rust project. The development environment needs:

• Node.js: runs the frontend toolchain.
• pnpm: installs and manages frontend dependencies.
• Rust: compiles the backend and Tauri host.
• System build dependencies: allow Tauri to build the desktop app on the current operating system.

Install them in the order below.

Version Requirements

Tool	Recommended version
Node.js	22.12.0+
pnpm	11.11.0
Rust	stable
Git	latest

Install Node.js

Use fnm to install and manage Node.js. fnm supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, and lets you switch versions directly when the project upgrades Node.js.

After installing fnm and configuring your shell according to the fnm documentation, install the Node.js version required by this project:

fnm install 22
fnm default 22
fnm use 22
node -v
npm -v

Make sure node -v prints v22.x or newer before installing pnpm. If Node.js downloads are slow, see the mirror configuration in the fnm documentation. If you do not want to use a version manager, use the official Node.js download page instead.

Install pnpm

Sea Lantern uses pnpm. pnpm's documentation states that pnpm 11 requires Node.js 22 or newer, so install Node.js with fnm first.

Use Corepack to pin the pnpm version required by the project:

npm install --global corepack@latest
corepack enable pnpm
corepack prepare pnpm@11.11.0 --activate
pnpm -v

See pnpm Installation for the official installation guide.

Install Rust

Rust should be installed and managed with rustup.

Windows

1. Open the official Rust installation page.
2. Download and run rustup-init.exe.
3. If the installer asks you to install Visual Studio C++ Build Tools, follow the prompt.
4. In Visual Studio Installer, select Desktop development with C++.
5. Use an MSVC Rust target, such as x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.

After installation, reopen PowerShell:

rustc --version
cargo --version
rustup show

If Tauri later reports C++ linker, link.exe, or Windows SDK errors, reopen Visual Studio Installer and confirm that the C++ desktop development components and Windows SDK are installed.

macOS

Install Xcode Command Line Tools first:

xcode-select --install

Then install Rust:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

After installation, reopen the terminal:

rustc --version
cargo --version

Linux

Make sure basic build tools are installed first. For Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential curl

Then install Rust:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

After installation, load the environment variables as prompted, or reopen the terminal:

rustc --version
cargo --version

Install Tauri System Dependencies

Tauri needs the system WebView and native build tools. See Tauri Prerequisites for the official guide.

Windows

Two dependencies are required:

• Microsoft C++ Build Tools
• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime

Windows 10 version 1803 and later usually include WebView2. If build or runtime errors say WebView2 is missing, install the Evergreen Bootstrapper.

macOS

For desktop development, Xcode Command Line Tools are usually enough:

xcode-select --install

Install full Xcode only if you need signing, packaging, iOS, or broader Apple platform builds.

Linux

Package names differ by distribution. For Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  build-essential \
  curl \
  wget \
  file \
  libxdo-dev \
  libssl-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  librsvg2-dev

If you use Arch, Fedora, openSUSE, Alpine, or NixOS, install the matching packages from Tauri Prerequisites.

Final Check

Make sure these commands print version numbers:

node -v
pnpm -v
rustc --version
cargo --version
git --version

Then clone the project and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/SeaLantern-Studio/SeaLantern.git
cd SeaLantern
git switch beta
pnpm install

Common start command:

pnpm tauri:dev