BitFun Installer

A fully custom, branded installer for BitFun — built with Tauri 2 + React for maximum UI flexibility.

Why a Custom Installer?

Instead of relying on the generic NSIS wizard UI from Tauri's built-in bundler, this project provides:

• 100% custom UI — React-based, with smooth animations, dark theme, and brand consistency
• Modern experience — Similar to Discord, Figma, and VS Code installers
• Full control — Custom installation logic, right-click context menu, PATH integration
• Cross-platform potential — Same codebase can target Windows, macOS, and Linux

Common tasks

Requires Node.js 22.12+ and pnpm 10.15.0, matching the workspace baseline.

Install dependencies

pnpm install

Production installer builds call workspace desktop build scripts, so root dependencies are required.

Run in dev mode

pnpm run tauri:dev

Build the full installer

pnpm run installer:build

Use this as the release entrypoint. pnpm run tauri:build does not prepare validated payload assets for production.

Build installer only

pnpm run installer:build:only

installer:build:only requires an existing valid desktop executable in the expected target output path.

Architecture

BitFun-Installer/
├── src-tauri/                 # Tauri / Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs            # Entry point
│   │   ├── lib.rs             # Tauri app setup
│   │   └── installer/
│   │       ├── commands.rs    # Tauri IPC commands
│   │       ├── extract.rs     # Archive extraction
│   │       ├── registry.rs    # Windows registry (uninstall, context menu, PATH)
│   │       ├── shortcut.rs    # Desktop & Start Menu shortcuts
│   │       └── types.rs       # Shared types
│   ├── capabilities/
│   ├── icons/
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── tauri.conf.json
├── src/                       # React frontend
│   ├── pages/
│   │   ├── LanguageSelect.tsx # First screen language picker
│   │   ├── Options.tsx        # Path picker + install options
│   │   ├── Progress.tsx       # Install progress + confirm
│   │   ├── ModelSetup.tsx     # Optional model provider setup
│   │   └── ThemeSetup.tsx     # Theme preview + finish
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── WindowControls.tsx # Custom titlebar
│   │   ├── Checkbox.tsx       # Styled checkbox
│   │   └── ProgressBar.tsx    # Animated progress bar
│   ├── hooks/
│   │   └── useInstaller.ts    # Core installer state machine
│   ├── styles/
│   │   ├── global.css         # Base styles
│   │   ├── variables.css      # Design tokens
│   │   └── animations.css     # Keyframe animations
│   ├── types/
│   │   └── installer.ts       # TypeScript types
│   ├── App.tsx
│   └── main.tsx
├── scripts/
│   └── build-installer.cjs    # End-to-end build script
├── index.html
├── package.json
├── vite.config.ts
└── tsconfig.json

Installation flow

Language Select → Options → Progress → Model Setup → Theme Setup
       │             │          │            │              │
   choose UI      path +     run real    optional AI     save theme,
    language      options    install      model config    launch/close

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22.12+
• Rust (latest stable)
• pnpm 10.15.0 via Corepack

Setup

pnpm install

Repository Hygiene

Keep generated artifacts out of commits. This project ignores:

• node_modules/
• dist/
• src-tauri/target/
• src-tauri/payload/

Dev Mode

Run the installer in development mode with hot reload:

pnpm run tauri:dev

Uninstall Mode (Dev + Runtime)

Key behavior:

• Install phase creates uninstall.exe in the install directory.
• Windows uninstall registry entry points to "<installPath>\\uninstall.exe" --uninstall "<installPath>".
• Launching with --uninstall opens the dedicated uninstall UI flow.
• Launching uninstall.exe directly also enters uninstall mode automatically.

Local debug command:

npx tauri dev -- -- --uninstall "D:\\tmp\\example-install-dir"

Core implementation:

• Launch arg parsing + uninstall execution: commands.rs
• Uninstall registry command: registry.rs
• Uninstall UI page: Uninstall.tsx
• Frontend mode switching and state: useInstaller.ts

Build

Full release build

pnpm run installer:build

Release artifacts embed payload files into the installer binary, so runtime installation does not depend on an external payload folder.

Full fast build

pnpm run installer:build:fast

Installer-only build

pnpm run installer:build:only

If payload validation fails, the build exits with an error.

Installer-only fast build

pnpm run installer:build:only:fast

Output

Default release output:

src-tauri/target/release/bitfun-installer.exe

Fast build output:

src-tauri/target/release-fast/bitfun-installer.exe

Customization guide

Changing the UI Theme

Edit variables.css. Colors, spacing, and animations are controlled by CSS custom properties.

Adding Install Steps

1. Add a new step key to InstallStep in installer.ts
2. Create a new page component in src/pages
3. Add the step to the STEPS array in useInstaller.ts
4. Add the page render case in App.tsx

Modifying Install Logic

• File extraction → extract.rs
• Registry operations → registry.rs
• Shortcuts → shortcut.rs
• Tauri commands → commands.rs

Adding Installer Payload

Place the built BitFun application files in src-tauri/payload/ before building the installer. The build script handles this automatically. During cargo build, the payload directory is packed into an embedded zip inside bitfun-installer.exe.

Integration with CI/CD

Add to your GitHub Actions workflow:

- uses: actions/checkout@v5
- name: Setup pnpm
  uses: pnpm/action-setup@v5
  with:
    version: 10.15.0
- name: Setup Node.js
  uses: actions/setup-node@v5
  with:
    node-version: '22'
    cache: pnpm

- name: Build Installer
  run: |
    cd BitFun-Installer
    pnpm install
    pnpm run installer:build:only

- name: Upload Installer
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
  with:
    name: BitFun-Installer-Exe
    path: BitFun-Installer/src-tauri/target/release/bitfun-installer.exe