So you’re trying to build or run a Tauri app, but keep hitting those annoying dependency errors? Don’t worry – it happens to everyone! Let’s fix those problems in plain, everyday language without any fancy tech talk.

What’s Going On?

When building Tauri apps on Ubuntu or Debian, you might see errors like:

or

This is just your system telling you it’s missing some packages that Tauri needs to work properly.

The Quick Fix

Open up your terminal and run this command to install all the dependencies you need:

This single command will grab everything you need for Tauri version 2 apps on newer Ubuntu/Debian systems (Ubuntu 22.04+).

Important Version Differences

Tauri comes in two main versions that need different packages:

• Tauri v1: Needs the older libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev (works on Ubuntu 18.04+)
• Tauri v2: Needs the newer libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev (works on Ubuntu 22.04+)

If you’re building a Tauri v1 app on a newer system, you’ll need this command instead:

For Ubuntu 24.04 Users

If you’re on the very latest Ubuntu 24.04, you might have trouble finding the older libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev package which Tauri v1 needs. In this case, you have two options:

1. Upgrade your project to Tauri v2 (recommended)
2. Use an AppImage build instead (which bundles dependencies)

Running Tauri Apps (Not Building Them)

If you’re just trying to RUN (not build) a Tauri app someone else made, you need fewer packages:

For Tauri v2 apps:

For Tauri v1 apps:

Final Tips

1. Always restart your terminal after installing new packages.
2. If you’re building apps for others, consider using AppImage format – it includes all dependencies!
3. The error messages actually tell you exactly which package is missing – look for phrases like “The system library X was not found”.
4. Older Ubuntu systems (like 18.04) work best for building Tauri v1 apps that need to run on many systems.

That’s it! No complicated explanations needed – just install the right packages and you’ll be up and running in no time.