Singular EXE build

[Zariffs]

is there some kind of way to build tauri into just one exe file with the assets folder and a lib folder? lib for things like dlls and webView2 Files and settings? is this possible? would really appriciate some help

[FabianLars]

If you need to bundle files like dlls (which can't really be stored inside the exe) then no.
For "normal" Tauri apps this is generally possible but has a few (potentionally major) caveats:

• You will lose access to a few features: deep links, file associations, sidecar, resources, updater
  • Those are the ones i can think of right now at least
  • New features in the future may also require bundles/installers
• The notifications may not be displayed, or more likely, be displayed but with a PowerShell icon
• In my opinion the most important one: The installer is responsible for making sure that webview2 is installed on the system.
  • Only Windows 11 had it since release so that's the only system you can expect to work oob (ignoring edgecases where power users managed to uninstall it)
  • Windows 10 also got it via an update but relying on users keeping their system up to date is just asking for trouble lol
  • You can install it on first app start in rust before the tauri::Builder line but that's imo not a nice user experience
    • example: https://discord.com/channels/616186924390023171/618328921330417692/1028411797323120711 (idk if it's still 100% correct after 2 years)

To get the .exe, simply build your tauri app as usual. The .exe will be in target/release/ (not in the bundle subfolder).

P.S. i assume we're talking about windows only from your mention of webview2 and the fact that single exe/binary apps aren't really a thing on macos and linux