Individual skill

native-feel-cross-platform-desktop

Use when the user is designing, prototyping, or rewriting a desktop app that must run on multiple OSes (macOS + Windows, optionally Linux) AND feel indistinguishable from a native app to its users — fast launch, native windowing, native input handling, native materials. Trigger words include "cross-platform desktop", "Electron alternative", "Tauri vs native", "WebView wrapper", "near-native performance", "Raycast architecture", "WebKit/WebView2 quirks", "WKWebView", "system tray app", "global hotkey app", "launcher app". Do NOT trigger this skill for pure web apps, pure mobile apps, or for greenfield projects that have no native-feel requirement.

SKILL.md

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Last checked: Nov 3, 2026

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Repository stars (not skill ratings): 1,955
Repository last updated: May 30, 2026
License: MIT

Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.

engineering Derived category

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Browse files

.gitignoreasset · 62 bytes
LICENSEasset · 1,063 bytes
README.mddoc · 11,303 bytes
SKILL.mdcore · 6,162 bytes
checklists/decision-tree.mddoc · 7,010 bytes
checklists/ship-readiness.mddoc · 6,961 bytes
references/01-philosophy.mddoc · 9,621 bytes
references/02-architecture.mddoc · 10,897 bytes
references/03-webview-survival.mddoc · 21,203 bytes
references/04-ipc-contract.mddoc · 8,255 bytes
references/05-memory-truths.mddoc · 7,962 bytes
references/06-native-conventions.mddoc · 9,295 bytes
references/07-evidence-raycast.mddoc · 10,833 bytes

Read excerpt


# Native-Feel Cross-Platform Desktop

You are advising on the architecture of a cross-platform desktop app that must *feel native*. This skill captures the philosophy, architecture, and concrete pitfalls — distilled from Raycast's public technical deep-dive on their 2.0 rewrite and verified by reverse-engineering the shipping `Raycast Beta.app` binary on macOS.

## How to use this skill

1. **Start with the philosophy in `references/01-philosophy.md`.** It frames the central tension this architecture resolves — *how to get cross-platform DX and near-native performance at the same time* — and gives you eight tenets that name the structural moves. Every concrete decision later flows from one of those tenets. If the user is making a decision that contradicts a tenet, surface the tenet by number and short name and explain the trade-off.
2. **Match the user's question to a reference file.** Don't dump the whole skill — load only what's needed:
   - Architecture / "which layers should I have?" → `references/02-architecture.md`
   - "Why does my WebView flicker / stutter / freeze when hidden?" → `references/03-webview-survival.md` (the highest-density file — every item is a real bug with a real fix)
   - "How do I type my IPC across Rust/Swift/C#/TS?" → `references/04-ipc-contract.md`
   - "Why does Activity Monitor say 400 MB?" → `references/05-memory-truths.md`
   - "How do I make it not feel like a webpage?" → `references/06-native-conventions.md`
   - "What does Raycast actually ship?" (concrete evidence) → `references/07-evidence-raycast.md`