feat(desktop): runtime-configurable backend server address
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The desktop shell is one generic .deb/.AppImage distributed via
mca/public_releases, not built per-booth, but the backend origin was baked
in at build time (VITE_API_BASE, hardcoded to http://127.0.0.1:3000) — the
same installer could never point at a different appliance without a
rebuild.

Adds ConnectScreen (shown before Login in Tauri when no backend is saved),
backed by tauri-plugin-store persisting the operator-entered URL across
restarts. CSP's connect-src tightens to 'self' only — all backend traffic
already routes through tauri-plugin-http/websocket, which run Rust-side
and are outside connect-src's reach anyway — and the real access boundary
moves to capabilities/default.json's http:default scope, wildcarded so an
operator-chosen host is actually reachable. Adds a "Change server" control
in Setup (desktop-only) to repoint an already-configured install.

While tracing the desktop auth path for this: tauri-plugin-http's fetch()
runs through Rust's reqwest, which keeps its own cookie jar separate from
the webview, so document.cookie on tauri://localhost never sees the
parking_csrf cookie the server sets (open upstream bug,
tauri-apps/tauri#13045/#11518). This means the desktop app has likely been
silently sending no CSRF header on every mutation since the shell was
first built — pre-existing, independent of this change. Fixed by having
sessionView() (routes/auth.ts) also echo the CSRF value in the login/me
JSON body; the desktop client stashes it in memory and echoes that instead
of reading document.cookie. assertCsrf() itself is untouched.

Verified end-to-end against a real LAN-bound dev server: login returns a
csrfToken matching the cookie, a mutation using the body-sourced token in
X-CSRF-Token succeeds (200), and the same mutation without it still
correctly 403s.
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-04 10:32:03 +02:00
parent 969bf2b191
commit 5c6a21e2c3
21 changed files with 575 additions and 47 deletions
+68 -1
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@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
type: decision
tags: [parking, decisions, desktop, frontend]
sources: []
updated: 2026-09-03
updated: 2026-09-04
status: settled
---
@@ -302,3 +302,70 @@ The desktop bundle now runs in CI under **two distinct workflows** — keep the
above (download traffic visible, then nothing). Fixed by nesting `downloadAndInstall()` in its
own try/catch that logs and rethrows — offline/no-update still no-ops silently (outer catch),
but a failure *after* the operator accepted now logs to the console instead of vanishing.
### Runtime-configurable backend origin — no more one-install-per-booth builds (2026-09-04)
**Problem:** `VITE_API_BASE` was a **build-time** Vite env var (`tauri.conf.json`'s
`beforeBuildCommand`), hardcoded to `http://127.0.0.1:3000`. The desktop shell is a single
generic `.deb`/`.AppImage` distributed via [[fleet-deployment-komodo|mca/public_releases]] — it is
**not** built per-booth — so a build-time backend address meant the installer could only ever talk
to a server on the same machine, and pointing an install at any other host (a remote appliance, a
different port) needed a full rebuild. **Fix:** the backend origin is now an **operator-entered,
runtime-persisted** value.
- **`ConnectScreen.tsx`** — shown by `App.tsx` BEFORE `fetchMe()`/`Login` whenever running inside
Tauri (`inTauri()`) and no backend URL is saved yet (first launch, or after "Change server").
Operator types a host, hits **Test** (`backend-config.ts`'s `testBackendUrl`, an unauthenticated-
from-the-client's-perspective `GET /api/version` probe — see the CSRF gotcha below for why that
route isn't actually public), then **Save & continue**.
- **`tauri-plugin-store`** persists the value (`backend-config.json` in the OS config dir,
`autoSave: true`) — survives restarts, is NOT `localStorage` (deliberately; matches the existing
server-persisted-preference pattern elsewhere in this app, and a real file is easier to inspect/
back up on an appliance). `origin.ts`'s `API_BASE` changed from a `const` to a `let`, set once via
`initApiBase()` (called by `App.tsx` before mount) and again via `setApiBase()` after the
ConnectScreen saves — no restart required to start using it.
- **CSP had to loosen, deliberately, to a narrower real boundary.** `connect-src` was
`'self' http://127.0.0.1:3000 ... ws://127.0.0.1:3000 ...`; an operator-chosen arbitrary LAN host
can't be named at build time, so it's now **`'self'` only** — meaning a raw `fetch()`/`WebSocket`
from the webview is blocked to EVERY origin, not just disallowed ones. This is intentional, not a
regression: all backend traffic already went through `tauri-plugin-http`/`tauri-plugin-websocket`
anyway (the WebKit mixed-content fix above), and those plugins run on the Rust side, **outside**
`connect-src`'s jurisdiction entirely. The real access boundary moved to
`capabilities/default.json`'s `http:default` scope, which is now wildcarded
(`http://*`, `https://*`, `http://*:*`, `https://*:*` — all four forms needed, a known Tauri
scope-matching quirk drops bare `http://*` matches for a `host:port` URL otherwise). `websocket:
default` already had no scope restriction. Net effect: **the app can now reach any host the
operator types in, and nothing else** — same shape of guarantee as before, just operator-directed
instead of build-directed.
- **"Change server"** — `router.tsx`'s `DesktopServerButton`, in the Setup nav bar next to
`DesktopVersionBadge` (both `inTauri()`-gated, invisible in the browser). Confirm-modal (reuses
the shared `Modal`, not a bespoke dialog) → `clearBackendUrl()` → reload, which drops back to
ConnectScreen. Deliberately not an inline editor: repointing a booth's app is a rare, deliberate
admin action, not a frequent setting — same reasoning as why logout is a plain action button with
no separate "are you sure" for THAT (this one gets a confirm because it also blows away the
session, unlike a normal logout-then-relogin against the same server).
- **Gotcha (found via research before shipping, not in the field — worth recording anyway): the
CSRF double-submit cookie is invisible to `document.cookie` on desktop.** `tauri-plugin-http`'s
`fetch()` doesn't run through the webview — it's dispatched to Tauri's Rust side and executed by
`reqwest`, which keeps its **own** cookie jar, entirely separate from WebKitGTK's. `Set-Cookie` on
a `tauri-plugin-http` response is stored in that reqwest jar and IS correctly re-sent by
reqwest on later requests (so plain session auth — GETs — silently worked) — but it is **never**
synced into the webview's own cookie store, so `document.cookie` on the `tauri://localhost` page
can never see it. This is an open, unresolved upstream Tauri bug
([tauri-apps/tauri#13045](https://github.com/tauri-apps/tauri/issues/13045),
[#11518](https://github.com/tauri-apps/tauri/issues/11518)) — not something fixable on our side by
changing how/when we read the cookie. Since `api.ts`'s `apiFetch` reads the readable `parking_csrf`
cookie via `document.cookie` to echo it in `X-CSRF-Token` (double-submit — see
[[local-jwt-auth]]), this meant **every mutating request from the desktop app was silently sending
no CSRF header at all**, pre-dating this runtime-URL change (it was equally true against the old
hardcoded `127.0.0.1:3000`) — caught now because widening the backend to "any host" was the
occasion to actually trace the desktop auth path end-to-end. **Fix, without touching
`assertCsrf()`'s verification logic at all:** the server's `sessionView()` (`routes/auth.ts`,
shared by `login` and `me`) now optionally echoes the CSRF token value in the JSON response body
(`csrfToken`) — the SAME value already set as the cookie, just a second channel to learn it. The
desktop client (`api.ts`) stashes that value in an in-memory-only variable (`desktopCsrfToken`,
never persisted — a fresh launch always re-learns it via login or `/api/auth/me`) and echoes THAT
instead of reading `document.cookie` when `inTauri()`. The actual cookie is still what
`assertCsrf()` checks server-side (and reqwest still sends it correctly, per above) — this only
fixes how the desktop *client* learns what value to put in the header, so browser behavior and
server verification are both completely unchanged.
+24
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@@ -2817,3 +2817,27 @@ version ("it's offering v0.1.4, so I must be on v0.1.3"). Added DesktopVersionBa
existing server-side VersionBadge in router.tsx, using @tauri-apps/api's getVersion() (the real
running app version, synced to the git tag at build time by release.yml). No-ops in a browser.
Full detail on [[desktop-shell-tauri]].
## [2026-09-04] feat | Desktop backend origin is now runtime-configurable (was build-time)
The desktop shell is one generic .deb/.AppImage distributed via mca/public_releases — not built
per-booth — but VITE_API_BASE was a build-time env var hardcoded to http://127.0.0.1:3000, so the
same installer could only ever talk to a server on its own machine. Added ConnectScreen (shown
before Login in Tauri when no backend is saved), backed by tauri-plugin-store persisting the
operator-entered URL across restarts; origin.ts's API_BASE became a runtime-settable `let`. CSP's
connect-src tightened to 'self' only (all backend traffic already went through
tauri-plugin-http/websocket, which run Rust-side and are outside connect-src's reach anyway); the
real boundary moved to capabilities/default.json's http:default scope, wildcarded to any host so
the operator-chosen address is actually reachable. Added a "Change server" control (Setup nav,
desktop-only) that clears the saved URL and reloads back to ConnectScreen.
While tracing the desktop auth path for this, found a pre-existing (not newly introduced) bug:
tauri-plugin-http's fetch() runs through Rust's reqwest, which keeps its own cookie jar separate
from the webview — document.cookie on tauri://localhost never sees the parking_csrf cookie the
server sets (open upstream bug, tauri-apps/tauri#13045/#11518), so the desktop app has likely been
silently sending no CSRF header on every mutation since the shell was first built, regardless of
which host it targeted. Fixed by having sessionView() (routes/auth.ts) also echo the same csrf
value in the login/me JSON body; the desktop client stashes it in memory and echoes that instead of
reading document.cookie. assertCsrf() itself is untouched — the cookie is still what's verified,
and reqwest was already sending it correctly; this only fixes how the desktop client *learns* the
value. Full detail (including the exact CSP/capability tradeoffs) on [[desktop-shell-tauri]].