---
name: System tray
type: architecture-map-page
slice: 02-tauri-runtime
last_verified: 2026/05/09
---

# System tray

> **Where you are:** [Architecture map](../README.md) → [Tauri runtime](README.md) → System tray

**Plain English summary.** Builds the desktop tray icon that lives in the system status area. The tray menu has Show, a disabled status row, an Evening wind-down shortcut (Phase 5 ritual), and Quit. Left-clicking the icon shows and focuses the main window.

## At a glance

- Path: `src-tauri/src/tray.rs`.
- LOC: 73.
- Compile gate: `#[cfg(not(target_os = "android"))]` — Android has no tray surface (declared at the `mod tray` line in `src-tauri/src/lib.rs:5`).
- Tauri commands exposed: none. The tray is set up imperatively from `lib.rs::run` setup hook.
- Events emitted: `lumotia:open-wind-down` (no payload) when the user clicks the wind-down menu item (`src-tauri/src/tray.rs:51`).
- Depends on: `tauri::image::Image`, `tauri::menu::{MenuBuilder, MenuItemBuilder}`, `tauri::tray::TrayIconBuilder`, `tauri::{Emitter, Manager}`. No workspace crates.
- Called from frontend at: the frontend layout listens for `lumotia:open-wind-down` and routes to the wind-down page.

## What's in here

### `setup(app)` (`src-tauri/src/tray.rs:6`)

Builds the menu items: `show`, `status` (disabled, label "Ready"), `wind-down`, `quit`. Assembles them into a `MenuBuilder` with separators between groups. Falls back to a 1×1 transparent icon if `default_window_icon()` is None (which would be a packaging failure in production builds).

Wires three handlers:

- `on_menu_event` (`src-tauri/src/tray.rs:37`):
  - `show` → `window.show(); window.set_focus();`
  - `wind-down` → show + focus + emit `lumotia:open-wind-down`.
  - `quit` → `app.exit(0)`.
  - All other ids fall through.
- `on_tray_icon_event` (`src-tauri/src/tray.rs:58`): a left-click brings the main window forward. Right-click is left to the platform default (which opens the menu).

The tray icon's tooltip is `"Lumotia — Ready"`. The status menu item has label `"Ready"` and is disabled (the `enabled(false)` builder call leaves it visible but unclickable).

## Data flow

Out only: clicks on the tray menu either hide/show the window directly or fire one event to the frontend (`lumotia:open-wind-down`). The tray does not read any state.

## Watch-outs

- The status menu item is hard-coded "Ready". There is no wiring to update it dynamically as the engine moves between idle / loading / recording. If you want a live status, you'll need to retain a `TrayIcon` handle in `AppState` (or somewhere similar) so a command can call `set_tooltip` / update the menu item text.
- The icon comes from `app.default_window_icon()` which is the packaged bundle icon (set in `tauri.conf.json` `bundle.icon`). Replacing the tray icon means re-running `tauri icon` or shipping a separate tray PNG.
- The `lumotia:open-wind-down` event payload is `()` — the frontend just needs to know "navigate to the wind-down page", and the page itself decides whether to render the ritual or a "you have not enabled this yet" stub.
- Close-to-tray (intercepting `WindowEvent::CloseRequested`) lives in `lib.rs::run` setup hook (`src-tauri/src/lib.rs:282`), not here. The two halves are split because the close-to-tray handler needs the cloned `WebviewWindow`.

## See also

- [App lifecycle](app-lifecycle.md) — `tray::setup(app)` is called at the end of the setup hook (`src-tauri/src/lib.rs:315`), and the close-to-tray handler in setup is what makes the tray useful.
- [Tauri config](tauri-config.md) — bundle icon list feeds the tray.
- [Capabilities and ACL](capabilities-and-acl.md) — the main capability includes `core:window:allow-show` / `allow-set-focus` / `allow-hide`, which are what the tray's menu actions implicitly rely on through Tauri's IPC layer.
