Fix sidecar not found on Windows/macOS/Linux: switch from externalBin to resources

Tauri's externalBin only bundled the single sidecar executable, but
PyInstaller's onedir output requires companion DLLs and _internal/.
The binary was also renamed with a target triple suffix that
resolve_sidecar_path() didn't look for, causing it to fall back to
dev mode which used a compile-time CI path (CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR).

- Switch from externalBin to bundle.resources to include all sidecar files
- Pass Tauri resource_dir to sidecar manager for platform-aware path resolution
- Remove rename_binary() since externalBin target triple naming is no longer needed
- Remove broken production-to-dev fallback that could never work on user machines

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.gitea/workflows/build-linux.yml

@@ -41,9 +41,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Place sidecar for Tauri
         run: |
-          mkdir -p src-tauri/binaries
+          cp -r python/dist/voice-to-notes-sidecar src-tauri/sidecar
-          cp -r python/dist/voice-to-notes-sidecar/* src-tauri/binaries/
+          chmod +x src-tauri/sidecar/voice-to-notes-sidecar
-          chmod +x src-tauri/binaries/voice-to-notes-sidecar-${{ env.TARGET }}
 
       # ── Tauri app ──
       - name: Set up Node.js
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build Tauri app
         run: npm run tauri build
         env:
-          TAURI_CONFIG: '{"bundle":{"externalBin":["binaries/voice-to-notes-sidecar"]}}'
+          TAURI_CONFIG: '{"bundle":{"resources":["sidecar/**"]}}'
 
       # ── Release ──
       - name: Upload to release

.gitea/workflows/build-macos.yml

@@ -41,9 +41,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Place sidecar for Tauri
         run: |
-          mkdir -p src-tauri/binaries
+          cp -r python/dist/voice-to-notes-sidecar src-tauri/sidecar
-          cp -r python/dist/voice-to-notes-sidecar/* src-tauri/binaries/
+          chmod +x src-tauri/sidecar/voice-to-notes-sidecar
-          chmod +x src-tauri/binaries/voice-to-notes-sidecar-${{ env.TARGET }}
 
       # ── Tauri app ──
       - name: Set up Node.js
@@ -65,7 +64,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build Tauri app
         run: npm run tauri build
         env:
-          TAURI_CONFIG: '{"bundle":{"externalBin":["binaries/voice-to-notes-sidecar"]}}'
+          TAURI_CONFIG: '{"bundle":{"resources":["sidecar/**"]}}'
 
       # ── Release ──
       - name: Upload to release

.gitea/workflows/build-windows.yml

@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Place sidecar for Tauri
         shell: powershell
         run: |
-          New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path src-tauri\binaries
+          Copy-Item -Path python\dist\voice-to-notes-sidecar -Destination src-tauri\sidecar -Recurse -Force
-          Copy-Item -Path python\dist\voice-to-notes-sidecar\* -Destination src-tauri\binaries\ -Recurse -Force
 
       # ── Tauri app ──
       - name: Set up Node.js
@@ -74,7 +73,7 @@ jobs:
         shell: powershell
         run: npm run tauri build
         env:
-          TAURI_CONFIG: '{"bundle":{"externalBin":["binaries/voice-to-notes-sidecar"]}}'
+          TAURI_CONFIG: '{"bundle":{"resources":["sidecar/**"]}}'
 
       # ── Release ──
       - name: Upload to release

python/build_sidecar.py

@@ -236,10 +236,9 @@ def main() -> None:
     python = create_venv_and_install(cpu_only)
     output_dir = run_pyinstaller(python)
     download_ffmpeg(output_dir)
-    rename_binary(output_dir, target_triple)
 
     print(f"\n[build] Done! Sidecar built at: {output_dir}")
-    print(f"[build] Copy contents to src-tauri/binaries/ for Tauri bundling")
+    print(f"[build] Copy directory to src-tauri/sidecar/ for Tauri resource bundling")
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

src-tauri/src/lib.rs

@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ pub fn run() {
         .plugin(tauri_plugin_dialog::init())
         .manage(app_state)
         .setup(|app| {
+            // Tell the sidecar manager where Tauri placed bundled resources
+            if let Ok(resource_dir) = app.path().resource_dir() {
+                sidecar::init_resource_dir(resource_dir);
+            }
+
             // Set the webview background to match the app's dark theme
             if let Some(window) = app.get_webview_window("main") {
                 let _ = window.set_background_color(Some(Color(10, 10, 35, 255)));

src-tauri/src/sidecar/mod.rs

@@ -2,11 +2,22 @@ pub mod ipc;
 pub mod messages;
 
 use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, Write};
+use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::process::{Child, ChildStdin, Command, Stdio};
 use std::sync::{Mutex, OnceLock};
 
 use crate::sidecar::messages::IPCMessage;
 
+/// Resource directory set by the Tauri app during setup.
+/// Used to locate the bundled sidecar binary and its companion files.
+static RESOURCE_DIR: OnceLock<PathBuf> = OnceLock::new();
+
+/// Set the resource directory for sidecar resolution.
+/// Must be called from the Tauri setup before any sidecar operations.
+pub fn init_resource_dir(dir: PathBuf) {
+    RESOURCE_DIR.set(dir).ok();
+}
+
 /// Get the global sidecar manager singleton.
 pub fn sidecar() -> &'static SidecarManager {
     static INSTANCE: OnceLock<SidecarManager> = OnceLock::new();
@@ -41,34 +52,56 @@ impl SidecarManager {
     }
 
     /// Resolve the frozen sidecar binary path (production mode).
+    ///
+    /// Searches for the PyInstaller-built sidecar in the Tauri resource directory
+    /// (set via `init_resource_dir`) and falls back to paths relative to the
+    /// current executable.
     fn resolve_sidecar_path() -> Result<std::path::PathBuf, String> {
-        let exe = std::env::current_exe().map_err(|e| format!("Cannot get current exe: {e}"))?;
-        let exe_dir = exe
-            .parent()
-            .ok_or_else(|| "Cannot get exe parent directory".to_string())?;
-
         let binary_name = if cfg!(target_os = "windows") {
             "voice-to-notes-sidecar.exe"
         } else {
             "voice-to-notes-sidecar"
         };
 
-        // Tauri places externalBin next to the app binary
+        let mut candidates: Vec<std::path::PathBuf> = Vec::new();
-        let path = exe_dir.join(binary_name);
+
-        if path.exists() {
+        // Primary: Tauri resource directory (set during app setup)
-            return Ok(path);
+        if let Some(resource_dir) = RESOURCE_DIR.get() {
+            // Resources are placed under sidecar/ subdirectory
+            candidates.push(resource_dir.join("sidecar").join(binary_name));
+            // Also check flat layout in resource dir
+            candidates.push(resource_dir.join(binary_name));
         }
 
-        // Also check inside a subdirectory (onedir PyInstaller output)
+        // Fallback: relative to the current executable
-        let subdir_path = exe_dir.join("voice-to-notes-sidecar").join(binary_name);
+        if let Ok(exe) = std::env::current_exe() {
-        if subdir_path.exists() {
+            if let Some(exe_dir) = exe.parent() {
-            return Ok(subdir_path);
+                // sidecar/ subdirectory next to exe (Windows MSI, Linux AppImage)
+                candidates.push(exe_dir.join("sidecar").join(binary_name));
+                // Flat layout next to exe
+                candidates.push(exe_dir.join(binary_name));
+                // PyInstaller onedir subdirectory
+                candidates.push(
+                    exe_dir
+                        .join("voice-to-notes-sidecar")
+                        .join(binary_name),
+                );
+            }
+        }
+
+        for path in &candidates {
+            if path.exists() {
+                return Ok(path.canonicalize().unwrap_or_else(|_| path.clone()));
+            }
         }
 
         Err(format!(
-            "Sidecar binary not found. Looked for:\n  {}\n  {}",
+            "Sidecar binary not found. Checked:\n{}",
-            path.display(),
+            candidates
-            subdir_path.display(),
+                .iter()
+                .map(|p| format!("  {}", p.display()))
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+                .join("\n"),
         ))
     }
 
@@ -114,15 +147,8 @@ impl SidecarManager {
         if Self::is_dev_mode() {
             self.start_python_dev()
         } else {
-            match Self::resolve_sidecar_path() {
+            let path = Self::resolve_sidecar_path()?;
-                Ok(path) => self.start_binary(&path),
+            self.start_binary(&path)
-                Err(e) => {
-                    eprintln!(
-                        "[sidecar-rs] Frozen binary not found ({e}), falling back to dev mode"
-                    );
-                    self.start_python_dev()
-                }
-            }
         }
     }