vs Tauri / Electron desktop boilerplates

Desktop boilerplates (Tauri + FastAPI sidecar, Electron + Python, …) get you a desktop shell. OpenProductKit is a product platform where desktop is one surface.

	Desktop boilerplates	OpenProductKit
Scope	Desktop shell + a bundled backend	Web + CLI + desktop from the same core
Backend coupling	Often a bundled HTTP sidecar	Desktop calls the core in-process (no sidecar, no port)
Web parity	Usually desktop-only	The same web build runs in the browser and in the window
Extensibility	Rare	Plugin system across surfaces
Licensing	DIY	Signed offline tokens + vendor tooling built in

Why in-process instead of a sidecar

The riskiest thing in a desktop template is a bundled-Python HTTP sidecar plus code signing / notarization — port races, orphaned processes, firewall prompts, two binaries to sign. OpenProductKit's shell dispatches UI requests over a JS bridge to the FastAPI app in the same process: one binary, no socket. That is only possible because the core never assumed HTTP in the first place. Signing/notarization remains documented-not-solved — see Desktop.