Hanzo Desktop - Cross-Platform AI Agent Builder

Hanzo Desktop is a cross-platform desktop application for creating and managing AI agents without code. Built with Tauri (Rust backend + React frontend) and managed as an NX monorepo, it provides a...

Overview

Hanzo Desktop is a cross-platform desktop application for creating and managing AI agents without code. Built with Tauri (Rust backend + React frontend) and managed as an NX monorepo, it provides a visual interface for multi-agent orchestration, MCP tool integration, and hybrid local/cloud AI inference.

The application embeds the Hanzo Node binary (from github.com/hanzoai/node) as a sidecar process, which provides the actual AI agent runtime, P2P networking, and inference capabilities.

Fork lineage: Originally based on dcSpark/shinkai-local-ai-agents (some shinkai-* lib names remain in the codebase).

OSS Info

Repo: github.com/hanzoai/desktop. Package: @hanzo/source v1.1.34. Desktop app: hanzo-desktop v1.1.28. Apache License.

When to use

Building AI agents without writing code (drag-and-drop visual interface)

Running local AI inference with privacy (Ollama integration)

Orchestrating multiple agents that collaborate on complex workflows

Connecting AI agents to external tools via MCP

Cross-platform deployment (Windows, macOS, Linux)

Hard requirements

Node.js >= 20 with npm 10.x

Rust toolchain (for Tauri build)

NX (workspace orchestration, included as devDependency)

Side binaries: Hanzo Node v1.1.20 + Ollama v0.12.3 (downloaded via CI script)

Quick reference

Item	Value
Repo	`github.com/hanzoai/desktop`
Package name	`@hanzo/source` v1.1.34
Desktop app	`hanzo-desktop`
Framework	Tauri (Rust + React)
Build system	NX + Vite
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4
State	Zustand (UI) + React Query (server)
Testing	Vitest + React Testing Library
Platforms	Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+, Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+)
Node.js	>= 20
License	Apache-2.0

Project structure

desktop/
├── package.json            # @hanzo/source v1.1.34 (workspace root)
├── nx.json                 # NX workspace config
├── tsconfig.base.json
├── eslint.config.mjs
├── mise.toml               # Runtime version manager
├── apps/
│   └── hanzo-desktop/      # Main Tauri desktop application
│       └── src-tauri/      # Rust backend + Tauri config
├── libs/
│   ├── hanzo-message-ts/   # Message protocols for Hanzo Node communication
│   ├── hanzo-node-state/   # React Query state management for node data
│   ├── hanzo-ui/           # Reusable React component library
│   ├── hanzo-artifacts/    # Styled UI primitives (Radix + Tailwind)
│   ├── hanzo-i18n/         # i18next internationalization (8 languages)
│   └── shinkai-node-state/ # Legacy state lib (upstream naming)
├── ci-scripts/             # Build, binary download, Ollama repo generation
├── scripts/                # Development utilities
├── tools/                  # NX plugins and dev tools
├── patches/                # npm patch-package overrides
├── docs/                   # Documentation
└── assets/                 # App icons and images

Key features (verified from repo)

No-code agent builder: Visual interface for creating specialized AI agents

Multi-agent orchestration: Deploy teams of agents that collaborate and share context

MCP support: Universal protocol compatibility (Claude, Cursor ecosystem)

Hybrid deployment: Local inference (Ollama), cloud models, or both

Cross-platform: Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon), Linux

Crypto-native: Built-in support for decentralized payments and DeFi interactions

Internationalization: 8 languages (EN, ES, ZH, ZH-HK, KO, JA, ID, TR)

Composio integration: Pre-built app templates via generated repository

Technology stack

Layer	Technology
Desktop shell	Tauri 2.x (Rust + WebView)
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript, Vite
Styling	Tailwind CSS 4, Radix UI, Shadcn/ui patterns
State management	Zustand (UI state), React Query (server state)
Build orchestration	NX 22.3
AI runtime	Hanzo Node (embedded Rust sidecar)
Local inference	Ollama (embedded sidecar)
Testing	Vitest, React Testing Library, Playwright
i18n	i18next with AI-generated translations
Forms	React Hook Form + Zod
Charts	Recharts
Markdown	Streamdown

Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/hanzoai/desktop.git
cd desktop
nvm use
npm ci

Download side binaries

The app embeds Hanzo Node and Ollama as sidecar binaries:

# macOS Apple Silicon
ARCH="aarch64-apple-darwin" \
HANZO_NODE_VERSION="v1.1.20" \
OLLAMA_VERSION="v0.12.3" \
npx ts-node ./ci-scripts/download-side-binaries.ts

# Linux
ARCH="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" \
HANZO_NODE_VERSION="v1.1.20" \
OLLAMA_VERSION="v0.12.3" \
npx ts-node ./ci-scripts/download-side-binaries.ts

# Windows
$ENV:ARCH="x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"
$ENV:HANZO_NODE_VERSION="v1.1.20"
$ENV:OLLAMA_VERSION="v0.12.3"
npx ts-node ./ci-scripts/download-side-binaries.ts

Run development server

npx nx serve:tauri hanzo-desktop

Build

npx nx build hanzo-desktop

# With increased memory for large builds
NODE_OPTIONS="--max_old_space_size=8192" npx nx build hanzo-desktop

Test

npx nx test [project-name]
npx nx run-many --target=test
npx nx lint [project-name]

Shared libraries

Library	Purpose
`hanzo-message-ts`	TypeScript message protocols for communicating with Hanzo Node
`hanzo-node-state`	React Query hooks for node data (models, agents, jobs)
`hanzo-ui`	Reusable React components and design system
`hanzo-artifacts`	Styled UI primitives built on Radix and Tailwind CSS
`hanzo-i18n`	Internationalization utilities with AI-generated translations

Tauri plugins used

The desktop app uses these Tauri 2.x plugins (from package.json):

@tauri-apps/plugin-dialog - Native file/folder dialogs

@tauri-apps/plugin-fs - File system access

@tauri-apps/plugin-http - HTTP client

@tauri-apps/plugin-log - Logging

@tauri-apps/plugin-notification - System notifications

@tauri-apps/plugin-opener - Open URLs/files

@tauri-apps/plugin-os - OS information

@tauri-apps/plugin-process - Process management

@tauri-apps/plugin-shell - Shell command execution

@tauri-apps/plugin-updater - Auto-update

hanzo/hanzo-node.md - The Rust AI node that powers the desktop app backend

hanzo/hanzo-mcp.md - MCP protocol integration

hanzo/hanzo-ui.md - Component library (separate from the desktop-internal hanzo-ui lib)

hanzo/python-sdk.md - Python SDK for programmatic access

Hanzo Desktop - Cross-Platform AI Agent Builder

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