¶System integration

Feature-gated behind system. The native desktop capabilities almost every app needs — file dialogs, opening things in the OS, the clipboard, notifications, and standard paths — exposed to the frontend through @elyra/runtime.

elyra = { version = "0.5", features = ["system"] }

No Rust wiring is required: enabling the feature adds the shell's /__sys/* endpoints. Everything is driven from the frontend.

¶Frontend API (@elyra/runtime)

import { dialog, shell, clipboard, notify, paths } from "@elyra/runtime";

// File dialogs — resolve to absolute path strings.
const files = await dialog.open({
  title: "Choose images",
  multiple: true,
  filters: [{ name: "Images", extensions: ["png", "jpg", "webp"] }],
});
const dir = await dialog.open({ directory: true });        // string[]
const target = await dialog.save({ defaultName: "export.json" }); // string | null

// Open a URL or path with the OS default handler.
await shell.openExternal("https://elyracode.com/framework");

// Clipboard (text).
await clipboard.writeText("copied!");
const text = await clipboard.readText();

// OS notification.
await notify("Done", "Your export finished.");

// Standard OS directories + the running executable.
const p = await paths(); // { home, config, data, cache, temp, exe }

dialog.open always returns an array (empty when cancelled); pass multiple: false (the default) and read [0]. dialog.save returns the path or null.

¶Rust API

The same operations are available directly (e.g. from a #[command]) via the system module:

use elyra::system;

let picked = system::open_dialog(system::OpenDialog { multiple: true, ..Default::default() }).await;
system::open_external("https://example.com")?;
system::clipboard_write("hi")?;
let text = system::clipboard_read()?;
system::notify(system::Notification { title: "Hi".into(), body: None })?;
let paths = system::paths();

¶shell.openExternal is policy-gated

"Open with the OS default handler" must not become "run this program", so the shell validates the target before handing it over:

• Allowed schemes: http, https, mailto. Widen with App::allow_open_schemes(["slack", "zoommtg"]).
• file: URLs are refused — pass an absolute path instead.
• Paths must be absolute and exist, and anything executable is refused (.exe, .sh, .app, .desktop, .jar, … anywhere in the path). Disable path opening entirely with App::deny_open_paths().

A blocked call rejects with a … is not allowed by policy message rather than silently doing nothing. See elyra::security for the full policy surface.

¶Notes & platform caveats

• File dialogs use rfd's async API, which marshals to the platform's main thread internally, so they are safe to call from Elyra's tokio-driven IPC.
• Notifications on macOS are only delivered from a bundled app (one with a bundle identifier); un-bundled cargo run may show nothing.
• Linux builds of the system feature need GTK + a clipboard backend (libgtk-3-dev, X11/Wayland libs) present at build time, like any native dialog/clipboard stack.
• Errors (e.g. a clipboard failure) reject the returned promise.

¶Related

• Frontend runtime · Windows · Tray