tauri-apps/tauri · error

failed to define permissions for

Error message

failed to define permissions for {plugin}: {e}

What it means

`define_permissions` parses all `*.toml` permission files of a plugin via `tauri_utils::acl::build::define_permissions`. Any parse/validation error in those files — or an I/O problem globbing them — surfaces as this panic. It means at least one permission definition file is malformed or semantically invalid.

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped `{e}` in the message — it names the exact file and line of the TOML/schema problem — and fix that permission file.
2. Restore autogenerated files: they are managed by build scripts, so don't hand-edit `permissions/autogenerated/*`.
3. Update the plugin (and tauri crates) to matching versions so the ACL format is consistent.
4. Run `cargo clean` for the plugin to force regeneration of autogenerated permissions.

Example fix

// before (permissions/my-perm.toml)
[default]
identifier = "my perm" // invalid identifier chars
// after
[default]
identifier = "my-perm"

# lint plugin permission TOMLs before building
for f in permissions/**/*.toml; do python3 -c "import tomllib,sys; tomllib.load(open(sys.argv[1],'rb'))" "$f" || echo "bad toml: $f"; done

When it happens

Trigger: A plugin's `permissions/**/*.toml` contains invalid TOML, an unknown default/permission reference, an invalid identifier, or schema that fails ACL validation when `define_permissions` runs during the plugin (or app with inlined plugins) build.

Common situations: Hand-editing autogenerated permission TOMLs; using a plugin built for an older tauri-utils ACL format; typos in `identifier` fields; referencing a permission that no longer exists after a plugin upgrade.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• failed to define permissions for `core:default
• invalid JSON schema for plugin
• unable to autogenerate core:default set
• failed to read plugin global API script
• Permission not found, expected one of

AI-assisted analysis of tauri-apps/tauri@460ec35447 (2026-09-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/af27ace6daf44699. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/tauri/build.rs:422

"#,
    );

    let out_path = autogenerated.join("default.toml");
    write_if_changed(out_path, default_toml)
      .unwrap_or_else(|_| panic!("unable to autogenerate default permissions"));

    let permissions = tauri_utils::acl::build::define_permissions(
      &PathBuf::from(glob::Pattern::escape(
        &permissions_out_dir.to_string_lossy(),
      ))
      .join("**")
      .join("*.toml")
      .to_string_lossy(),
      &format!("tauri:{plugin}"),
      out_dir,
      |_| true,
    )
    .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("failed to define permissions for {plugin}: {e}"));

    let docs_out_dir = Path::new("permissions")
      .join(plugin_directory_name)
      .join("autogenerated");
    fs::create_dir_all(&docs_out_dir).expect("failed to create plugin documentation directory");
    tauri_utils::acl::build::generate_docs(
      &permissions,
      &docs_out_dir,
      plugin.strip_prefix("tauri-plugin-").unwrap_or(plugin),
    )
    .expect("failed to generate plugin documentation page");
    all_permissions.insert(plugin.to_string(), permissions);
  }

  let default_permissions = define_default_permission_set(out_dir);
  all_permissions.insert("core".to_string(), default_permissions);

  all_permissions

View on GitHub (pinned to 460ec35447)