diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml b/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml
index aa00fa147..c94fd2feb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@ on:
   push:
     tags:
       - "desktop-v*"
+      - "DeskTop-v*"
+      - "Desktop-v*"
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - "apps/desktop/**"
+      - ".github/workflows/release-desktop.yml"
+  workflow_dispatch:
 
 jobs:
   release:
@@ -53,7 +60,12 @@ jobs:
           if [ "${{ matrix.platform }}" = "windows-latest" ]; then EXT=".exe"; fi
           mkdir -p apps/desktop/src-tauri/binaries
           cp target/${{ matrix.target }}/release/api${EXT} apps/desktop/src-tauri/binaries/api-${{ matrix.target }}${EXT}
+      - name: Build Tauri app (PR / manual validation)
+        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request' || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
+        working-directory: apps/desktop
+        run: bun tauri build ${{ matrix.args }} --no-bundle
       - name: Build and release Tauri app
+        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
         uses: tauri-apps/tauri-action@v0
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
@@ -61,7 +73,7 @@ jobs:
           TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD }}
         with:
           projectPath: apps/desktop
-          tagName: desktop-v__VERSION__
+          tagName: ${{ github.ref_name }}
           releaseName: Atmos Desktop v__VERSION__
           releaseDraft: true
           prerelease: false
diff --git a/apps/desktop/package.json b/apps/desktop/package.json
index fce2e349d..a7eb5f8a9 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/package.json
+++ b/apps/desktop/package.json
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     "tauri": "tauri",
     "dev": "tauri dev",
     "build": "tauri build",
-    "prepare:sidecar": "bash ./scripts/prepare-sidecar.sh"
+    "prepare:sidecar": "node ./scripts/before-build.mjs"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@tauri-apps/cli": "^2.0.0"
diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/before-build.mjs b/apps/desktop/scripts/before-build.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9e2a60ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/before-build.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { cpSync, existsSync, mkdirSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+
+const rootDir = resolve(import.meta.dirname, "../../..");
+
+function run(command, args, options = {}) {
+  const result = spawnSync(command, args, {
+    stdio: "inherit",
+    cwd: rootDir,
+    env: process.env,
+    shell: process.platform === "win32",
+    ...options,
+  });
+
+  if (result.status !== 0) {
+    process.exit(result.status ?? 1);
+  }
+}
+
+run("bun", ["--filter", "web", "build"], {
+  env: {
+    ...process.env,
+    BUILD_TARGET: "desktop",
+  },
+});
+
+let targetTriple = process.env.TARGET_TRIPLE;
+if (!targetTriple) {
+  const rustc = spawnSync("rustc", ["-vV"], {
+    cwd: rootDir,
+    encoding: "utf-8",
+    shell: process.platform === "win32",
+  });
+
+  if (rustc.status !== 0) {
+    process.exit(rustc.status ?? 1);
+  }
+
+  const hostLine = rustc.stdout
+    .split("\n")
+    .find((line) => line.startsWith("host:"));
+
+  if (!hostLine) {
+    console.error("Unable to detect rust host triple from `rustc -vV`.");
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+
+  targetTriple = hostLine.replace("host:", "").trim();
+}
+
+run("cargo", ["build", "--release", "--bin", "api", "--target", targetTriple]);
+
+const binExt = targetTriple.includes("windows") ? ".exe" : "";
+const binariesDir = join(rootDir, "apps/desktop/src-tauri/binaries");
+mkdirSync(binariesDir, { recursive: true });
+
+const fromSidecar = join(rootDir, `target/${targetTriple}/release/api${binExt}`);
+const toSidecar = join(binariesDir, `api-${targetTriple}${binExt}`);
+cpSync(fromSidecar, toSidecar);
+console.log(`Prepared sidecar: ${toSidecar}`);
+
+const webOut = join(rootDir, "apps/web/out");
+const sidecarWebOut = join(binariesDir, "web-out");
+
+if (existsSync(webOut)) {
+  rmSync(sidecarWebOut, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  cpSync(webOut, sidecarWebOut, { recursive: true });
+  console.log(`Copied web static export to: ${sidecarWebOut}`);
+} else {
+  console.warn(`Warning: ${webOut} not found, skipping web static copy`);
+}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json b/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
index 5a83f5788..60c2053a5 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
+++ b/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   "identifier": "com.atmos.desktop",
   "build": {
     "beforeDevCommand": "bun --filter web dev",
-    "beforeBuildCommand": "BUILD_TARGET=desktop bun --filter web build && bash ./scripts/prepare-sidecar.sh",
+    "beforeBuildCommand": "node ./scripts/before-build.mjs",
     "devUrl": "http://localhost:3030",
     "frontendDist": "../../web/out"
   },
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
     }
   },
   "bundle": {
-    "active": false,
+    "active": true,
     "targets": "all",
     "icon": ["icons/icon.svg"],
     "externalBin": [
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.debug.conf.json b/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.debug.conf.json
index b4f93add3..f7c510330 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.debug.conf.json
+++ b/apps/desktop/src-tauri/tauri.debug.conf.json
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   "build": {
     "beforeDevCommand": "",
     "devUrl": "http://localhost:3030",
-    "beforeBuildCommand": "BUILD_TARGET=desktop bun --filter web build && bash ./scripts/prepare-sidecar.sh",
+    "beforeBuildCommand": "node ./scripts/before-build.mjs",
     "frontendDist": "../../web/out"
   },
   "app": {