diff --git a/_docs/dev_setup.md b/_docs/dev_setup.md
--- a/_docs/dev_setup.md
+++ b/_docs/dev_setup.md
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@ To set up the ArtCraft development environment,  install the following:
 
 **Mac and Linux Development** 
 
+Linux also needs the GTK/WebKit/D-Bus **development** packages (on Fedora:
+`glib2-devel`, `gtk3-devel`, `webkit2gtk4.1-devel`, and so on); the runtime
+libraries alone do not provide the `pkg-config` files used during the Rust
+build. The combined launcher checks for them and prints the right install
+command for Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu, or Arch. Tauri's general prerequisites list
+is at <https://v2.tauri.app/start/prerequisites/>.
+
 ```bash
 # Start the frontend and Rust/Tauri together in one terminal
 ./script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh
diff --git a/frontend/scripts/unix-dev.test.mjs b/frontend/scripts/unix-dev.test.mjs
--- a/frontend/scripts/unix-dev.test.mjs
+++ b/frontend/scripts/unix-dev.test.mjs
@@ -147,7 +147,15 @@ setInterval(() => {}, 1000);
   const proc = spawn(launcher, [], {
     // Prove the launcher is independent of the invoking working directory.
     cwd: dir,
-    env: { ...process.env, ...env, PATH: `${dir}:${process.env.PATH}`, TEST_RECORD: recordFile },
+    env: {
+      ...process.env,
+      ...env,
+      // The launcher tests use a fake cargo and must work on machines without
+      // the Linux GTK/WebKit development packages installed.
+      ARTCRAFT_SKIP_SYSTEM_PREFLIGHT: "1",
+      PATH: `${dir}:${process.env.PATH}`,
+      TEST_RECORD: recordFile,
+    },
     stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
   });
   let output = "";
diff --git a/script/artcraft/unix_build.sh b/script/artcraft/unix_build.sh
--- a/script/artcraft/unix_build.sh
+++ b/script/artcraft/unix_build.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ root_dir=$(pwd)
 frontend_path="${root_dir}/frontend"
 rust_crate_path="${root_dir}/crates/desktop/artcraft"
 
+source "${root_dir}/script/common/linux_preflight.sh"
+linux_preflight
+
 # Build with the desktop app configuration.
 config_path="${rust_crate_path}/tauri.conf.json"
 
diff --git a/script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh b/script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh
--- a/script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh
+++ b/script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ if [[ $# -ne 0 ]]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
+source "${root_dir}/script/common/linux_preflight.sh"
+linux_preflight
+
 source "${root_dir}/script/common/frontend_preflight.sh"
 frontend_preflight "${frontend_path}"
 
diff --git a/script/artcraft/unix_rust_dev.sh b/script/artcraft/unix_rust_dev.sh
--- a/script/artcraft/unix_rust_dev.sh
+++ b/script/artcraft/unix_rust_dev.sh
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ root_dir=$(pwd)
 frontend_path="${root_dir}/frontend"
 rust_crate_path="${root_dir}/crates/desktop/artcraft"
 
+source "${root_dir}/script/common/linux_preflight.sh"
+linux_preflight
+
 sqlite_db_file="/tmp/tasks.sqlite"
 
 # The tauri dev server integration is super annoying: It eats ctrl-c interrupts,
diff --git a/script/common/linux_preflight.sh b/script/common/linux_preflight.sh
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/common/linux_preflight.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Shared Linux system-dependency checks for the ArtCraft build scripts.
+#
+# Tauri links against GTK, WebKit, and D-Bus at build time. Installing only the
+# runtime libraries is not enough: the matching -devel/-dev packages provide the
+# pkg-config (.pc) files that Cargo's *-sys crates look up. Without them the
+# build fails in crates such as gobject-sys with a misleading message about
+# PKG_CONFIG_PATH not being set.
+#
+# Call linux_preflight before starting a Rust build. It returns immediately on
+# non-Linux hosts, when the required modules are present, or when
+# ARTCRAFT_SKIP_SYSTEM_PREFLIGHT=1.
+
+# Keep this list aligned with the *-sys crates in Cargo.lock. gtk+-3.0 pulls in
+# its own transitive requirements (atk, cairo, pango, gdk-pixbuf, gio, ...).
+ARTCRAFT_LINUX_PKGCONFIG_MODULES=(
+  glib-2.0
+  gobject-2.0
+  gtk+-3.0
+  webkit2gtk-4.1
+  javascriptcoregtk-4.1
+  libsoup-3.0
+  dbus-1
+)
+
+linux_preflight() {
+  if [[ "$(uname -s)" != "Linux" ]] || [[ "${ARTCRAFT_SKIP_SYSTEM_PREFLIGHT:-0}" == "1" ]]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  local pkg_config="${PKG_CONFIG:-pkg-config}"
+  if ! command -v "${pkg_config}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "ERROR: pkg-config is not installed (or not on PATH)." >&2
+    echo "It is required to locate the GTK/WebKit/D-Bus build files." >&2
+    echo "" >&2
+    linux_preflight_print_install_hint >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  local missing=()
+  local module
+  for module in "${ARTCRAFT_LINUX_PKGCONFIG_MODULES[@]}"; do
+    if ! "${pkg_config}" --exists "${module}"; then
+      missing+=("${module}")
+    fi
+  done
+
+  if [[ ${#missing[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  echo "ERROR: Missing Linux build dependencies for the ArtCraft desktop app." >&2
+  echo "" >&2
+  echo "pkg-config could not find:" >&2
+  for module in "${missing[@]}"; do
+    echo "  - ${module}" >&2
+  done
+  echo "" >&2
+  echo "These come from development packages, not the runtime libraries." >&2
+  echo "A message about PKG_CONFIG_PATH being unset usually means the .pc files" >&2
+  echo "are missing, not that the environment variable needs to be set by hand." >&2
+  echo "" >&2
+  linux_preflight_print_install_hint >&2
+  echo "" >&2
+  echo "If the packages are installed in a nonstandard prefix, set PKG_CONFIG_PATH" >&2
+  echo "to the directory containing the .pc files." >&2
+  echo "Set ARTCRAFT_SKIP_SYSTEM_PREFLIGHT=1 to bypass this check." >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+linux_preflight_print_install_hint() {
+  if command -v dnf >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "Install them with:"
+    echo "  sudo dnf install -y pkgconf-pkg-config glib2-devel gtk3-devel \\"
+    echo "    webkit2gtk4.1-devel javascriptcoregtk4.1-devel libsoup3-devel \\"
+    echo "    dbus-devel libappindicator-gtk3-devel"
+  elif command -v apt-get >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "Install them with:"
+    echo "  sudo apt-get update"
+    echo "  sudo apt-get install -y pkg-config libglib2.0-dev libgtk-3-dev \\"
+    echo "    libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libsoup-3.0-dev libdbus-1-dev \\"
+    echo "    libayatana-appindicator3-dev"
+  elif command -v pacman >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "Install them with:"
+    echo "  sudo pacman -S --needed webkit2gtk-4.1 dbus libappindicator-gtk3 \\"
+    echo "    pkgconf base-devel"
+  else
+    echo "Install your distribution's development packages for GLib, GTK 3,"
+    echo "WebKitGTK 4.1, libsoup 3, D-Bus, and libappindicator, plus pkg-config"
+    echo "and a C toolchain."
+  fi
+}