diff --git a/script/artcraft/windows_rust_dev.ps1 b/script/artcraft/windows_rust_dev.ps1
--- a/script/artcraft/windows_rust_dev.ps1
+++ b/script/artcraft/windows_rust_dev.ps1
@@ -12,5 +12,108 @@ $env:TAURI_APP_PATH=".\crates\desktop\artcraft"
 # Put SQLx into offline mode (no DB hits / migrations).
 $env:SQLX_OFFLINE = "true"
 
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Native toolchain for BoringSSL
+#
+# The desktop app depends on the `wreq` HTTP client, which compiles BoringSSL from source at
+# build time. On Windows that needs (a) a CMake that knows the generator for the installed
+# Visual Studio release and (b) LLVM's libclang for bindgen. These are the same prerequisites
+# the Windows CI workflow installs (`choco install cmake llvm`).
+#
+# Everything in this section is best effort: it only sets environment variables when it finds
+# something, never overrides values you set yourself, and otherwise falls through to the normal
+# build with a hint about what to install.
+#
+# NB: do not "fix" an old CMake by setting CMAKE_GENERATOR=Ninja. The Rust `cmake` crate only
+# overrides MSVC's debug CRT flag (/MDd) for the Visual Studio generator, so Ninja debug builds
+# of BoringSSL fail to link against Rust's release CRT (unresolved __imp__CrtDbgReport).
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+function Get-CMakeVersion([string] $cmakeExe) {
+    try {
+        $firstLine = & $cmakeExe --version 2>$null | Select-Object -First 1
+        if ($firstLine -match '(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)') {
+            return [version] "$($Matches[1]).$($Matches[2]).$($Matches[3])"
+        }
+    } catch { }
+    return $null
+}
+
+if (-not $env:CMAKE) {
+    # Candidate CMake binaries; the newest one wins. "Whatever is first on PATH" is not good
+    # enough on its own because tools such as Strawberry Perl put an old CMake there, and an
+    # old CMake does not know newer Visual Studio releases (e.g. "Visual Studio 18 2026").
+    $cmakeCandidates = @()
+
+    $cmakeOnPath = Get-Command cmake.exe -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    if ($cmakeOnPath) {
+        $cmakeCandidates += $cmakeOnPath.Source
+    }
+
+    # Standalone installs (official installer, `choco install cmake`, winget).
+    foreach ($root in @($env:ProgramFiles, ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)})) {
+        if ($root) {
+            $cmakeCandidates += (Join-Path $root "CMake\bin\cmake.exe")
+        }
+    }
+
+    # CMake bundled with the "C++ CMake tools for Windows" Visual Studio component. It always
+    # matches the installed Visual Studio release.
+    if (${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}) {
+        $vswhere = Join-Path ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)} "Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe"
+        if (Test-Path $vswhere) {
+            $bundledCmake = & $vswhere -latest -products '*' -find "Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" 2>$null
+            if ($bundledCmake) {
+                $cmakeCandidates += $bundledCmake
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    $bestCmake = $null
+    $bestCmakeVersion = $null
+    foreach ($candidate in ($cmakeCandidates | Where-Object { $_ -and (Test-Path $_) } | Select-Object -Unique)) {
+        $candidateVersion = Get-CMakeVersion $candidate
+        if ($candidateVersion -and ((-not $bestCmakeVersion) -or ($candidateVersion -gt $bestCmakeVersion))) {
+            $bestCmake = $candidate
+            $bestCmakeVersion = $candidateVersion
+        }
+    }
+
+    if ($bestCmake) {
+        if ((-not $cmakeOnPath) -or ($bestCmake -ne $cmakeOnPath.Source)) {
+            # The Rust `cmake` crate honours CMAKE as the path of the binary to run.
+            $env:CMAKE = $bestCmake
+            Write-Host "Using CMake $bestCmakeVersion at $bestCmake"
+        }
+    } else {
+        Write-Host "WARNING: CMake not found; the BoringSSL build will fail. Install it with: choco install cmake -y"  -ForegroundColor red -BackgroundColor white
+    }
+}
+
+# bindgen locates libclang by itself (LIBCLANG_PATH, PATH, then the default LLVM install
+# directories), so this is only a pre-flight check with an install hint.
+$libclangFound = $false
+$libclangSearchDirs = @()
+if ($env:LIBCLANG_PATH) {
+    $libclangSearchDirs += $env:LIBCLANG_PATH
+}
+foreach ($root in @($env:ProgramFiles, ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)})) {
+    if ($root) {
+        $libclangSearchDirs += (Join-Path $root "LLVM\bin")
+    }
+}
+$libclangSearchDirs += ($env:PATH -split ';')
+foreach ($dir in $libclangSearchDirs) {
+    try {
+        if ($dir -and (Test-Path (Join-Path $dir "libclang.dll"))) {
+            $libclangFound = $true
+            break
+        }
+    } catch { }
+}
+if (-not $libclangFound) {
+    Write-Host "WARNING: libclang.dll not found; the BoringSSL build (bindgen) will fail. Install it with: choco install llvm -y"  -ForegroundColor red -BackgroundColor white
+}
+
 # The config file tells Tauri more instructions for the frontend build.
 cargo tauri dev --config ".\crates\desktop\artcraft\tauri-dev-hot-reload.conf.json"