Files
narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Development.md
T
nvrl 4eb663e2d7 docs: a guide, a wiki and screenshots
The README grew a section per feature and is a good reference, but nothing
said where to begin. docs/wiki now has a getting-started page, a guide that
walks through one day with the workspace and explains each part where it comes
up, and a page per part of the app, each with screenshots of what it
describes.

Three pages are read out of the code rather than written, so they cannot drift
from it: the keys and commands from Help.svelte and commands.ts, the same lists
`:help` draws; the settings from .env.example, which gains a heading for the
vault, trash and history settings so they no longer sit under mail; and the
API from the README's table. `make wiki` writes them, and `--check` fails when
one is stale or a link between pages leads nowhere. `--publish` lays the pages
out for a GitHub wiki: links without `.md`, images beside them, `[[` escaped so
the wiki does not take a command's help text for a link to a page.

The screenshots are taken by `make screenshots`: the debug binary on a
temporary data directory, with a password made up for the run, filled with an
example workspace over the API, and a headless Chromium driven over the
DevTools protocol through the views the docs show. Nothing outside the
temporary directory is touched but docs/images, and the pictures are cut to
256 colours, a third of their size, which a dark UI does not show.

The README opens with the banner, a CI badge, the guide, the features grouped
by what they are for, and six of the screenshots.
2026-10-21 12:07:32 +02:00

108 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown

# Development
## Running it from source
```sh
make dev-api # cargo run, serving the API on :4242
make dev-web # vite on :4243, proxying /api to :4242
```
Open <http://127.0.0.1:4243>. The Rust build embeds `web/dist`, so build the
frontend once (`cd web && bun install && bun run build`) before the first
`cargo build`; a debug build reads `web/dist` from disk after that.
Point `WORKSPACE_DATA_DIR` at a throwaway directory while trying things, so the
real data stays out of it.
## The code
| where | what |
| --- | --- |
| `src/main.rs` | start-up, the router, security headers, background loops |
| `src/routes/` | one module per area of the API: `nodes`, `boards`, `trash`, `revisions`, `links`, `capture`, `diary`, `media`, `file_text`, `seal`, `share`, `import`, `export` … |
| `src/sftp/` | the SFTP mount |
| `src/backup/` | the Proton Drive mirror |
| `src/mail/`, `src/notify/` | the outbox, and what is worth a mail |
| `src/vault.rs` | the vault's keys and file format |
| `src/sweep.rs` | the daily clean-up: trash, old versions, unreferenced uploads |
| `migrations/` | the SQLite schema, one numbered file per change |
| `web/src/App.svelte` | the keys |
| `web/src/lib/store.svelte.ts` | the client's state, and every call to the API |
| `web/src/lib/commands.ts` | the `:` commands |
| `web/src/lib/Help.svelte` | the `?` screen |
The database is one SQLite file with FTS5 for search. Every migration is
applied at start, after a copy of the database is kept as
`diary.db.pre-<version>`. Many rules are enforced by triggers as well as in the
code, so no path can break them: a sealed file has no indexed text, a file in a
sealed folder is sealed, the diary cannot be deleted.
## Checks
```sh
make check
```
runs what CI runs:
- `cargo fmt --check`
- `cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings`
- `cargo test`
- `bun run check` in `web/` (svelte-check)
The Rust tests run against an in-memory database; most modules have a test
block at the bottom.
## CI
`.github/workflows/ci.yml` runs on every push and pull request:
- **rust**: builds the frontend (the binary embeds it), then format, clippy
and the tests;
- **web**: svelte-check;
- **docs**: checks that the generated wiki pages are up to date and that every
link between the pages resolves.
`.github/workflows/wiki.yml` publishes `docs/wiki` to the GitHub wiki on every
push to `main` that changes it, or changes a file the generated pages are read
from.
## The wiki
The pages live in `docs/wiki` and the pictures in `docs/images`. Edit them
there; an edit on GitHub's wiki page is overwritten by the next publish.
Three pages are generated by `scripts/wiki.ts`:
| page | read from |
| --- | --- |
| [Keys and commands](Commands.md) | `web/src/lib/Help.svelte` and `web/src/lib/commands.ts` |
| [Configuration](Configuration.md) | `.env.example` |
| [API](API.md) | the API section of `README.md` |
After changing one of those, run `make wiki` and commit the result. CI fails
when they are stale.
Links between pages are written as `Page-Name.md` so that they work when the
files are read in the repository; the publish step drops the `.md` for the
wiki.
## Screenshots
```sh
make screenshots
```
builds the app, starts it on a temporary data directory with a password made
up for the run, fills it with an example workspace, and drives a headless
Chromium through the views the docs show. The pictures are written to
`docs/images`. It needs `chromium` on the path (or `CHROMIUM=/path/to/chrome`),
and shrinks the pictures with ImageMagick when it is installed.
## Conventions
- One finished feature per commit, with the README, `:help` and the tests in
the same commit.
- Commit messages are `area: a sentence`, followed by prose about why.
- Comments explain why, not what.