tolaria/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md

Architecture

Tolaria is a personal knowledge and life management desktop app. It reads a vault of markdown files with YAML frontmatter and presents them in a four-panel UI inspired by Bear Notes.

Design Principles

Filesystem as the single source of truth

The vault is a folder of plain markdown files. The app never owns the data — it only reads and writes files. The cache, React state, and any in-memory representation are always derived from the filesystem and must be reconstructible by deleting them. When in doubt, the file on disk wins.

Convention over configuration

Tolaria is opinionated. Standard field names (type:, status:, url:, Workspace:, Belongs to:, start_date:, end_date:) have well-defined meanings and trigger specific UI behavior — without any setup. This is not convention instead of configuration: users can override defaults via config files in their vault (e.g. config/relations.md, config/semantic-properties.md). But the defaults work out of the box, and most users never need to touch them.

This principle directly serves AI-readability: the more structure comes from shared conventions rather than per-user custom configurations, the easier it is for an AI agent to understand and navigate the vault correctly — without needing bespoke instructions for every setup.

Where to store state: vault vs. app settings

When deciding where to persist a piece of data, ask: "Would the user want this to follow them across all their Tolaria installations — other devices, future platforms (tablet, web)?"

Follows the vault	Stays with the installation
Type icon, type color	Editor zoom level
Pinned properties per type	API keys (OpenAI, Google)
Sidebar label overrides	Auto-sync interval
Property display order	Window size / position
Any user-visible customization of how content is organized or displayed	Any machine-specific or credential-type setting

Rule: If the information is about how the content is structured or presented and the user would expect it to be consistent wherever they open their vault, store it in the vault (frontmatter of the relevant note, using the _field underscore convention for system properties). If it's about this specific installation of the app, store it in ~/.config/com.tolaria.app/settings.json or localStorage.

Examples:

• ✅ Vault: _pinned_properties in a Type note (every device should show the same pinned properties)
• ✅ Vault: _icon: shapes in a Type note (icon is part of the type's identity)
• ✅ App settings: zoom: 1.3 (machine-specific preference)

No hardcoded exceptions

No field names, folder paths, or vault-specific values should be hardcoded in the application source code. What can be a convention should be a convention. What needs to be configurable should live in a file. Relationship fields are detected dynamically by checking whether values contain [[wikilinks]] — no hardcoded field name lists.

AI-first knowledge graph

Notes are not just documents — they are nodes in a structured graph of people, projects, events, responsibilities, and ideas. Every design decision should ask: "Does this make the knowledge graph easier for a human and an AI to navigate?" Conventions that are legible to both are better than conventions that are legible only to one.

Three representations, one authority

Vault data exists in three forms simultaneously:

1. Filesystem — the .md files on disk. This is the single source of truth.
2. Cache — ~/.laputa/cache/<hash>.json, an index for fast startup. Always reconstructible from the filesystem.
3. React state — the in-memory VaultEntry[] during a session. Always derived from the cache or filesystem.

These must never diverge permanently. If they do, the filesystem wins and the cache/state are rebuilt.

flowchart LR
    FS["🗂️ Filesystem\n.md files on disk\n(source of truth)"]
    Cache["⚡ Cache\n~/.laputa/cache/\n(fast startup index)"]
    RS["⚛️ React State\nVaultEntry[]\n(in-memory session)"]

    FS -->|"scan_vault_cached()"| Cache
    Cache -->|"useVaultLoader on load"| RS
    FS -->|"reload_vault (full rescan)"| RS
    RS -.->|"write via Tauri IPC first"| FS

    style FS fill:#d4edda,stroke:#28a745,color:#000
    style Cache fill:#fff3cd,stroke:#ffc107,color:#000
    style RS fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#004085,color:#000

Ownership rules

Layer	Owner	Writes to	Reads from
Filesystem	Tauri Rust commands (save_note_content, update_frontmatter, etc.)	Disk	—
Cache	scan_vault_cached() in vault/cache.rs	~/.laputa/cache/	Filesystem + git diff
React state	useVaultLoader + useEntryActions + useNoteActions	In-memory entries	Cache (on load), filesystem (on reload)

Invariants

1. Disk-first writes: All functions that change vault data must write to disk (via Tauri IPC) before updating React state. This ensures that if the disk write fails, React state remains consistent with what's actually on disk.
2. Optimistic UI with rollback: Where responsiveness matters (e.g. persistOptimistic in useNoteCreation), state may update before disk confirmation — but a failure callback must revert the optimistic state.
3. No orphan state updates: Never call updateEntry() before the corresponding handleUpdateFrontmatter() or handleDeleteProperty() has resolved. The three functions in useEntryActions (handleCustomizeType, handleRenameSection, handleToggleTypeVisibility) follow this rule — disk write first, then state update.
4. Recovery via reload: If state ever diverges from disk (crash, external edit, race condition), Reload Vault (Cmd+K → "Reload Vault") invalidates the cache and does a full filesystem rescan via the reload_vault Tauri command, replacing all React state. The reload_vault_entry command can re-read a single file.
5. Cache is disposable: The reload_vault command deletes the cache file before rescanning, guaranteeing fresh data. The cache never contains data that doesn't exist on the filesystem.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology	Version
Desktop shell	Tauri v2	2.10.0
Frontend	React + TypeScript	React 19, TS 5.9
Editor	BlockNote	0.46.2
Code block highlighting	@blocknote/code-block	0.46.2
Raw editor	CodeMirror 6	-
Styling	Tailwind CSS v4 + CSS variables	4.1.18
UI primitives	Radix UI + shadcn/ui	-
Icons	Phosphor Icons + Lucide	-
Build	Vite	7.3.1
Backend language	Rust (edition 2021)	1.77.2
Frontmatter parsing	gray_matter	0.2
AI (agent panel)	CLI agent adapters (Claude Code + Codex)	-
Search	Keyword (walkdir-based file scan)	-
MCP	@modelcontextprotocol/sdk	1.0
Tests	Vitest (unit), Playwright (E2E/smoke), cargo test (Rust)	-
Package manager	pnpm	-

System Overview

flowchart TD
    subgraph TW["Tauri v2 Window"]
        subgraph FE["React Frontend"]
            App["App.tsx (orchestrator)"]
            WS["WelcomeScreen\n(onboarding)"]
            SB["Sidebar\n(navigation + filters + types)"]
            NL["NoteList / PulseView\n(filtered list / activity)"]
            ED["Editor\n(BlockNote + diff + raw)"]
            IN["Inspector\n(metadata + relationships)"]
            AIP["AiPanel\n(selected CLI agent + tools)"]
            SP["SearchPanel\n(keyword search)"]
            ST["StatusBar\n(vault picker + sync + version)"]
            CP["CommandPalette\n(Cmd+K launcher)"]

            App --> WS & SB & NL & ED & SP & ST & CP
            ED --> IN & AIP
        end

        subgraph RB["Rust Backend"]
            LIB["lib.rs → Tauri commands"]
            VAULT["vault/"]
            FM["frontmatter/"]
            GIT["git/\n(commit, sync, clone)"]
            SETTINGS["settings.rs"]
            SEARCH["search.rs"]
            CLI["ai_agents.rs\n+ claude_cli.rs"]
        end

        subgraph EXT["External Services"]
            CCLI["Claude CLI / Codex CLI\n(agent subprocesses)"]
            MCP["MCP Server\n(ws://9710, 9711)"]
            GCLI["git CLI\n(system executable)"]
            REMOTE["Git remotes\n(GitHub/GitLab/Gitea/etc.)"]
        end

        FE -->|"Tauri IPC"| RB
        CLI -->|"spawn subprocess"| CCLI
        LIB -->|"register / monitor"| MCP
        GIT -->|"clone / fetch / push / pull"| GCLI
        GCLI -->|"network auth via user config"| REMOTE
    end

    style FE fill:#e8f4fd,stroke:#2196f3,color:#000
    style RB fill:#fff8e1,stroke:#ff9800,color:#000
    style EXT fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#9c27b0,color:#000

Four-Panel Layout

┌────────┬─────────────┬─────────────────────────┬────────────┐
│Sidebar │ Note List   │ Editor                  │ Inspector  │
│(250px) │ (300px)     │ (flex-1)                │ (280px)    │
│        │ OR          │                         │ OR         │
│ All    │ Pulse View  │ [Breadcrumb Bar]        │ AI Chat    │
│ Changes│             │                         │ OR         │
│ Pulse  │ [Search]    │ # My Note               │ AI Agent   │
│ Inbox  │ [Sort/Filt] │                         │            │
│        │             │                         │ Context    │
│Projects│ Note 1      │ Content here...         │ Messages   │
│Experim.│ Note 2      │ (BlockNote or Raw)      │ Actions    │
│Respons.│ Note 3      │                         │ Input      │
│People  │ ...         │                         │            │
│Events  │             │                         │            │
│Topics  │             │                         │            │
├────────┴─────────────┴─────────────────────────┴────────────┤
│ StatusBar: v0.4.2 │ main │ Synced 2m ago │ Vault: ~/Laputa │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Sidebar (150-400px, resizable): Top-level filters (All Notes, Changes, Pulse) and collapsible type-based section groups. Each type can have a custom icon, color, sort, and visibility set via its type document in type/.
• Note List / Pulse View (200-500px, resizable): When a section group or filter is selected, shows filtered notes with snippets, modified dates, and status indicators. When Pulse filter is active, shows PulseView — a chronological git activity feed grouped by day.
• Editor (flex, fills remaining space): Single note open at a time (no tabs — see ADR-0003). Breadcrumb bar with word count, BlockNote rich text editor with wikilink support, and schema-backed fenced code block highlighting via @blocknote/code-block. Can toggle to diff view (modified files) or raw CodeMirror view. Decomposed into Editor (orchestrator), EditorContent, EditorRightPanel, SingleEditorView, with hooks useDiffMode, useEditorFocus, useEditorSave, and useRawMode. Navigation history (Cmd+[/]) replaces tabs.
• Inspector / AI Agent (200-500px or 40px collapsed): Toggles between Inspector (frontmatter, relationships, instances, backlinks, git history) and AI Agent panel (the selected CLI agent with tool execution). The Sparkle icon in the breadcrumb bar toggles between them. Per-note icon is a suggested Inspector property and the command palette's "Set Note Icon" action opens that field directly. When viewing a Type note, the Inspector shows an Instances section listing all notes of that type (sorted by modified_at desc, capped at 50).

Panels are separated by ResizeHandle components that support drag-to-resize.

Multi-Window (Note Windows)

Notes can be opened in separate Tauri windows for focused editing. Secondary windows show only the editor panel (no sidebar, no note list).

Triggers:

• Cmd+Shift+Click on any note in the note list or sidebar
• Cmd+K → "Open in New Window" (command palette, requires active note)
• Cmd+Shift+O keyboard shortcut
• Note → "Open in New Window" menu bar item

Architecture:

• openNoteInNewWindow() (src/utils/openNoteWindow.ts) creates a new WebviewWindow via the Tauri v2 JS API with URL query params (?window=note&path=...&vault=...&title=...)
• main.tsx checks isNoteWindow() at boot to route between App (main window) and NoteWindow (secondary window)
• NoteWindow (src/NoteWindow.tsx) is a minimal shell that loads vault entries, fetches note content, applies the theme, and renders a single Editor instance
• Each window has its own auto-save via useEditorSaveWithLinks (same 500ms debounce, same Rust save_note_content command)
• Secondary windows are sized 800×700 with overlay title bar
• Capabilities config (src-tauri/capabilities/default.json) grants permissions to both main and note-* window labels

AI System

AI Agent (AiPanel)

Full agent mode — spawns the selected local CLI agent as a subprocess with tool access and MCP vault integration.

1. Frontend (AiPanel + useCliAiAgent + aiAgents.ts) — streaming UI with reasoning blocks, tool action cards, response display, onboarding, and default-agent selection
2. Backend (ai_agents.rs) — normalizes agent availability and streaming, dispatching to per-agent adapters
3. Agent adapters — Claude Code still uses claude_cli.rs; Codex runs through codex exec --json
4. MCP Integration — Claude receives the generated MCP config file path, while Codex receives the same Tolaria MCP server via transient -c mcp_servers.tolaria.* config overrides

Agent Event Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User (AiPanel)
    participant FE as useCliAiAgent (Frontend)
    participant R as ai_agents.rs (Rust)
    participant C as Selected CLI Agent
    participant V as Vault (MCP)

    U->>FE: sendMessage(text, references)
    FE->>FE: buildContextSnapshot(activeNote, linkedNotes, openTabs)
    FE->>R: invoke('stream_ai_agent', {agent, message, systemPrompt, vaultPath})
    R->>R: pick adapter for claude_code or codex
    R->>C: spawn agent with MCP-enabled config

    loop Normalized stream
        C-->>R: Claude NDJSON or Codex JSONL events
        R-->>FE: emit("ai-agent-stream", event)
        alt TextDelta
            FE->>FE: accumulate response (revealed on Done)
        else ThinkingDelta
            FE->>FE: show reasoning block (collapses on first text)
        else ToolStart
            FE->>FE: add AiActionCard with spinner
        else ToolDone
            FE->>FE: update card with output
        else Done
            FE->>FE: reveal full response
            FE->>FE: detect file operations → reload vault if needed
        end
    end

    C->>V: MCP tool calls (search_notes, read_note, edit_note…)
    V-->>C: tool results

File Operation Detection

When the agent writes or edits vault files, useCliAiAgent detects this from normalized tool inputs and calls onFileCreated or onFileModified callbacks to trigger vault reload.

Context Building

The agent panel (ai-context.ts) builds a structured JSON snapshot from the active note and linked entries:

{
  "activeNote": { "path", "title", "type", "frontmatter", "content" },
  "linkedNotes": [{ "path", "title", "content" }],
  "openTabs": [{ "title", "snippet" }],
  "vaultMetadata": { "noteTypes", "stats", "filter" },
  "references": [{ "title", "path", "type" }]
}

Token budget: 60% of 180k context limit (~108k tokens max). Active note gets priority, then linked notes, then truncation.

Authentication

Each CLI agent authenticates itself outside Tolaria. Claude Code uses its existing CLI login; Codex surfaces a friendly prompt to run codex login when needed. Tolaria does not store model-provider API keys in app settings.

MCP Server

The MCP server (mcp-server/) exposes vault operations as tools for AI assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client).

Tool Surface (14 tools)

Tool	Params	Description
open_note	path	Open and read a note by relative path
read_note	path	Read note content (alias for open_note)
create_note	path, title, [type]	Create new note with title and optional type frontmatter
search_notes	query, [limit]	Search notes by title or content substring
append_to_note	path, text	Append text to end of existing note
edit_note_frontmatter	path, patch	Merge key-value patch into YAML frontmatter
delete_note	path	Delete a note file from the vault
link_notes	source_path, property, target_title	Add a target to an array property in frontmatter
list_notes	[type_filter], [sort]	List all notes, optionally filtered by type
vault_context	—	Get vault summary: entity types + 20 recent notes + configFiles
ui_open_note	path	Open a note in the Tolaria UI editor
ui_open_tab	path	Open a note in a new UI tab
ui_highlight	element, [path]	Highlight a UI element (editor, tab, properties, notelist)
ui_set_filter	type	Set the sidebar filter to a specific type

Transports

• stdio — standard MCP transport for Claude Code / Cursor (node mcp-server/index.js)
• WebSocket — live bridge for Tolaria app integration:
  • Port 9710: Tool bridge — AI/Claude clients call vault tools here
  • Port 9711: UI bridge — Frontend listens for UI action broadcasts from MCP tools

Auto-Registration

On app startup, Tolaria automatically registers itself as an MCP server in:

• ~/.claude/mcp.json (Claude Code)
• ~/.cursor/mcp.json (Cursor)

Registration is non-destructive (additive, preserves other servers) and uses upsert semantics. The useMcpStatus hook tracks registration state (checking | installed | not_installed | no_claude_cli).

Architecture

flowchart TD
    subgraph MCP["MCP Server (Node.js) — spawned by Tauri on startup"]
        IDX["index.js"]
        VAULT["vault.js\n(findMarkdownFiles, readNote, createNote,\nsearchNotes, appendToNote, editNoteFrontmatter,\ndeleteNote, linkNotes, listNotes, vaultContext)"]
        WSB["ws-bridge.js"]

        IDX -->|"stdio transport"| STDIO["Claude Code / Cursor"]
        IDX --> VAULT
        IDX --> WSB
        WSB -->|"port 9710 — tool bridge"| AI["AI Clients\n(Claude Code, external)"]
        WSB -->|"port 9711 — UI bridge"| FE["Frontend\n(useAiActivity)"]
    end

    TAURI["Tauri (mcp.rs)"] -->|"spawn on startup"| MCP
    TAURI -->|"auto-register"| CFG["~/.claude/mcp.json\n~/.cursor/mcp.json"]

WebSocket Bridge

flowchart LR
    FE["Frontend\n(useMcpBridge)"] <-->|"ws://localhost:9710"| WSB["ws-bridge.js"]
    WSB <--> VAULT["vault.js"]
    STDIO["MCP stdio tools"] <-->|"ws://localhost:9711"| FE2["Frontend UI actions\n(useAiActivity)"]

Tool bridge protocol (port 9710):

• Request: { "id": "req-1", "tool": "search_notes", "args": { "query": "test" } }
• Response: { "id": "req-1", "result": { ... } }

UI bridge protocol (port 9711):

• Broadcast: { "type": "ui_action", "action": "open_note", "path": "..." }
• useAiActivity hook receives these and applies them (highlight with 800ms feedback, open note, set filter, etc.)

Rust MCP Module

src-tauri/src/mcp.rs manages the MCP server lifecycle:

Function	Purpose
spawn_ws_bridge(vault_path)	Spawns ws-bridge.js as child process with VAULT_PATH env
register_mcp(vault_path)	Writes Tolaria entry to Claude Code and Cursor MCP configs
upsert_mcp_config(path, entry)	Atomic config file update (create/merge, preserves others)

The WsBridgeChild state wrapper in lib.rs ensures the bridge process is killed on app exit via RunEvent::Exit handler.

Search

Search is keyword-based, using walkdir to scan all .md files in the vault directory. No external binary or indexing step required.

• Matches query against file titles and content (case-insensitive)
• Scores results: title matches ranked higher than content-only matches
• Extracts contextual snippets around the first match
• Skips hidden files

The search_vault Tauri command runs the scan in a blocking Tokio task and returns results sorted by relevance score.

Vault Cache System

The vault cache (src-tauri/src/vault/cache.rs) accelerates vault scanning using git-based incremental updates.

Cache File

~/.laputa/cache/<vault-hash>.json — stored outside the vault directory so it never pollutes the user's git repo. The vault path is hashed (via DefaultHasher) to produce a deterministic filename. Stores: vault path, git HEAD commit hash, all VaultEntry objects. Version: v5 (bumped on VaultEntry field changes to force full rescan). Writes are atomic (write to .tmp then rename). Legacy .laputa-cache.json files inside the vault are auto-migrated and deleted on first run.

Three Cache Strategies

flowchart TD
    A([scan_vault_cached]) --> B{Cache exists\nand valid?}
    B -->|No / Corrupt| C["🔴 Full Scan\nwalkdir all .md files\n→ full parse"]
    B -->|Yes| D{Git HEAD\nmatches cache?}
    D -->|Same commit| E["🟢 Cache Hit\ngit status --porcelain\n→ re-parse only uncommitted changes"]
    D -->|Different commit| F["🟡 Incremental Update\ngit diff old..new --name-only\n→ selective re-parse of changed files"]

    C --> G[Write cache atomically\n.tmp → rename]
    E --> G
    F --> G
    G --> H([VaultEntry list ready])

Styling

The app uses a single light theme with no user-configurable theming (see ADR-0013).

1. Global CSS variables (src/index.css): App-wide colors, borders, backgrounds. Bridged to Tailwind v4 via @theme inline.
2. Editor theme (src/theme.json): BlockNote-specific typography. Flattened to CSS vars by useEditorTheme.

Vault Management

Vault List

Persisted at ~/.config/com.tolaria.app/vaults.json (reads legacy com.laputa.app on upgrade):

{
  "vaults": [{ "label": "My Vault", "path": "/path/to/vault" }],
  "active_vault": "/path/to/vault",
  "hidden_defaults": []
}

Managed by useVaultSwitcher hook. Switching vaults resets sidebar and clears the active note.

Vault Config

Per-vault UI settings stored locally per vault path (currently in browser/Tauri localStorage, not synced via git):

• zoom: Float zoom level (0.8–1.5)
• view_mode: "all" | "editor-list" | "editor-only"
• editor_mode: "raw" | "preview" (persists across note switches and sessions)
• tag_colors, status_colors: Custom color overrides
• property_display_modes: Property display preferences
• inbox.noteListProperties: Optional Inbox-only property chip override for the note list
• inbox.explicitOrganization: When false, hide Inbox and the organized toggle so the vault behaves like a plain note collection

Getting Started Vault

On first launch, useOnboarding checks if the default vault exists. If not, it shows WelcomeScreen with three options:

• Create a new vault → creates an empty git repo in a folder the user chooses
• Open an existing folder → system file picker
• Get started with a template → pick a folder, then call create_getting_started_vault() to clone the public starter repo at runtime

Once a vault is ready, useAiAgentsOnboarding can show a one-time AiAgentsOnboardingPrompt. That prompt reads useAiAgentsStatus so first launch surfaces whether Claude Code and Codex are installed, offers per-agent install links when they are missing, and stores local dismissal so the prompt does not repeat on every launch.

The starter content no longer lives in the app repo. src-tauri/src/vault/getting_started.rs holds the public starter repo URL, delegates the clone to the git backend, then normalizes Tolaria-managed config files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, config.md) so fresh starter vaults pick up the current default guidance even when the remote starter repo still carries a legacy copy. AGENTS.md stays the canonical vault guidance file; CLAUDE.md is a compatibility shim that imports it for Claude Code without duplicating the instructions.

Remote Clone & Auth Model

Tolaria no longer implements provider-specific OAuth or remote-repository APIs. All remote git work goes through the user's existing system git configuration.

Flow:

1. User opens CloneVaultModal from onboarding or the vault menu
2. User pastes any git URL and chooses a local destination
3. clone_repo() shells out to git clone
4. git_push() / git_pull() continue to use the same system git path
5. If auth fails, the raw git stderr is surfaced in the UI

Auth model:

• SSH keys, Git Credential Manager, macOS Keychain helpers, gh auth, and other git helpers all work without app-specific setup
• No provider tokens are stored in Tolaria settings
• The same flow works for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, and self-hosted remotes

Pulse View

PulseView is a git activity feed that replaces the NoteList when the Pulse filter is selected.

• Groups commits by day ("Today", "Yesterday", or full date)
• Shows commit message, short hash, timestamp, and changed files
• Files have status icons (added/modified/deleted) and are clickable to open in editor
• Links to GitHub commits when githubUrl is available
• Infinite scroll pagination (20 commits per page) via Intersection Observer

Backend: get_vault_pulse Tauri command parses git log with --name-status.

Data Flow

Startup Sequence

sequenceDiagram
    participant T as Tauri (Rust)
    participant A as App.tsx
    participant VL as useVaultLoader
    participant MCP as MCP Server
    participant U as User

    T->>T: run_startup_tasks()<br/>(register MCP)
    T->>MCP: spawn_ws_bridge() — ports 9710 + 9711
    T->>A: App mounts

    A->>A: useOnboarding — vault exists?
    alt Vault missing
        A-->>U: WelcomeScreen
    else Vault found
        A->>VL: useVaultLoader fires
        VL->>T: invoke('list_vault') → scan_vault_cached()
        T-->>VL: VaultEntry[]
        VL->>T: invoke('get_modified_files')
        VL->>T: useMcpStatus — register if needed
        VL-->>A: entries ready
    end

    U->>A: clicks note in NoteList
    A->>T: invoke('get_note_content')
    T-->>A: raw markdown
    A->>A: splitFrontmatter → [yaml, body]
    A->>A: preProcessWikilinks(body)
    A->>A: tryParseMarkdownToBlocks()
    A->>A: injectWikilinks(blocks)
    A-->>U: Editor renders note

Auto-Save Flow

flowchart LR
    A["✏️ Editor content changes"] --> B["useEditorSave\n(debounced)"]
    B --> C["blocksToMarkdownLossy()"]
    C --> D["postProcessWikilinks()\n→ restore [[target]] syntax"]
    D --> E["invoke('save_note_content')"]
    E --> F["💾 Disk write"]
    F --> G["Update tab status indicator"]

Git Sync Flow

flowchart TD
    AS["useAutoSync\n(configurable interval)"] --> PULL["invoke('git_pull')"]
    PULL --> PC{Result?}
    PC -->|Conflicts| CM["ConflictResolverModal\nor ConflictNoteBanner"]
    PC -->|Fast-forward| RV["reload vault"]
    PC -->|Up to date| DONE["idle"]

    MAN["Manual commit\n(CommitDialog)"] --> RS["useGitRemoteStatus\n(commit-time check)"]
    RS --> RCHK["invoke('git_remote_status')"]
    RCHK --> RMODE{Remote configured?}
    RMODE -->|No| GC["invoke('git_commit', message)"]
    GC --> LOCAL["Local commit only\nNo remote chip + local toast"]
    RMODE -->|Yes| GC2["invoke('git_commit', message)"]
    GC2 --> GP["invoke('git_push')"]
    GP --> PR{Push result?}
    PR -->|ok| RM["Reload modified files"]
    PR -->|rejected| DIV["syncStatus = pull_required"]
    DIV -->|User clicks badge| PAP["pullAndPush()"]
    PAP --> PULL2["invoke('git_pull')"]
    PULL2 --> GP2["invoke('git_push')"]
    GP2 --> RM

    CMD["Cmd+K → Pull\nor Menu → Pull"] --> PULL
    STATUS["Click sync badge"] --> POPUP["GitStatusPopup\n(branch, ahead/behind)"]

useGitRemoteStatus re-checks git_remote_status when the commit dialog opens and again right before submit. If hasRemote is false, Tolaria keeps the flow local-only: the status bar shows a neutral No remote chip, the dialog copy switches from "Commit & Push" to "Commit", and no git_push call is attempted.

Sync States

State	Indicator	Color	Trigger
idle	Synced / Synced Xm ago	green	Successful sync
syncing	Syncing...	blue	Pull/push in progress
pull_required	Pull required	orange	Push rejected (divergence)
conflict	Conflict	orange	Merge conflicts detected
error	Sync failed	grey	Network/auth error

Vault Module Structure

The vault backend (src-tauri/src/vault/) is split into focused submodules:

File	Purpose
mod.rs	Core types (VaultEntry, Frontmatter), parse_md_file, scan_vault, relationship/link extraction
parsing.rs	Text processing: snippet extraction, markdown stripping, ISO date parsing, extract_title (H1 → legacy frontmatter → filename), slug_to_title
title_sync.rs	Legacy filename → title frontmatter sync helper; no longer used by the normal note-open flow
cache.rs	Git-based incremental vault caching (scan_vault_cached), git helpers
rename.rs	rename_note — renames files, updates title frontmatter, and updates wikilinks across the vault
image.rs	save_image — saves base64-encoded attachments with sanitized filenames
migration.rs	flatten_vault, vault_health_check, migrate_is_a_to_type
config_seed.rs	Maintains vault AI guidance (AGENTS.md + CLAUDE.md shim), migrates legacy config/agents.md, repairs missing config files
getting_started.rs	Creates the Getting Started demo vault

Rust Backend Modules

Module	Purpose
vault/	Vault scanning, caching, parsing, rename, image, migration
frontmatter/	YAML frontmatter read/write (mod.rs, yaml.rs, ops.rs)
git/	Git operations (commit.rs, status.rs, history.rs, conflict.rs, remote.rs, pulse.rs, clone.rs)
search.rs	Keyword search — walkdir-based vault file scan
ai_agents.rs	Shared CLI-agent detection, stream normalization, and adapter dispatch
claude_cli.rs	Claude Code subprocess spawning + NDJSON stream parsing
mcp.rs	MCP server spawning + config registration
commands/	Tauri command handlers (split into submodules)
settings.rs	App settings persistence
vault_config.rs	Per-vault UI config
vault_list.rs	Vault list persistence
menu.rs	Native macOS menu bar

Tauri IPC Commands

Vault Operations

Command	Description
list_vault	Scan vault (cached) → Vec<VaultEntry>
get_note_content	Read note file content
save_note_content	Write note content to disk
delete_note	Permanently delete note from disk (with confirm dialog)
rename_note	Rename note + update title frontmatter + cross-vault wikilinks
sync_note_title	Legacy helper: rewrite title frontmatter from filename → bool (modified); not used by the normal note-open flow
batch_archive_notes	Archive multiple notes
batch_delete_notes	Permanently delete notes from disk
reload_vault	Invalidate cache and full rescan from filesystem → Vec<VaultEntry>
reload_vault_entry	Re-read a single file from disk → VaultEntry
check_vault_exists	Check if vault path exists
create_empty_vault	Create a git-backed vault, then seed root AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, and config.md defaults
create_getting_started_vault	Clone the public Getting Started vault, refresh Tolaria-managed guidance/config defaults, and keep the cloned repo clean
get_vault_ai_guidance_status	Report whether AGENTS.md and the CLAUDE.md shim are managed, missing, broken, or custom
restore_vault_ai_guidance	Restore any missing/broken Tolaria-managed guidance files without overwriting custom ones

Frontmatter

Command	Description
update_frontmatter	Update a frontmatter property
delete_frontmatter_property	Remove a frontmatter property

Git

Command	Description
git_commit	Stage all + commit
git_pull	Pull from remote
git_push	Push to remote
git_remote_status	Get branch name + ahead/behind counts
git_resolve_conflict	Resolve a merge conflict
git_commit_conflict_resolution	Commit conflict resolution
get_file_history	Last N commits for a file
get_modified_files	git status filtered to .md
get_file_diff	Unified diff for a file
get_file_diff_at_commit	Diff at a specific commit
get_conflict_files	List conflicted files
get_conflict_mode	Get conflict resolution mode
get_vault_pulse	Git activity feed (paginated)
get_last_commit_info	Latest commit metadata
clone_repo	Clone a remote repository into a local folder using system git

Search

Command	Description
search_vault	Keyword search across vault files

Vault Maintenance

Command	Description
get_vault_settings	Read .laputa/settings.json
save_vault_settings	Write vault settings
repair_vault	Flatten vault structure, migrate legacy frontmatter, restore config

AI & MCP

Command	Description
stream_claude_chat	Claude CLI chat mode (streaming)
stream_claude_agent	Claude CLI agent mode (streaming + tools)
check_claude_cli	Check if Claude CLI is available
get_ai_agents_status	Check Claude Code + Codex availability
stream_ai_agent	Stream the selected CLI agent through the normalized event layer
register_mcp_tools	Register MCP in Claude/Cursor config
check_mcp_status	Check MCP registration state

Settings & Config

Command	Description
get_settings	Load app settings
save_settings	Save app settings
load_vault_list	Load vault list
save_vault_list	Save vault list
get_vault_config	Load per-vault UI config
save_vault_config	Save per-vault UI config
get_default_vault_path	Get default vault path
get_build_number	Get app build number
save_image	Save base64 image to vault
copy_image_to_vault	Copy image file to vault
update_menu_state	Update native menu checkmarks and enabled/disabled state for selection-dependent actions
trigger_menu_command	Emit a native menu command ID for deterministic shortcut QA

get_build_number feeds the bottom status bar label. It preserves legacy bNNN date-build labels, renders local 0.1.0 / 0.0.0 builds as dev, and formats semver alpha prereleases as alpha <version> so signed alpha builds never fall back to ?.

Mock Layer

When running outside Tauri (browser at localhost:5173), src/mock-tauri.ts provides a transparent mock layer:

if (isTauri()) {
  result = await invoke<T>('command_name', { args })
} else {
  result = await mockInvoke<T>('command_name', { args })
}

The mock layer includes sample entries across all entity types, full markdown content with realistic frontmatter, mock git history, mock AI responses, and mock pulse commits.

State Management

No Redux or global context. State lives in the root App.tsx and custom hooks:

State owner	State	Purpose
App.tsx	selection, panel widths, dialog visibility, toast, view mode	UI state
useVaultLoader	entries, allContent, modifiedFiles	Vault data
useNoteActions	tabs, activeTabPath	Composes useNoteCreation + useNoteRename + frontmatterOps
useNoteCreation	—	Note/type creation with optimistic persistence
useNoteRename	—	Note renaming with wikilink update
frontmatterOps	— (pure functions)	Frontmatter CRUD: key→VaultEntry mapping, mock/Tauri dispatch
useTabManagement	Navigation history, note switching	Note navigation lifecycle
useVaultSwitcher	vaultPath, extraVaults	Vault switching
useTheme	Editor theme CSS vars	Editor typography theme
useCliAiAgent	messages, status, tool actions	Selected AI agent conversation
useAutoSync	Sync interval, pull/push state	Git auto-sync
useGitRemoteStatus	remoteStatus, refreshRemoteStatus()	On-demand remote detection for commit UI
useUnifiedSearch	Query, results, loading state	Keyword search
useSettings	App settings (telemetry, release channel, auto-sync interval)	Persistent settings
useVaultConfig	Per-vault UI preferences	Vault-specific config
appCommandDispatcher	Canonical shortcut/menu command IDs	Shared execution path for renderer and native menu commands

Data flows unidirectionally: App passes data and callbacks as props to child components. No child-to-child communication — everything goes through App.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+K	Open command palette
Cmd+P	Open quick open palette
Cmd+N	Create new note
Cmd+S	Save current note
Cmd+[ / Cmd+]	Navigate back / forward (replaces tabs)
Cmd+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z	Undo / Redo
Cmd+1–9	Switch to tab N
Cmd+[ / Cmd+]	Navigate back / forward
[[ in editor	Open wikilink suggestion menu

Selection-dependent note actions are wired through both the command palette and the native Note menu. For example, a deleted file opened from Changes view becomes a read-only diff preview, and that state enables the "Restore Deleted Note" menu/command while normal note mutation actions stay disabled.

Shortcut routing is explicit:

• appCommandCatalog.ts is the shared shortcut manifest for command IDs, modifier rules, and deterministic QA metadata
• useAppKeyboard is the primary execution path for real shortcut keypresses, including Tauri runs
• macOS browser-reserved chords such as Cmd+Shift+L are unblocked at webview init via tauri-plugin-prevent-default, then continue through the same renderer-first command path
• menu.rs and useMenuEvents emit the same command IDs for native menu clicks and accelerators
• appCommandDispatcher.ts suppresses the paired native-menu/renderer echo from a single shortcut so the command runs once
• Deterministic QA uses two explicit proof paths from the shared manifest:
  • renderer shortcut-event proof through window.__laputaTest.triggerShortcutCommand()
  • native menu-command proof through trigger_menu_command
• The browser harness is only a deterministic desktop command bridge; exact native accelerator delivery still requires real Tauri QA for commands flagged as manual-native-critical

Auto-Release & In-App Updates

Release Pipeline

Every push to main triggers .github/workflows/release.yml:

push to main
  → version job: read latest stable-vX.Y.Z tag
  → compute next patch prerelease X.Y.(Z+1)-alpha.UTCSTAMP.RUN_NUMBER
  → build job:
      → pnpm install, stamp version, pnpm build, tauri build --target aarch64-apple-darwin
      → upload signed .app.tar.gz + .sig and .dmg artifacts
  → release job:
      → generate alpha-latest.json
      → publish GitHub prerelease alpha-v<version>
  → pages job:
      → build static HTML release history page
      → publish alpha/latest.json
      → refresh latest.json + latest-canary.json as compatibility aliases to alpha
      → preserve stable/latest.json
      → deploy to gh-pages

Stable promotions trigger .github/workflows/release-stable.yml:

push stable-vX.Y.Z tag
  → version job: use X.Y.Z from the tag
  → build job:
      → pnpm install, stamp version, pnpm build, tauri build --target aarch64-apple-darwin
      → upload signed .app.tar.gz + .sig and .dmg artifacts
  → release job:
      → generate stable-latest.json
      → publish GitHub release Tolaria X.Y.Z
  → pages job:
      → publish stable/latest.json
      → preserve alpha/latest.json
      → deploy to gh-pages

Versioning

• Stable promotions use git tags in the form stable-vX.Y.Z.
• Alpha builds are prereleases of the next stable patch version, for example stable 1.2.3 → alpha 1.2.4-alpha.202604122135.7.
• The workflows stamp the computed version into tauri.conf.json and Cargo.toml at build time.
• This keeps semver monotonic when a user switches between Stable and Alpha.

In-App Updates

App startup (3s delay)
  → useUpdater.check()
    → idle (no update) → no UI
    → available → UpdateBanner with release notes + "Update Now"
      → downloading → progress bar
        → ready → "Restart to apply" + Restart Now
    → network error → fail silently

Telemetry (Opt-in)

Anonymous crash reporting (Sentry) and usage analytics (PostHog), both opt-in only.

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant App
    participant Settings
    participant Sentry
    participant PostHog

    Note over App: First launch or upgrade
    App->>User: TelemetryConsentDialog
    alt Accept
        User->>Settings: telemetry_consent=true, anonymous_id=UUID
        Settings->>Sentry: init(DSN, anonymous_id)
        Settings->>PostHog: init(key, anonymous_id)
    else Decline
        User->>Settings: telemetry_consent=false
        Note over Sentry,PostHog: Zero network requests
    end

    Note over App: Settings panel toggle change
    User->>Settings: crash_reporting_enabled=false
    Settings->>Sentry: teardown()
    Settings->>App: reinit_telemetry (Tauri cmd)

Privacy guarantees:

• No vault content, note titles, or file paths in payloads (regex scrubber in beforeSend)
• anonymous_id is a locally-generated UUID, never tied to identity
• send_default_pii: false on both SDKs
• PostHog: autocapture: false, persistence: 'memory', no cookies

Architecture:

• Rust: sentry crate initialized in lib.rs::setup() via telemetry::init_sentry_from_settings()
• JS: @sentry/react + posthog-js initialized lazily by useTelemetry hook
• Settings: telemetry_consent, crash_reporting_enabled, analytics_enabled, anonymous_id in Settings struct
• Consent: TelemetryConsentDialog shown when telemetry_consent === null

Updates

Tolaria uses the Tauri updater plugin for automatic updates:

• src-tauri/tauri.conf.json points the default desktop feed at stable/latest.json
• useUpdater(releaseChannel) waits 3 seconds after launch, then calls Rust commands instead of hard-coding one updater endpoint in the frontend
• src-tauri/src/app_updater.rs maps the selected channel to alpha/latest.json or stable/latest.json
• download_and_install_app_update streams progress events back into UpdateBanner

Feature Flags (PostHog + Release Channels)

Feature flags are backed by PostHog and evaluated per release channel:

• Alpha: all features always enabled (no PostHog lookup)
• Stable (default): PostHog rules decide which features are enabled
• Beta cohorts: modeled in PostHog as tags or person-property targeting, not as a separate updater build or Settings option

import { useFeatureFlag } from './hooks/useFeatureFlag'

const enabled = useFeatureFlag('example_flag') // boolean

Resolution order:

1. localStorage override: key ff_<name> with value "true" or "false"
2. isFeatureEnabled(flag) in telemetry.ts → Alpha short-circuit, then PostHog, then hardcoded defaults

How to add a new flag:

1. Add the flag name to the FeatureFlagName union type in src/hooks/useFeatureFlag.ts
2. Create the flag on PostHog with Stable rollout rules and any optional beta-cohort targeting
3. Use useFeatureFlag('your_flag') in components

Release channel is selectable in Settings as alpha or stable and passed to PostHog as a person property via identify(). Beta targeting is managed in PostHog, not in the updater settings. See ADR-0057.

Platform Support — iOS / iPadOS (Prototype)

Tauri v2 supports iOS as a beta target. The Rust backend cross-compiles to aarch64-apple-ios-sim (simulator) and aarch64-apple-ios (device) with zero code changes to vault/frontmatter/search logic.

Conditional compilation strategy:

#[cfg(desktop)]  — git CLI, menu bar, MCP server, CLI AI agents, updater
#[cfg(mobile)]   — stub commands returning graceful errors or empty results

Desktop-only modules gated at the crate level:

• pub mod menu — macOS menu bar (entire module)

Desktop-only features gated at the function level in commands/:

• Git operations (commit, pull, push, status, history, diff, conflicts)
• Clone-by-URL via system git (clone_repo)
• CLI AI agent streaming (Claude, Codex)
• MCP registration and status
• Menu state updates

Features that work on both platforms without changes:

• Vault scan, note read/write, rename, delete, archive
• Frontmatter read/write/delete
• AI chat (Anthropic API via reqwest)
• Search (pure Rust in-memory)
• Settings persistence
• Vault list management

Capabilities: src-tauri/capabilities/default.json targets desktop; mobile.json targets iOS/Android with a minimal permission set.

Detailed feasibility report: docs/IPAD-PROTOTYPE.md