tolaria/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md

Abstractions

Key abstractions and domain models in Tolaria.

Design Philosophy

Tolaria's abstractions follow the convention over configuration principle: standard field names and folder structures have well-defined meanings and trigger UI behavior automatically. This makes vaults legible both to humans and to AI agents — the more a vault follows conventions, the less custom configuration an AI needs to navigate it correctly.

The full set of design principles is documented in ARCHITECTURE.md.

Semantic Field Names (conventions)

These frontmatter field names have special meaning in Tolaria's UI:

Field	Meaning	UI behavior
title:	Legacy display-title fallback for older notes	Used only when a note has no H1; new notes do not write it automatically
type:	Entity type (Project, Person, Quarter…)	Type chip in note list + sidebar grouping
status:	Lifecycle stage (active, done, blocked…)	Colored chip in note list + editor header
icon:	Per-note icon (emoji, Phosphor name, or HTTP/HTTPS image URL)	Rendered on note title surfaces; editable from the Properties panel
url:	External link	Clickable link chip in editor header
date:	Single date	Formatted date badge
start_date: + end_date:	Duration/timespan	Date range badge
goal: + result:	Progress	Progress indicator in editor header
Workspace:	Vault context filter	Global workspace filter
belongs_to:	Parent relationship	Humanized to Belongs to in the UI
related_to:	Lateral relationship	Humanized to Related to in the UI
has:	Contained relationship	Humanized to Has in the UI

Relationship fields are detected dynamically — any frontmatter field containing [[wikilink]] values is treated as a relationship (see ADR-0010). Tolaria's own default relationship vocabulary uses snake_case on disk, but labels are humanized at render time and existing user-authored keys are left untouched.

System Properties (underscore convention)

Any frontmatter field whose name starts with _ is a system property:

• It is not shown in the Properties panel (neither for notes nor for Type notes)
• It is not exposed as a user-visible property in search, filters, or the UI
• It is editable directly in the raw editor (power users can access it if needed)
• It is used by Tolaria internally for configuration, behavior, and UI preferences

Examples:

_pinned_properties:       # which properties appear in the editor inline bar (per-type)
  - key: status
    icon: circle-dot
_icon: shapes             # icon assigned to a type
_color: blue              # color assigned to a type
_order: 10                # sort order in the sidebar
_sidebar_label: Projects  # override label in sidebar

This convention is universal — apply it to all future system-level frontmatter fields. When a new feature needs to store configuration in a note's frontmatter (especially in Type notes), use _field_name to keep it hidden from normal user-facing surfaces while still stored on-disk as plain text.

The frontmatter parser (Rust: vault/mod.rs, TS: utils/frontmatter.ts) must filter out _* fields before passing properties to the UI.

Document Model

All data lives in markdown files with YAML frontmatter. There is no database — the filesystem is the source of truth.

Vault Git Capability

Git is a per-vault capability, not a prerequisite for the document model. A vault can be:

State	Meaning	UI behavior
Git-backed	The vault path contains a Git repository	History, changes, commits, sync, conflict resolution, remotes, AutoGit, and auto-sync are available according to remote/config state
Non-git	The vault path is a plain folder	Markdown scanning, editing, search, and navigation work; Git-dependent status-bar controls and command-palette entries are replaced by Git disabled + Initialize Git for Current Vault

Plain folders become Git-backed only when the user explicitly runs Git initialization from the setup dialog, status bar, or command palette. Features that depend on Git must check this capability instead of assuming every vault has .git.

Git initialization is intentionally scoped to dedicated vault folders. When the current non-git folder looks like a broad personal root such as Documents, Desktop, or Downloads and does not already carry Tolaria-managed vault markers, init_git_repo refuses to run Git and asks the user to select or create a dedicated subfolder instead.

VaultEntry

The core data type representing a single note, defined in Rust (src-tauri/src/vault/mod.rs) and TypeScript (src/types.ts).

classDiagram
    class VaultEntry {
        +String path
        +String filename
        +String title
        +String? isA
        +String[] aliases
        +String[] belongsTo
        +String[] relatedTo
        +Record~string,string[]~ relationships
        +String[] outgoingLinks
        +String? status
        +Number? modifiedAt
        +Number? createdAt
        +Number wordCount
        +String? snippet
        +Boolean archived
        +Boolean trashed ⚠ legacy
        +Number? trashedAt ⚠ legacy
        +Record~string,string~ properties
    }

    class TypeDocument {
        +String icon
        +String color
        +Number order
        +String sidebarLabel
        +String template
        +String sort
        +Boolean visible
    }

    class Frontmatter {
        +String type
        +String status
        +String url
        +String[] belongsTo
        +String[] relatedTo
        +String[] aliases
        ...custom fields
    }

    VaultEntry --> Frontmatter : parsed from
    VaultEntry --> TypeDocument : isA resolves to
    VaultEntry "many" --> "1" TypeDocument : grouped by type

// src/types.ts
interface VaultEntry {
  path: string              // Absolute file path
  filename: string          // Just the filename
  title: string             // From first # heading, or filename fallback
  isA: string | null        // Entity type: Project, Procedure, Person, etc. (from frontmatter `type:` field)
  aliases: string[]         // Alternative names for wikilink resolution
  belongsTo: string[]       // Parent relationships (wikilinks)
  relatedTo: string[]       // Related entity links (wikilinks)
  relationships: Record<string, string[]>  // All frontmatter fields containing wikilinks
  outgoingLinks: string[]   // All [[wikilinks]] found in note body
  status: string | null     // Active, Done, Paused, Archived, Dropped
  modifiedAt: number | null // Unix timestamp (seconds)
  // Note: owner and cadence are now in the generic `properties` map
  createdAt: number | null  // Unix timestamp (seconds)
  fileSize: number
  wordCount: number | null  // Body word count (excludes frontmatter)
  snippet: string | null    // First 200 chars of body
  archived: boolean         // Archived flag
  trashed: boolean          // Kept for backward compatibility (Trash system removed — delete is permanent)
  trashedAt: number | null  // Kept for backward compatibility (Trash system removed)
  properties: Record<string, string>  // Scalar frontmatter fields (custom properties)
  fileKind?: 'markdown' | 'text' | 'binary'  // Controls editor/raw/preview behavior
}

File kinds and binary previews

VaultEntry.fileKind comes from the Rust vault scanner and intentionally stays coarse-grained:

fileKind	Source files	UI behavior
markdown or absent	.md, .markdown	Full Tolaria note model: frontmatter, BlockNote, raw editor, relationships, title sync
text	UTF-8 editable formats such as .yml, .json, .ts, .py, .sh	Opens through the raw editor without Markdown note semantics
binary	Images, PDFs, archives, other non-text files	Stays a normal vault file; previewable images open in FilePreview, unsupported or broken binaries show an explicit fallback

Image previewability is inferred in the renderer from the filename extension (src/utils/filePreview.ts) rather than stored as a new persisted kind. This keeps the filesystem as source of truth and avoids converting assets into proprietary objects.

Entity Types (isA / type)

Entity type is stored in the type: frontmatter field (e.g. type: Quarter). The legacy field name Is A: is still accepted as an alias for backwards compatibility but new notes use type:. The VaultEntry.isA property in TypeScript/Rust holds the resolved value.

Type is determined purely from the type: frontmatter field — it is never inferred from the file's folder location. All notes live at the vault root as flat .md files:

~/Laputa/
├── my-project.md          ← type: Project (in frontmatter)
├── weekly-review.md       ← type: Procedure
├── john-doe.md            ← type: Person
├── some-topic.md          ← type: Topic
├── AGENTS.md              ← canonical Tolaria AI guidance
├── CLAUDE.md              ← compatibility shim pointing at AGENTS.md
├── ...
└── type/                  ← type definition documents

New notes are created at the vault root: {vault}/{slug}.md. Changing a note's type only requires updating the type: field in frontmatter — the file does not move. Moving a note into a user folder is a separate filesystem concern: the folder path changes, but the note keeps the same filename and type: value. The type/ folder exists solely for type definition documents. Legacy config/ content is still recognized during migration and repair, but Tolaria's managed AI guidance now lives at the vault root.

A flatten_vault migration command is available to move existing notes from type-based subfolders to the vault root.

Types as Files

Each entity type can have a corresponding type document in the type/ folder (e.g., type/project.md, type/person.md). Type documents:

• Have type: Type in their frontmatter (Is A: Type also accepted as legacy alias)
• Define type metadata: icon, color, order, sidebar label, template, sort, view, visibility
• Are navigable entities — they appear in the sidebar under "Types" and can be opened/edited like any note
• Serve as the "definition" for their type category

Type document properties (read by Rust and used in the UI):

Property	Type	Description
icon	string	Type icon as a Phosphor name (kebab-case, e.g., "cooking-pot")
color	string	Accent color: red, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange
order	number	Sidebar display order (lower = higher priority)
sidebar_label	string	Custom label overriding auto-pluralization
template	string	Markdown template for new notes of this type
sort	string	Default sort: "modified:desc", "title:asc", "property:Priority:asc"
view	string	Default view mode: "all", "editor-list", "editor-only"
visible	bool	Whether type appears in sidebar (default: true)

Type relationship: When any entry has an isA value (e.g., "Project"), the Rust backend automatically adds a "Type" entry to its relationships map pointing to [[type/project]]. This makes the type navigable from the Inspector panel.

UI behavior:

• Clicking a section group header pins the type document at the top of the NoteList if it exists
• Viewing a type document in entity view shows an "Instances" group listing all entries of that type
• The Type field in the Inspector is rendered as a clickable chip that navigates to the type document

Frontmatter Format

Standard YAML frontmatter between --- delimiters:

---
title: Write Weekly Essays
type: Procedure
status: Active
belongs_to:
  - "[[grow-newsletter]]"
related_to:
  - "[[writing]]"
aliases:
  - Weekly Writing
---

Supported value types (defined in src-tauri/src/frontmatter/yaml.rs as FrontmatterValue):

• String: status: Active
• Number: priority: 5
• Bool: archived: true
• List: Multi-line - item or inline [item1, item2]
• Null: owner: (empty value)

Custom Relationships

The Rust parser scans all frontmatter keys for fields containing [[wikilinks]]. Any non-standard field with wikilink values is captured in the relationships HashMap:

---
Topics:
  - "[[writing]]"
  - "[[productivity]]"
Key People:
  - "[[matteo-cellini]]"
---

Becomes: relationships["Topics"] = ["[[writing]]", "[[productivity]]"]

This enables arbitrary, extensible relationship types without code changes.

Outgoing Links

All [[wikilinks]] in the note body (not frontmatter) are extracted by regex and stored in outgoingLinks. Used for backlink detection and relationship graphs.

Title / Filename Sync

Tolaria separates display title from the file identifier:

• Display title resolution (extract_title in vault/parsing.rs): first # H1 on the first non-empty body line, then legacy frontmatter title:, then slug-to-title from the filename stem.
• Opening a note is read-only: selecting a note does not inject or auto-correct title: frontmatter.
• Explicit filename actions (rename_note): breadcrumb rename/sync actions stage crash-safe note renames through a hidden .tolaria-rename-txn/ transaction directory, recover unfinished renames on the next vault scan, update wikilinks across the vault, and surface any failed backlink rewrites instead of silently reporting partial success. The editor body remains the title editing surface.
• Unicode-aware note stems (src/utils/noteSlug.ts, vault/rename.rs): frontend and backend slugging preserve Unicode letters/digits in note filenames, untitled-rename detection, and fallback wikilink targets while still collapsing symbol-only titles to untitled.
• Portable filename validation (vault/filename_rules.rs): note filenames, folder names, and custom view filenames all reject Windows-reserved device names, invalid characters, and trailing dot/space suffixes so a vault created on macOS/Linux still clones and syncs cleanly on Windows.
• Recoverable save failures (useEditorSave, vault/file.rs): invalid platform path syntax is reported as a clear retryable save error, while the editor keeps the unsaved buffer intact for another attempt.
• Untitled drafts start as untitled-*.md and are auto-renamed on save once the note gains an H1.

Title Surface (UI)

The BlockNote body is the only title editing surface:

• The first H1 is the canonical display title.
• There is no separate title row above the editor, even when a note has no H1.
• Notes without an H1 show the editor body and placeholder only.
• Filename changes are explicit breadcrumb actions, not a dedicated title-input side effect.

Sidebar Selection

Navigation state is modeled as a discriminated union:

type SidebarFilter = 'all' | 'archived' | 'changes' | 'pulse'

type SidebarSelection =
  | { kind: 'filter'; filter: SidebarFilter }
  | { kind: 'sectionGroup'; type: string }    // e.g. type: 'Project'
  | { kind: 'folder'; path: string }
  | { kind: 'entity'; entry: VaultEntry }      // Neighborhood source note
  | { kind: 'view'; filename: string }

SidebarSelection.kind === 'folder' is a first-class navigation target, not just a visual highlight.

• FolderTree keeps the folder interaction surface decomposed into FolderTreeRow, FolderNameInput, FolderContextMenu, and disclosure/context-menu hooks so nested row rendering, inline rename, and right-click actions stay isolated. Non-mutating reveal/copy-path menu items stay callback-driven from App so filesystem convenience actions do not leak into folder mutation hooks.
• useFolderActions() composes useFolderRename() and useFolderDelete() to keep folder mutations selection-aware while the rest of App.tsx only wires the resulting callbacks into Sidebar and the command registry.
• useNoteRetargeting() is the shared retargeting abstraction for note drops and command-palette actions. It owns the "can drop here?" checks, updates type: via frontmatter when a note lands on a type section, and delegates folder moves through the same crash-safe rename pipeline used by the backend rename commands.
• A successful folder rename reloads the folder tree plus vault entries, rewrites any affected folder-scoped tabs, and updates SidebarSelection to the new relative path when the renamed folder stays selected.
• Folder deletion clears pending rename state, confirms destructive intent, drops affected folder-scoped tabs, reloads vault data, and resets folder selection if the deleted subtree owned the current selection.

Neighborhood Mode

SidebarSelection.kind === 'entity' is Tolaria's Neighborhood mode for note-list browsing.

• The selected entry is the neighborhood source note.
• The source note stays pinned at the top of the note list as a standard active row, not a special card.
• Outgoing relationship groups render first using the note's relationships map.
• Inverse groups (Children, Events, Referenced by) and Backlinks render after the outgoing groups.
• Empty groups stay visible with count 0.
• Notes may appear in multiple groups when multiple relationships are true; Neighborhood mode does not deduplicate them across sections.
• Plain click / Enter open the focused note without replacing the current Neighborhood.
• Cmd/Ctrl-click and Cmd/Ctrl-Enter open the note and pivot the note list into that note's Neighborhood.

File System Integration

Vault Scanning (Rust)

vault::scan_vault(path) in src-tauri/src/vault/mod.rs:

1. Validates the path exists and is a directory
2. Recursively scans non-hidden files while skipping hidden directories such as .git/
3. For each .md file, calls parse_md_file():
   • Reads content with fs::read_to_string()
   • Parses frontmatter with gray_matter::Matter::<YAML>
   • Extracts title from first # heading
   • Reads entity type from type: frontmatter field (Is A: accepted as legacy alias); type is never inferred from folder
   • Parses dates as ISO 8601 to Unix timestamps
   • Extracts relationships, outgoing links, custom properties, word count, snippet
4. For recognized non-markdown text and binary files, emits a minimal VaultEntry with fileKind
5. Sorts by modified_at descending
6. Skips unparseable files with a warning log

The folder tree hides only the dedicated type/ directory, since note types already have their own sidebar section. Default vault folders such as attachments/ and views/ remain visible alongside user-created folders.

Command-facing vault content is filtered through vault::filter_gitignored_entries, vault::filter_gitignored_folders, and vault::filter_gitignored_paths when the app setting hide_gitignored_files is enabled. The cache still stores the complete scan; list_vault, reload_vault, list_vault_folders, and search apply the visibility filter at the boundary before React consumes entries. The filter batches paths through git check-ignore --no-index --stdin, so negated and specific .gitignore patterns follow Git semantics as closely as the app can reasonably support.

A vault_health_check command detects stray files in non-protected subfolders and filename-title mismatches. On vault load, a migration banner offers to flatten stray files to the root via flatten_vault.

Command-layer path access is fenced to the active vault before file operations reach the vault backend. src-tauri/src/commands/vault/boundary.rs canonicalizes the configured/requested vault root, rejects .. escapes and absolute paths outside that root, and validates writable targets through the nearest existing ancestor so note reads, saves, deletes, view-file edits, folder mutations, and image attachment writes cannot step outside the active vault. Image attachment commands refresh the runtime asset scope after saving so files created under a previously missing attachments/ directory can render immediately.

UI-only file actions operate on paths that are already selected or indexed in React state. Reveal-in-Finder and external-open calls route through the Tauri opener plugin, while copy-path uses the browser clipboard API; none of those actions mutate vault contents or bypass the backend write boundary.

The local MCP WebSocket bridge follows the same active-vault boundary. useVaultSwitcher calls sync_mcp_bridge_vault after the persisted selection loads and after each vault switch; the desktop command starts/restarts the bridge with that vault's canonical path, or stops it when there is no selected vault. MCP Node entrypoints require VAULT_PATH and fail clearly instead of falling back to ~/Laputa. Manual MCP config export uses the same generated stdio entry as registration, so the copied snippet remains scoped to the active vault without writing third-party config files.

Vault Caching

vault::scan_vault_cached(path) wraps scanning with git-based caching:

1. Reads cache from ~/.laputa/cache/<vault-hash>.json (external to vault)
2. Compares cache version, vault path, and git HEAD commit hash
3. If cache is valid and same commit → only re-parse uncommitted changed files
4. If different commit → use git diff to find changed files → selective re-parse
5. If no cache → full scan
6. Replaces the cache with a temp-file write + rename only if a short-lived writer lock and cache fingerprint check show another scan has not already refreshed it
7. On first run, migrates any legacy .laputa-cache.json from inside the vault

Frontmatter Manipulation (Rust)

frontmatter/ops.rs:update_frontmatter_content() performs line-by-line YAML editing:

1. Finds the frontmatter block between --- delimiters
2. Iterates through lines looking for the target key
3. If found: replaces the value (consuming multi-line list items if present)
4. If not found: appends the new key-value at the end
5. If no frontmatter exists: creates a new --- block

The with_frontmatter() helper wraps this in a read-transform-write cycle on the actual file.

Content Loading

• Tauri mode: Content loaded on-demand when a tab is opened via invoke('get_note_content', { path })
• Browser mode: All content loaded at startup from mock data
• Content for backlink detection (allContent) is stored in memory as Record<string, string>

Git Integration

Git operations live in src-tauri/src/git/. All operations shell out to the git CLI (not libgit2).

Data Types

interface GitCommit {
  hash: string
  shortHash: string
  message: string
  author: string
  date: number       // Unix timestamp
}

interface ModifiedFile {
  path: string          // Absolute path
  relativePath: string  // Relative to vault root
  status: 'modified' | 'added' | 'deleted' | 'untracked' | 'renamed'
}

interface GitRemoteStatus {
  branch: string
  ahead: number
  behind: number
  hasRemote: boolean
}

interface GitAddRemoteResult {
  status: 'connected' | 'already_configured' | 'incompatible_history' | 'auth_error' | 'network_error' | 'error'
  message: string
}

interface PulseCommit {
  hash: string
  shortHash: string
  message: string
  date: number
  githubUrl: string | null
  files: PulseFile[]
  added: number
  modified: number
  deleted: number
}

Operations

Module	Operation	Notes
history.rs	File history	git log — last 20 commits per file
status.rs	Modified files	git status --porcelain — filtered to .md
status.rs	File diff	git diff, fallback to --cached, then synthetic for untracked
commit.rs	Commit	git add -A && git commit -m "..."; broken signing helpers trigger one unsigned retry for the same app-managed commit
remote.rs	Pull / Push	git pull --rebase / git push
connect.rs	Add remote	Adds origin, fetches it, validates history compatibility, and only starts tracking when the remote is safe
conflict.rs	Conflict resolution	Detect conflicts, resolve with ours/theirs/manual
pulse.rs	Activity feed	git log with --name-status for file changes

Auto-Sync

useAutoSync hook handles automatic git sync:

• Configurable interval (from app settings: auto_pull_interval_minutes)
• Pulls on interval, pushes after commits
• Awaits the post-pull vault refresh so toasts land after note-list state is fresh
• Reopens the clean active tab from disk after a successful pull update so the editor and note list stay aligned
• Detects merge conflicts → opens ConflictResolverModal
• Tracks remote status (branch, ahead/behind via git_remote_status)
• Handles push rejection (divergence) → sets pull_required status
• pullAndPush(): pulls then auto-pushes for divergence recovery
• ConflictNoteBanner: inline banner in editor for conflicted notes (Keep mine / Keep theirs)

External Vault Refresh

External vault mutations are any disk writes Tolaria did not just perform through its own save path: Git pulls, AI-agent writes, filesystem watcher events, and edits from another app. These changes must route through refreshPulledVaultState() rather than calling reloadVault() in isolation. The shared refresh abstraction reloads entries, folders, and saved views together, preserves unsaved active-editor content, reopens a clean active note from disk, and closes the active tab if the file disappeared. useVaultWatcher supplies changed filesystem paths to this abstraction after debouncing and after filtering recent app-owned saves.

useGitRemoteStatus is the commit-time companion to useAutoSync:

• Re-checks git_remote_status when the Commit dialog opens and right before submit
• Converts hasRemote: false into a local-only commit path
• Keeps the normal push path unchanged for vaults that do have a remote

AddRemoteModal is the explicit recovery path for those local-only vaults:

• Opens from the No remote status-bar chip and the command palette
• Calls git_add_remote with the current vault path and the pasted repository URL
• Shows auth, network, and incompatible-history failures inline without rewriting the local vault's history

useAutoGit is the checkpoint-time companion to both hooks:

• Consumes installation-local AutoGit settings (autogit_enabled, idle threshold, inactive threshold)
• Tracks the last meaningful editor activity plus app focus/visibility transitions
• Triggers useCommitFlow.runAutomaticCheckpoint() only when the vault is git-backed, pending changes exist, and no unsaved edits remain
• Shares the same deterministic automatic commit message generator with the bottom-bar Commit button, so timer-driven checkpoints and manual quick commits produce the same Updated N note(s) / Updated N file(s) messages

Frontend Integration

• Modified file badges: Orange dots in sidebar
• Diff view: Toggle in breadcrumb bar → shows unified diff
• Git history: Shown in Inspector panel for active note
• Commit dialog: Triggered from sidebar or Cmd+K
• No remote indicator: Neutral chip in the bottom bar when GitRemoteStatus.hasRemote === false
• Pulse view: Activity feed when Pulse filter is selected
• Pull command: Cmd+K → "Pull from Remote", also in Vault menu
• Git status popup: Click sync badge → shows branch, ahead/behind, Pull button
• Conflict banner: Inline banner in editor with Keep mine / Keep theirs for conflicted notes

BlockNote Customization

The editor uses BlockNote for rich text editing, with CodeMirror 6 available as a raw editing alternative.

Custom Wikilink Inline Content

Defined in src/components/editorSchema.tsx:

const WikiLink = createReactInlineContentSpec(
  {
    type: "wikilink",
    propSchema: { target: { default: "" } },
    content: "none",
  },
  { render: (props) => <span className="wikilink">...</span> }
)

Code Block Highlighting

Defined in src/components/editorSchema.tsx and styled in src/components/EditorTheme.css:

• The schema overrides BlockNote's default codeBlock spec with createCodeBlockSpec({ ...codeBlockOptions, defaultLanguage: "text" }) from @blocknote/code-block.
• Fenced code blocks now use BlockNote's supported Shiki-backed highlighter path, which renders .shiki token spans directly inside the editor DOM.
• Tolaria keeps defaultLanguage: "text" so unlabeled code blocks do not silently become JavaScript while still supporting the packaged language aliases such as ts → typescript.
• Inline-code chip styling remains scoped to .bn-inline-content code, so fenced pre > code nodes keep BlockNote's dark shell instead of inheriting the muted inline surface.

Markdown Math

Defined in src/utils/mathMarkdown.ts, src/components/editorSchema.tsx, and styled in src/components/EditorTheme.css:

• $...$ becomes a mathInline schema node and line-owned $$...$$ / multiline $$ blocks become mathBlock nodes.
• The rich editor renders both node types through KaTeX with throwOnError: false, so malformed formulas keep their source visible instead of breaking the note.
• serializeMathAwareBlocks() converts math nodes back to Markdown delimiters before save, raw-mode entry, and editor-position snapshots.
• Raw CodeMirror mode always shows the plain Markdown source, so imported technical notes stay editable outside Tolaria.

Mermaid Diagrams

Defined in src/utils/mermaidMarkdown.ts, src/components/MermaidDiagram.tsx, src/components/editorSchema.tsx, and styled in src/components/EditorTheme.css:

• Fenced mermaid blocks become mermaidBlock schema nodes before BlockNote sees the Markdown body.
• Each mermaidBlock stores the original fenced Markdown plus the diagram body, so raw-mode entry and saves can restore the canonical source instead of serializing generated SVG.
• The rich editor renders diagrams with the mermaid package and uses the original source as an inline fallback when rendering fails.
• serializeMermaidAwareBlocks() wraps the math-aware serializer so math, wikilinks, and diagrams share the same Markdown-first save path.

Formatting Surface Policy

Defined in src/components/tolariaEditorFormatting.tsx and src/components/tolariaEditorFormattingConfig.ts:

• SingleEditorView disables BlockNote's default formatting toolbar, / menu, and side menu, then mounts Tolaria-owned controllers so the visible formatting surface matches Tolaria's markdown round-trip guarantees.
• The formatting toolbar only exposes inline controls that persist through blocksToMarkdownLossy() in Tolaria's save pipeline: bold, italic, strike, nesting, and link creation. Controls that BlockNote can render temporarily but Tolaria cannot faithfully persist, such as underline, color, alignment, and the block-type dropdown, are hidden instead of appearing to work and later disappearing.
• Tolaria's formatting-toolbar controller also keeps file/image actions mounted across the tiny hover gap between an image block and the floating toolbar, and while the toolbar itself is hovered, so image controls remain usable instead of collapsing mid-interaction.
• The / slash menu remains the supported path for markdown-safe block transformations such as headings, quotes, and list blocks. Tolaria filters out BlockNote's toggle-heading and toggle-list variants because those do not map cleanly to the markdown note model.
• The block-handle side menu keeps only actions that survive Tolaria's markdown round-trip. Delete and table-header toggles remain available; BlockNote's Colors submenu is removed because block colors are not part of Tolaria's supported markdown surface.
• useNoteWikilinkDrop() is the shared editor-drop abstraction for dragging note rows into either editor mode. It reads the existing note-retargeting drag payload, resolves the vault-relative stem, and inserts a canonical [[wikilink]] without hijacking unrelated plain-text drags.
• useTauriDragDropEvent() owns the shared Tauri window drag/drop subscription and duplicate-unlisten cleanup used by native drop features.
• useNativePathDrop() is the shared Tauri file/folder-drop abstraction for text inputs that need filesystem paths instead of attachment import. It consumes native window drag/drop events, gates them to the target element bounds or focused text selection, and lets AI composer / command-palette inputs insert formatted paths at the current cursor.

Markdown-to-BlockNote Pipeline

flowchart LR
    A["📄 Raw markdown\n(from disk)"] --> B["splitFrontmatter()\n→ yaml + body"]
    B --> C["preProcessMermaidMarkdown(body)\nmermaid fence → token"]
    C --> D["preProcessWikilinks(body)\n[[target]] → ‹token›"]
    D --> E["preProcessMathMarkdown(body)\n$...$ / $$...$$ → tokens"]
    E --> F["tryParseMarkdownToBlocks()\n→ BlockNote block tree"]
    F --> G["injectWikilinks + injectMathInBlocks + injectMermaidInBlocks\n tokens → schema nodes"]
    G --> H["editor.replaceBlocks()\n→ rendered editor"]

    style A fill:#f8f9fa,stroke:#6c757d,color:#000
    style H fill:#d4edda,stroke:#28a745,color:#000

Wikilink placeholder tokens use \u2039 and \u203A; math and Mermaid placeholder tokens use ASCII sentinels with URI-encoded payloads.

BlockNote-to-Markdown Pipeline (Save)

flowchart LR
    A["✏️ BlockNote blocks\n(editor state)"] --> B["blocksToMarkdownLossy()"]
    B --> C["restoreWikilinks + serializeMermaidAwareBlocks()\nschema nodes → Markdown source"]
    C --> D["prepend frontmatter yaml"]
    D --> E["invoke('save_note_content')\n→ disk write"]

    style A fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#004085,color:#000
    style E fill:#d4edda,stroke:#28a745,color:#000

Wikilink Navigation

Two navigation mechanisms:

1. Click handler: DOM event listener on .editor__blocknote-container catches clicks on .wikilink elements → onNavigateWikilink(target).
2. Suggestion menu: Typing [[ triggers SuggestionMenuController with filtered vault entries.

Wikilink resolution (resolveEntry in src/utils/wikilink.ts) uses multi-pass matching with global priority: filename stem (strongest) → alias → exact title → humanized title (kebab-case → words). No path-based matching — flat vault uses title/filename only. Legacy path-style targets like [[person/alice]] are supported by extracting the last segment.

Raw Editor Mode

Toggle via Cmd+K → "Raw Editor" or breadcrumb bar button. Uses CodeMirror 6 (useCodeMirror hook) to edit the raw markdown + frontmatter directly. Changes saved via the same save_note_content command. While the user types, useEditorSaveWithLinks derives a transient VaultEntry patch from parseable frontmatter so the Inspector, relationship chips, and note-list-visible metadata stay in sync with the raw editor before the next vault reload. Temporarily invalid or half-typed frontmatter is ignored until it becomes parseable again, which avoids clobbering the last known good derived state.

Current-note find/replace is intentionally backed by raw CodeMirror mode. Cmd+F, "Find in Note", and "Replace in Note" switch the active Markdown/text note to raw mode, show the compact find bar above CodeMirror, and operate on the current note only. Plain text matching is case-insensitive by default, Aa toggles case sensitivity, .* toggles JavaScript-regex matching, and regex replacement supports capture groups through JavaScript replacement syntax.

Arrow Ligature Normalization

Typed ASCII arrow sequences are normalized consistently in both editor modes:

• Rich editor input mounts createArrowLigaturesExtension() (src/components/arrowLigaturesExtension.ts) into BlockNote and intercepts typed beforeinput events before ProseMirror commits the character.
• Raw editor input uses the CodeMirror inputHandler path in useCodeMirror so the same ligature rules apply while editing markdown source directly.
• Both paths delegate to the shared resolveArrowLigatureInput() helper in src/utils/arrowLigatures.ts, which prioritizes <-> over partial matches, keeps paste literal, and lets escaped forms such as \\-> and \\<-> remain ASCII.

Styling

The app uses internal light and dark themes owned by Tolaria (see ADR-0081). The previous vault-authored theming system remains removed; theme mode is an installation-local app preference.

1. Global CSS variables (src/index.css): Semantic app colors, borders, surfaces, and interaction states via :root / [data-theme], bridged to Tailwind v4
2. Editor theme (src/theme.json): BlockNote typography, flattened to CSS vars by useEditorTheme
3. Runtime theme bridge: Applies data-theme and .dark for shadcn/ui, while CodeMirror and editor-specific consumers derive any non-CSS-variable values from the same semantic contract

Localization

App UI strings are resolved through src/lib/i18n.ts, with flat JSON catalogs in src/lib/locales/*.json (see ADR-0087):

• AppLocale: canonical locale tags such as 'en', 'zh-CN', 'fr-FR', 'es-419'
• UiLanguagePreference: 'system' | AppLocale; persisted settings serialize system as null
• resolveEffectiveLocale(): maps an explicit preference or system/browser language list to the effective supported locale, including legacy aliases
• translate() / createTranslator(): resolve keys with English fallback and simple {name} interpolation
• scripts/validate-locales.mjs: asserts every checked-in locale catalog matches the English keyset and stays flat-string-only

App.tsx owns the effective locale and passes it to localized app chrome through props. Settings and command-palette language commands call back into saveSettings, so UI language changes update the current session without touching vault content or reopening the vault.

Inspector Abstraction

The Inspector panel (src/components/Inspector.tsx) is composed of sub-panels:

1. DynamicPropertiesPanel (src/components/DynamicPropertiesPanel.tsx): Renders frontmatter as editable key-value pairs:

   • Editable properties (top): Type badge, Status pill with dropdown, number fields, boolean toggles, array tag pills, text fields. Click-to-edit interaction.
   • Property display modes: text, number, date, boolean, status, url, tags, and color. Numeric frontmatter values auto-detect as number, and custom scalar keys can be explicitly switched to Number through the property-type control.
   • Info section (bottom, separated by border): Read-only derived metadata — Modified, Created, Words, File Size. Uses muted styling with no interaction.
   • Keys in SKIP_KEYS (type, aliases, notion_id, workspace, is_a, Is A) are hidden from the editable section.

2. RelationshipsPanel: Shows belongs_to, related_to, has, and all custom relationship fields as clickable wikilink chips. Relationship labels are humanized for display, but stored keys remain unchanged.

3. BacklinksPanel: Scans allContent for notes that reference the current note via [[title]] or [[path]].

4. GitHistoryPanel: Shows recent commits from file history with relative timestamps.

Search

Search

Keyword-based search scans all vault .md files using walkdir and applies the same Gitignored-content visibility filter as vault loading:

interface SearchResult {
  title: string
  path: string
  snippet: string
  score: number
}

Search Integration

SearchPanel component provides the search UI:

• Real-time results as user types (300ms debounce)
• Click result to open note in editor
• Shows relevance score and snippet

No indexing step required — search runs directly against the filesystem.

Vault Management

Vault Switching

useVaultSwitcher hook manages multiple vaults:

• Persists vault list to ~/.config/com.tolaria.app/vaults.json (reads legacy com.laputa.app on upgrade)
• Switching closes all tabs and resets sidebar
• Supports adding, removing, hiding/restoring vaults
• Default vault: public Getting Started starter vault cloned on demand

Vault Config

Per-vault settings stored locally and scoped by vault path:

• Managed by useVaultConfig hook and vaultConfigStore
• Settings: zoom, view mode, editor mode, note layout, tag colors, status colors, property display modes, Inbox/All Notes note-list column overrides, explicit organization workflow toggle
• One-time migration from localStorage (configMigration.ts)

AI Guidance Files

Tolaria tracks managed vault-level AI guidance separately from normal note content:

• AGENTS.md is the canonical managed guidance file for Tolaria-aware coding agents
• CLAUDE.md is a compatibility shim that points Claude Code back to AGENTS.md
• useVaultAiGuidanceStatus reads get_vault_ai_guidance_status and normalizes the backend state into four UI cases: managed, missing, broken, and custom
• restore_vault_ai_guidance repairs only Tolaria-managed files; user-authored custom AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md files are surfaced as custom and left untouched
• The status bar AI badge and command palette consume that abstraction to expose restore actions only when the managed guidance is missing or broken

Getting Started / Onboarding

useOnboarding hook detects first launch:

• If vault path doesn't exist → show WelcomeScreen
• User can create a new empty vault, open an existing folder, or clone the public Getting Started vault into a chosen parent folder; Tolaria derives the final Getting Started child path before cloning
• After the starter repo clone completes, Tolaria removes every remote so the new vault opens local-only by default
• Welcome state tracked in localStorage (tolaria_welcome_dismissed, with legacy fallback)

useGettingStartedClone encapsulates the non-onboarding Getting Started action:

• Opens the same parent-folder picker used by onboarding
• Derives the final .../Getting Started destination path
• Surfaces the resolved path through the app toast after a successful clone

useAiAgentsOnboarding(enabled) adds a separate first-launch agent step:

• Reads a local dismissal flag for the AI agents prompt (with a legacy fallback to the older Claude-only key)
• Only shows after vault onboarding has already resolved to a ready state
• Uses get_ai_agents_status, whose backend treats the app process path, login-shell path, and supported local/toolchain/app install locations, including Windows .exe and npm/pnpm/Scoop shim paths, as valid CLI-agent sources
• Persists dismissal locally once the user continues

Remote Git Operations

Tolaria delegates remote auth to the user's system git setup:

• CloneVaultModal captures a remote URL and local destination
• clone_git_repo and create_getting_started_vault both run system git clone work in blocking Tokio tasks so clone UIs stay responsive
• git_add_remote uses the same system git path and refuses remotes whose history is unrelated or ahead of the local vault
• Existing git_pull / git_push commands keep surfacing raw git errors, and clone commands fail fast when git wants interactive terminal input
• No provider-specific token or username is stored in app settings

Settings

App-level settings persisted at ~/.config/com.tolaria.app/settings.json (reads legacy com.laputa.app on upgrade):

interface Settings {
  auto_pull_interval_minutes: number | null
  autogit_enabled: boolean | null
  autogit_idle_threshold_seconds: number | null
  autogit_inactive_threshold_seconds: number | null
  telemetry_consent: boolean | null
  crash_reporting_enabled: boolean | null
  analytics_enabled: boolean | null
  anonymous_id: string | null
  release_channel: string | null // null = stable default, "alpha" = every-push prerelease feed
  theme_mode: 'light' | 'dark' | null
  ui_language: AppLocale | null
  default_ai_agent: 'claude_code' | 'codex' | 'opencode' | 'pi' | null
  hide_gitignored_files: boolean | null // null = default true
}

Managed by useSettings hook and SettingsPanel component. theme_mode is installation-local because it controls device comfort rather than vault structure. ui_language is also installation-local: null follows the supported system language with English fallback, while explicit values pin the UI language for this installation. Stored legacy aliases such as zh-Hans are normalized to canonical locale codes before the setting reaches React state. default_ai_agent is an installation-local preference that selects which supported CLI agent the AI panel, command palette AI mode, and status bar should target by default. hide_gitignored_files is also installation-local and defaults to true; changing it reloads entries, search, saved views, and folders without restarting. The AutoGit fields are also installation-local: useAutoGit consumes them to schedule automatic checkpoints, while useCommitFlow and the status bar quick action reuse the same checkpoint runner and deterministic automatic commit message generation.

Telemetry

Components

• TelemetryConsentDialog — First-launch dialog asking user to opt in to anonymous crash reporting. Two buttons: accept (sets telemetry_consent: true, generates anonymous_id) or decline.
• TelemetryToggle — Checkbox component in SettingsPanel for crash reporting and analytics toggles.

Hooks

• useTelemetry(settings, loaded) — Reactively initializes/tears down Sentry and PostHog based on settings. Called once in App.

Libraries

• src/lib/telemetry.ts — initSentry(), teardownSentry(), initPostHog(), teardownPostHog(), trackEvent(). Path scrubber via beforeSend hook. DSN/key from VITE_SENTRY_DSN and VITE_POSTHOG_KEY; VITE_SENTRY_RELEASE is treated as the build version and only becomes Sentry's release for stable calendar builds (YYYY.M.D). Alpha/prerelease/internal builds tag tolaria.build_version and tolaria.release_kind without creating normal Sentry Releases entries.
• src/main.tsx — React root error callbacks (onCaughtError, onUncaughtError, onRecoverableError) forward component-stack context to Sentry.reactErrorHandler() for debuggable production React errors.
• src-tauri/src/telemetry.rs — Rust-side Sentry init with beforeSend path scrubber. init_sentry_from_settings() reads settings and conditionally initializes; stable calendar CARGO_PKG_VERSION values become Sentry releases, while alpha/prerelease/internal versions are kept as diagnostic tags only. reinit_sentry() for runtime toggle.

Tauri Commands

• reinit_telemetry — Re-reads settings and toggles Rust Sentry on/off. Called from frontend when user changes crash reporting setting.

---

Updates & Feature Flags

Hooks

• useUpdater(releaseChannel) — Channel-aware updater state machine. Checks the selected feed, surfaces available/downloading/ready states, and delegates install work to Rust.
• useFeatureFlag(flag) — Returns boolean for a named feature flag. Checks localStorage override (ff_<name>), then falls back to telemetry-backed evaluation. Type-safe via FeatureFlagName union.

Frontend helpers

• src/lib/releaseChannel.ts — Normalizes persisted channel values so legacy or invalid settings fall back to Stable, while Stable serializes back to null.
• src/lib/appUpdater.ts — Thin wrapper around the Tauri updater commands. Keeps the React hook free of endpoint-selection details.

Rust

• src-tauri/src/app_updater.rs — Chooses the correct update endpoint (alpha/latest.json or stable/latest.json) and adapts Tauri updater results into frontend-friendly payloads.
• src-tauri/src/commands/version.rs — Formats app build/version labels for the status bar, including calendar alpha labels and legacy release compatibility.

Tauri Commands

• check_for_app_update — Channel-aware update manifest lookup.
• download_and_install_app_update — Channel-aware download/install with streamed progress events.

CI/CD

• .github/workflows/release.yml — Alpha prereleases from every push to main using calendar-semver technical versions (YYYY.M.D-alpha.N) and clean Alpha YYYY.M.D.N release names. GitHub alpha tags zero-pad the prerelease sequence (alpha-vYYYY.M.D-alpha.NNNN) so GitHub release ordering stays chronological while the shipped app version remains YYYY.M.D-alpha.N. Publishes alpha/latest.json with macOS Apple Silicon/Intel, Linux x64, and Windows x64 updater entries, then refreshes the legacy latest.json / latest-canary.json aliases to the alpha feed. macOS release assets use Tolaria_<version>_macOS_Silicon and Tolaria_<version>_macOS_Intel base names. Packaged builds pass the computed version as VITE_SENTRY_RELEASE, which is retained as a diagnostic build-version tag but not registered as a normal Sentry release for alpha builds.
• .github/workflows/release-stable.yml — Stable releases from stable-vYYYY.M.D tags. Publishes stable/latest.json, macOS Apple Silicon and Intel DMG/updater artifacts, Windows x64 installers/updater bundles, and Linux x86_64 .deb / AppImage artifacts. Stable macOS DMG/updater assets use the same Tolaria_<version>_macOS_Silicon and Tolaria_<version>_macOS_Intel base names. Packaged builds pass the computed stable version as VITE_SENTRY_RELEASE, which is registered as Sentry's release.
• Beta cohorts are handled in PostHog targeting only. There is no beta updater feed.