James Brunton
0c503cc41d
# Description of Changes Currently, `task dev` explicitly calls the backend with `AIENGINE_ENABLED=true` even though it isn't being spawned, so you just get a dead FAB in the UI. This PR fixes it so that the engine will only be enabled for tasks that will actually spawn the engine. It also fixes a bug with the chat which makes it unusable locally. The API path was not going through `apiClient` so for local dev you end up with `//api/v1/...` which is not a valid path, so you get CORS errors when trying to connect to the AI engine.
Frontend
All frontend commands are run from the repository root using Task:
task frontend:dev— start Vite dev server (localhost:5173)task frontend:build— production buildtask frontend:test— run teststask frontend:test:watch— run tests in watch modetask frontend:lint— run ESLint + cycle detectiontask frontend:typecheck— run TypeScript type checkingtask frontend:check— run typecheck + lint + testtask frontend:install— install npm dependencies
For desktop app development, see the Tauri section below.
Layout
frontend/ is a workspace containing one or more apps. Today it holds the
PDF editor under frontend/editor/; new apps (the developer portal, etc.)
will sit alongside it as siblings. Shared tooling — package.json, node_modules,
.storybook/, ESLint, Prettier — lives at frontend/ so every app installs
once and lints with the same config.
Environment Variables
The editor's environment variables live in committed .env files at
frontend/editor/:
.env— used by all builds (core, proprietary, and as the base for desktop/SaaS).env.desktop— additional vars loaded in desktop (Tauri) mode.env.saas— additional vars loaded in SaaS mode
These files contain non-secret defaults and are checked into Git, so most dev work needs no further setup.
To override values locally (API keys, machine-specific settings), create an uncommitted sibling editor/.env.local / editor/.env.desktop.local / editor/.env.saas.local. Vite automatically layers these on top of the committed files.
Docker Setup
For Docker deployments and configuration, see the Docker README.
Tauri
All desktop tasks are available via Task. From the root of the repo:
Dev
task desktop:dev
This ensures the JLink runtime and backend JAR exist (skipping if already built), then starts Tauri in dev mode.
Build
task desktop:build
This does a full clean rebuild of the backend JAR and JLink runtime, then builds the Tauri app for production.
Platform-specific dev builds are also available:
task desktop:build:dev # No bundling
task desktop:build:dev:mac # macOS .app bundle
task desktop:build:dev:windows # Windows NSIS installer
task desktop:build:dev:linux # Linux AppImage
JLink Tasks
You can also run JLink steps individually:
task desktop:jlink # Build JAR + create JLink runtime
task desktop:jlink:jar # Build backend JAR only
task desktop:jlink:runtime # Create JLink custom JRE only
task desktop:jlink:clean # Remove JLink artifacts
Clean
task desktop:clean
Removes all desktop build artifacts including JLink runtime, bundled JARs, Cargo build, and dist/build directories.