vaner-desktop

Cross-platform (macOS + Linux + Windows) desktop companion for Vaner — the local-first preparation engine. Menu-bar / tray app that surfaces Prepared Work from the daemon: review notes, bug hypotheses, docs drift, virtual diffs, research briefs, and ready prediction-backed opportunities.

The app is intentionally non-mutating. It can inspect or export Vaner-owned content, but it does not apply patches or edit project files automatically.

Tauri v2 + SvelteKit. Rust backend depends on the shared vaner-contract crate from the Vaner monorepo. macOS, Linux, and Windows release artifacts ship from this repository.

Targets:

• macOS: macOS 14+ recommended. Universal .dmg runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Unsigned for the 0.x prereleases — Gatekeeper requires right-click → Open on first launch.
• Linux: Ubuntu 22.04+ / Debian 12+, X11 or KDE Wayland. Stock GNOME on Wayland needs gnome-shell-extension-appindicator for the tray icon to appear — the app detects this at first launch and surfaces install guidance.
• Windows: Windows 10 1809+ (uses the system WebView2 runtime). Unsigned for the 0.x prereleases — SmartScreen will show "Windows protected your PC → More info → Run anyway" on first install.

Install

macOS

Download the universal .dmg from the latest GitHub Release, open it, and drag Vaner into Applications.

VER=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/vaner-desktop_${VER#v}_universal.dmg
open vaner-desktop_${VER#v}_universal.dmg

Gatekeeper: the 0.x DMGs are unsigned. On first launch, right-click Vaner → Open.

Linux

Three paths, all signed — pick whichever fits your workflow:

1. Apt repository (recommended — auto-upgrades via apt upgrade)

The installer adds a signed apt repo at https://apt.vaner.ai and installs the vaner desktop package. Every future release arrives through apt upgrade without you running anything else. The executable is still vaner-desktop; the Python engine/CLI remains the PyPI package and command vaner. If the CLI is ever shipped through apt, it should use the package name vaner-cli.

curl -fsSL https://vaner.ai/desktop.sh | bash

Prefer the plain-apt form (identical result, no pipe-to-bash):

curl -fsSL https://apt.vaner.ai/release-key.asc \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/vaner.gpg
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/vaner.gpg] https://apt.vaner.ai stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vaner.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install vaner

arch=amd64 keeps apt from asking the repo for i386 package lists (the repo is amd64-only).

2. One-off .deb (no apt-repo registration)

VANER_MODE=deb curl -fsSL https://vaner.ai/desktop.sh | bash

Same fingerprint-pin + detached-sig verification as the apt path; subsequent releases don't auto-install unless you re-run.

3. Manual GPG verify then apt install

VER=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.deb
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.deb.asc
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/release-key.asc

gpg --import release-key.asc
gpg --verify vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.deb.asc vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.deb

The release key fingerprint is 506B8FA959917D530E5EE7203D219B47A7E4F046 — pinned in scripts/install.sh, published on keys.openpgp.org, and also available as scripts/release-key.asc on main.

4. .AppImage (no apt, no install)

Every release ships an .AppImage alongside the .deb. Download, verify, chmod +x, run:

VER=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.AppImage
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.AppImage.asc
curl -LO https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$VER/release-key.asc
gpg --import release-key.asc
gpg --verify vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.AppImage.asc vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.AppImage
chmod +x vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.AppImage
./vaner_${VER#v}_amd64.AppImage

Windows

Download the NSIS installer from the latest GitHub Release and run it. The installer is per-user — no admin prompt — and registers an auto-updater that follows the same minisign-signed latest.json flow as the AppImage.

$ver = (Invoke-RestMethod https://api.github.com/repos/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/latest).tag_name
$url = "https://github.com/Borgels/vaner-desktop/releases/download/$ver/vaner-desktop_${ver -replace '^v',''}_x64-setup.exe"
Invoke-WebRequest $url -OutFile vaner-desktop-setup.exe
Start-Process .\vaner-desktop-setup.exe

SmartScreen: the 0.x installers are unsigned. Windows will say "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway. Code-signing is on the roadmap for 1.0.

Updates

The app checks for updates on every launch via tauri-plugin-updater; every update is signed with a separate minisign key whose public half is embedded in the app. A small banner appears in the popover when a new release is ready; click Install to download + verify + replace in place. The apt-repo path gets the same updates through your system's normal update flow — pick one, not both.

Status

• L1: vaner-contract crate (upstream)
• L2: conformance fixtures bridge (upstream)
• L3: Swift conformance test consumption (scheduled with Vaner tag)
• L4: Tauri app skeleton
• L5: tray + popover + menu + first-run AppIndicator modal
• L6: signed .deb release workflow + install.sh verification
• L7: Docker ship-gate (Dockerfile.ship-gate + scripts/ship-gate.sh)

Build

Prereqs (Linux):

# Ubuntu 24.04 system deps for WebKitGTK-based Tauri:
sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev patchelf
# Rust toolchain (1.85+ for edition 2024):
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
# Node 20+ and pnpm:
corepack enable && corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate

Dev:

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

Build a local Linux bundle:

pnpm tauri build --bundles deb,appimage

macOS

Prereqs (macOS): Xcode command-line tools, Rust 1.85+, Node 20+ with corepack, and the Tauri macOS build dependencies.

pnpm install
pnpm tauri build --bundles dmg --target universal-apple-darwin

Windows

Prereqs (Windows): Rust 1.85+ with the x86_64-pc-windows-msvc target, Node 20+ with corepack, and the WebView2 runtime (Windows 11 has it preinstalled; Tauri auto-installs it on Windows 10 if missing).

pnpm install
pnpm tauri build --bundles nsis

The installer lands at src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsis/vaner-desktop_<version>_x64-setup.exe.

Architecture

Short version:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          vaner daemon (Python)              │
│     /prepared-work  •  /work-products       │
│     /events/stream  •  /status              │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                       │ HTTP / SSE (loopback)
                       │
          ┌────────────▼──────────────┐
          │  vaner-contract (Rust)    │
          │  • models + enums         │
          │  • HTTP client + SSE      │
          │  • reducer + handoff      │
          └────────────┬──────────────┘
                       │ (compiled in)
                       │
          ┌────────────▼──────────────┐
          │  Tauri v2 Rust backend    │
          │  commands + SSE task      │
          └────────────┬──────────────┘
                       │ invoke / emit
                       │
          ┌────────────▼──────────────┐
          │   SvelteKit (WebView)     │
          │   QuietShell popover UI   │
          └───────────────────────────┘

Design tokens (src/lib/tokens.css) are vendored from Vaner's ui/cockpit/src/styles/tokens.css so the visual language stays 1:1 with the web cockpit and the SwiftUI macOS app.

The normal UI asks /prepared-work for card-shaped data and follows the server-provided action links for inspect, export, dismiss, and feedback. Older prediction endpoints remain available for diagnostic flows but are no longer the primary product surface.

License

Apache-2.0, inherited from the Vaner project.