GameLexicon

GameLexicon is a local-first desktop app for tracking a personal game library, importing owned games from storefronts, organizing a play queue, enriching metadata, and backing up data to CSV.

The app is built with:

• React + Vite for the frontend in app/
• Rust + Tauri 2 for the desktop shell and local services in src-tauri/
• SQLite for the local library database

Documentation

• docs/GameLexicon_User_Manual_v1.0.md is the full user manual.
• docs/GameLexicon_User_Manual_v1.0.docx is the Word version of the same manual.
• CHANGELOG.md tracks project changes.
• TODO.md tracks pending work.

Repository Layout

game-collection/
  app/                         React + Vite frontend
    package.json
    package-lock.json
    index.html
    src/
  src-tauri/                   Rust + Tauri app
    Cargo.toml
    Cargo.lock
    tauri.conf.json
    src/
    src/db/migrations/
    icons/
  docs/                        User-facing documentation
  scripts/                     Helper scripts
  .env.example                 Optional environment examples
  .gitignore
  README.md

Prerequisites

Windows development needs:

1. Git for Windows: https://git-scm.com/download/win
2. Node.js LTS: https://nodejs.org/
3. Rust with the MSVC toolchain: https://win.rustup.rs/x86_64
4. Visual Studio Build Tools with the Desktop development with C++ workload.
5. Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime. It is already present on many Windows 10/11 machines, but install the Evergreen runtime if Tauri reports that WebView2 is missing.

After installing Git, Node, Rust, or GitHub CLI, open a new terminal so PATH changes are picked up.

Optional tools for specific importers:

• Legendary CLI for Epic import: https://github.com/derrod/legendary
• GOG Galaxy installed locally for GOG owned import
• Amazon Games installed locally for Amazon Games import
• A Steam profile, and optionally a Steam Web API key, for Steam import
• Twitch developer credentials for IGDB enrichment

Install From Source

Clone the repo and install frontend dependencies:

git clone <repository-url>
cd GameLexicon
cd app
npm ci

Install the Tauri CLI if you do not already have Tauri CLI v2:

cargo install tauri-cli --locked

Run the app in development mode from the repo root:

cd ..
cargo tauri dev

cargo tauri dev starts the Vite dev server automatically through the beforeDevCommand in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json.

Build An Installer

Install dependencies first, then run from the repo root:

cargo tauri build

On Windows, Tauri creates release output under src-tauri/target/release/ and bundled installers under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

For a Rust-only compile check without creating installers:

cd src-tauri
cargo check

For a frontend production build only:

cd app
npm run build

Local Data

GameLexicon creates its default database locally at:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\GameLexicon\gamelexicon.sqlite

That database is intentionally not committed to Git. The repository ignores common local database files, generated frontend output, node_modules, and Rust build output.

You do not need a .env file for normal local use. If you want to override the database location for development, copy .env.example to .env and edit DATABASE_URL.

copy .env.example .env

Credentials

Twitch credentials are used for IGDB metadata enrichment. Enter them in the app Settings dialog, or use .env only for local development experiments.

Steam and Twitch credentials are saved through the app's local credential storage. Xbox import uses Microsoft device-code sign-in and does not require a client secret.

Do not commit a real .env file or a local SQLite database. .gitignore excludes both.

Import Notes

• Steam import can use a Steam API key or the public Steam Community XML fallback.
• Epic import requires Legendary, and you should run legendary auth outside GameLexicon at least once.
• GOG owned import reads the local Galaxy SQLite database, usually from C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\storage\galaxy-2.0.db.
• Amazon Games import reads a local Amazon Games SQLite database.
• CSV import supports spreadsheet-style imports with at least Title and Platform columns.

Troubleshooting

If npm is blocked in PowerShell, use Command Prompt or allow local script execution for your user.

If cargo tauri dev cannot find npm, node, or cargo, close and reopen your terminal after installing prerequisites.

If Tauri cannot find WebView2, install the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Evergreen Runtime.

If packaging fails because a platform tool is missing, install the Visual Studio Build Tools C++ workload and retry from a fresh terminal.