Tanque Studio

A native macOS companion app for Draw Things, providing a focused AI image generation workspace, Draw Things project browsing, and LLM-assisted prompt enhancement.

Features

Dashboard + Focus Rooms

The app opens on a Dashboard home screen rather than dropping straight into the generation workspace:

Continue card — resume the last in-progress session with one click
System card — live Draw Things connection, LLM Assist status, storage used
Quick Start — preset prompts/models that jump straight into a fresh session
Recent Generations strip and Projects / Labs mini-lists
A persistent top nav (Project Browser · Labs · Settings) reachable from every screen, not just from the Dashboard

Opening a session (or clicking any image) enters a Focus Room: a full-bleed canvas + filmstrip below it, with all generation controls tucked into a single collapsible drawer on the right (Prompt, Assist, Model, Parameters, LoRAs, img2img & Moodboard, Actions) instead of stacked side panels. The feature set is the same one detailed below — same GenerateViewModel, same gRPC transport — just delivered through the drawer instead of dedicated left/right panels.

Generate

The generation feature set — prompt/config, canvas, gallery, LLM Assist, actions — described panel-by-panel below. In the running app this now lives inside a Focus Room's accordion drawer (see above) rather than a dedicated four-panel screen, but every capability listed here still applies.

Left panel

Prompt and negative prompt fields
Model picker with full filename display
Config import — load presets from Draw Things custom_configs.json
Canvas size presets (S / M / L) that preserve the current aspect ratio
Aspect ratio tiles (1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16, 3:2, 2:3, 21:9, 1:2, 2:1)
Full parameter set: sampler, steps, CFG, shift, seed, seed mode, stochastic sampling gamma, batch count, strength, refiner model and start
LoRA list with per-LoRA weight sliders and +/− buttons; add LoRAs from the picker
img2img source image drop zone
Moodboard strip: reference images with per-image weight sliders (0–1); drag from Finder

Canvas

Pinch to zoom (0.5×–6.0×), drag to pan, double-tap to reset
Zoom percentage indicator
Drag-and-drop PNG onto canvas to inspect metadata

Right panel — Metadata tab

Generation parameters, model, LoRAs, dimensions, seed

Right panel — Assist tab

LLM operations system. Operations are Markdown files with YAML frontmatter stored in ~/Library/Application Support/TanqueStudio/LLMOperations/. Built-in operations are bundled with the app; users can add custom operations by dropping .md files into that folder.

Operations selector
Prompt input seeded from the currently selected gallery image's metadata
Result preview with Apply / Discard
Supports Ollama, LM Studio, and Jan

Right panel — Actions tab

Send All — apply prompt, negative, and full config to the left panel
Send Prompt — apply prompt and negative prompt only
Send Config — apply model, sampler, steps, CFG, seed, dimensions, LoRAs
Send to img2img — set current image as img2img source (uses visible crop when zoomed)
Add to Moodboard — add current image to the moodboard strip

Gallery strip

Saved images shown newest-first
Color-coded border (green = generated, gray = imported)
Tap to load image and metadata
Context menu: Reveal in Finder, Copy, Delete
Keyboard navigation in immersive mode (arrow keys, Escape)

Moodboard

Add reference images to influence generation via gRPC shuffle hints.

Drag image files from Finder directly into the moodboard strip
Per-image weight sliders (0.0–1.0)
Remove individual images or clear all
Works with models that support reference/shuffle hints (Qwen Image Edit, Flux, etc.)

DT Project Browser

Browse Draw Things project databases directly from the app.

Add folders containing .sqlite3 project files (local, external drives, network volumes)
Security-scoped bookmarks for persistent folder access across launches
Thumbnail grid with prompt preview, date, and dimensions
Search and pagination (50 entries per page)
Send to Generate — applies full config: prompt, negative, model, dimensions, steps, CFG, seed, sampler, seed mode, strength, shift, LoRAs; sets thumbnail as img2img source

Settings

Draw Things connection — host, port, shared secret, history dropdown, test connection (gRPC)
LLM provider — Ollama / LM Studio / Jan; host with history dropdown, model, max tokens, test connection
Save folder — default save location (security-scoped bookmark)
Appearance — panel width defaults

Requirements

macOS 14.0 or later
Draw Things with API Server enabled
Optional: Ollama, LM Studio, or Jan for Assist tab features

Getting Started

Install Draw Things from the Mac App Store
Enable the API Server in Draw Things: Settings → API Server → Enable
Launch Tanque Studio — opens on the Dashboard
Configure connection via Settings in the top nav → Draw Things Connection
Default: localhost:7859 (gRPC)
Test Connection to verify connectivity
Pick a Quick Start preset (or the Continue card to resume a prior session) to enter a Focus Room, type a prompt, and click Generate

For Assist tab features (optional)

Install Ollama, LM Studio, or Jan
Configure the LLM provider in Settings → LLM Provider
Test the connection
In a Focus Room, click the ✨ Assist button next to the prompt field — it expands the Assist section in the drawer and runs the default operation automatically

For DT Project Browsing

Click Project Browser in the persistent top nav (reachable from any screen)
Click Add Folder and select a folder containing .sqlite3 project files
- Default Draw Things location: ~/Library/Containers/com.liuliu.draw-things/Data/Documents/
- External drives: navigate to any mounted volume under /Volumes/
Select a project database to browse with thumbnails and metadata

Bundled Config Presets

DrawThingsStudio/Resources/community_models_configs.json contains all 49 of Draw Things' built-in model configurations, pulled from the official drawthingsai/community-models repo and merged into the custom_configs.json array format. These ship inside the app bundle and appear automatically in the config picker under Built-in, alongside any configs you import yourself.

Source retrieved 2026-06-12. Note: each preset references a specific model file (e.g. flux_1_dev_q5p.ckpt) and applies fully only if that model is downloaded in Draw Things.

Architecture

DrawThingsStudio/
├── App & Navigation
│   ├── TanqueStudioApp.swift          # App entry, ModelContainer, migrations — WindowGroup root is DashboardRootView
│   ├── ContentView.swift              # Classic NavigationSplitView shell, sidebar (no longer the app root; kept for reference)
│   └── AppSettings.swift              # @Observable settings singleton (UserDefaults)
│
├── Dashboard (default navigation as of v0.9.25)
│   ├── DashboardRootView.swift        # WindowGroup root: mode switch (dashboard/focus/projects/labs/settings)
│   ├── DashboardTopBar.swift          # Wordmark, breadcrumb, persistent Project Browser/Labs/Settings nav
│   ├── DashboardHomeView.swift        # Continue/System/Quick Start/Recent Generations/Projects+Labs cards
│   ├── FocusRoomView.swift            # Full-bleed canvas + filmstrip; Paint/Crop/Color-Draw edit modes, scrubber
│   ├── DashboardFocusPanels.swift     # Focus Room's accordion drawer (Prompt/Assist/Model/Parameters/LoRAs/img2img/Actions)
│   ├── DashboardLabsPage.swift        # Labs pill-tabs (StoryFlow / Story Studio / Workflow Builder)
│   └── DashboardDS.swift              # Isolated light "paper" design tokens for this navigation
│
├── Generate (business logic + classic four-panel view, reused by both navigations)
│   ├── GenerateView.swift             # Classic four-panel root layout (config left, canvas center, gallery, inspect right)
│   ├── GenerateLeftPanel.swift        # Config: prompt, params, LoRAs, moodboard
│   ├── GenerateRightPanel.swift       # Metadata / Assist / Actions tabs
│   ├── GalleryStripView.swift         # Resizable gallery column
│   ├── GenerateViewModel.swift        # @MainActor @Observable ViewModel — shared by Dashboard and the classic view
│   └── ImageStorageManager.swift      # Writes PNG + thumbnail, creates TSImage
│
├── DT Project Browser
│   ├── DTProjectDatabase.swift        # SQLite + FlatBuffer reader
│   ├── DTProjectBrowserView.swift     # 3-column HSplitView browser
│   └── DTProjectBrowserViewModel.swift
│
├── StoryFlow (Labs)
│   ├── StoryFlowEngine.swift          # Accumulator engine: config + prompt, Loop/EndLoop, canvas ops
│   ├── StoryFlowModels.swift          # Variables, steps, workflows
│   ├── StoryFlowStorage.swift         # JSON-per-file storage, output folders, canvas PNG I/O
│   ├── StoryFlowProjectCodec.swift    # Lossless project export/import + DT pipeline export
│   └── StoryFlowView/ViewModel/*Panel.swift
│
├── Settings
│   └── SettingsView.swift
│
├── Support
│   ├── TanqueDS.swift                 # Tanque Design System tokens
│   ├── ImageFolderAccess.swift        # Security-scoped reads for custom folders
│   ├── LLMService.swift               # Ollama / LM Studio / Jan client
│   ├── LLMOperationLoader.swift       # File-based LLM operations
│   └── DTConfigImporter.swift         # Draw Things custom_configs.json import
│
├── Data & Persistence
│   └── DataModels.swift               # TSImage SwiftData model, ImageSource
│
└── Draw Things Integration (ported, do not modify)
    ├── DrawThingsProvider.swift        # Protocol + DrawThingsGenerationConfig
    ├── DrawThingsGRPCClient.swift      # gRPC transport (port 7859)
    ├── DrawThingsAssetManager.swift    # Local model/LoRA management
    ├── CloudModelCatalog.swift         # ~400 models from Draw Things GitHub
    ├── PNGMetadataParser.swift         # DTS, DT native, A1111, ComfyUI metadata
    └── RequestLogger.swift             # Debug request log

SwiftData schema (single model):

@Model final class TSImage {
    var id: UUID
    var filePath: String
    var createdAt: Date
    var source: ImageSource       // .generated | .imported | .dtProject
    var configJSON: String?
    var collection: String?
    var batchID: UUID?
    var batchIndex: Int?
    var thumbnailData: Data?
}

Roadmap

Completed

Upcoming

In priority order:

Video handling — the general pass — clip playback and audio both ship (see Completed). Still open: a wider look at how series are handled outside the DT Project Browser
StoryFlow canvas resize on size / adaptSize — both set the config but leave the canvas image at its old dimensions, so a following img2img below full strength renders at the old size. Correct at the default strength 1.0. Crop-vs-scale is undecided
Config parity Batch F — SDXL conditioning — also what StoryFlow's xlMagic needs
README polish — screenshots, demo GIF

Backlog

StoryFlow 260723 Phase 4 — LLM-backed enhance / interrogate executed natively, routed through Tanque Studio's own LLM stack rather than Draw Things' answer model (interrogate additionally needs a multimodal model and image attachment). Deferred until the rest is farther along
StoryFlow 260723 Phase 5 — Vision-framework canvas ops (faceZoom, removeBkgd, foreground/background/body masks, depth extraction, pose extraction). No gRPC path exists for any of these; reimplementing them on Apple's Vision framework is its own project
StoryFlow polish — promptInstruction replace-mode toggle, image-variable drag-drop import, end-to-end UX testing
Patterns Studio integration — WKWebView panel or PNG export feeding img2img
Gallery collections / organization
Soft-edged inpaint brush (mask transport is binary today)
Intel Mac launch failure (root cause unknown, low priority)

Known Limitations

~~Model list may be empty on a shared-secret-protected server.~~ Fixed. The gRPC Echo call now sends the shared secret (upstream PR #16, merged 2026-07-03), so the model/LoRA inventory loads correctly on protected servers.

Acknowledgments

Draw Things by Liu Liu
DT-gRPC-Swift-Client — Swift gRPC client library for Draw Things
dtm by KC Jerrell — FlatBuffer schemas and database parsing approach that informed the DT Project Browser

License

MIT License

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 616 Commits
Docs		Docs
DrawThingsStudio		DrawThingsStudio
DrawThingsStudioUITests		DrawThingsStudioUITests
Scripts		Scripts
TanqueStudio.xcodeproj		TanqueStudio.xcodeproj
TanqueStudioTests		TanqueStudioTests
design_handoff_dashboard_final		design_handoff_dashboard_final
design_handoff_palette_stage		design_handoff_palette_stage
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md

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Tanque Studio

Features

Dashboard + Focus Rooms

Generate

Moodboard

DT Project Browser

Settings

Requirements

Getting Started

For Assist tab features (optional)

For DT Project Browsing

Bundled Config Presets

Architecture

Roadmap

Completed

Upcoming

Backlog

Known Limitations

Acknowledgments

License

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Tanque Studio

Features

Dashboard + Focus Rooms

Generate

Moodboard

DT Project Browser

Settings

Requirements

Getting Started

For Assist tab features (optional)

For DT Project Browsing

Bundled Config Presets

Architecture

Roadmap

Completed

Upcoming

Backlog

Known Limitations

Acknowledgments

License

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