parc 0.1
Reference · §07

Desktop GUI

parc-gui is a Tauri-based desktop application that ships with parc. It wraps parc-core directly (no IPC layer) and gives you a graphical interface for the same vaults the CLI works with.

# Install

# Build the frontend bundle first
cd parc-gui/ui && npm install && npm run build && cd ../..

# Install the binary
cargo install --path parc-gui

# Run it
parc-gui

For development with hot-reload:

cd parc-gui/ui && npx tauri dev

The frontend is vanilla TypeScript with web components and zero runtime npm dependencies. The backend is Rust with tauri v2.

# System dependencies

OS Package
Arch Linux sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1
Debian / Ubuntu sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev
macOS Built in
Windows Built in (WebView2)

# Features

# Fragment management

  • List view with type, status, priority, due date, and tag chips
  • Schema-driven form editor — every field uses the right input control
  • Live Markdown preview alongside the editor
  • Per-fragment delete, archive, and trash workflow
  • Full DSL search with the same parser as the CLI
  • Autocomplete suggestions for filter keys, tags, and types
  • Filter chips that translate clicks into DSL terms
  • Saved-query bar (per-vault, stored in <vault>/config.yml)

# Graph view

Interactive Canvas 2D force-directed backlink graph. Drag nodes, zoom and pan, click to navigate to a fragment, hover for the title. The graph is computed from the index, not stored — changes show up immediately.

# Tag browser

Cloud and list views. Cloud sizes tags proportionally to their usage count; list view sorts by count or name and supports type filtering.

# History viewer

Timeline of every snapshot for the active fragment, side-by-side diff against any version, one-click restore.

# Attachments

Drag-and-drop file uploads, thumbnail previews for images, click-to-open for the rest.

# Vault switcher

Multi-vault support — switch between known vaults from a dropdown, run reindex and doctor on the active vault, see vault metadata at a glance.

# Command palette

Ctrl+K opens a fuzzy command palette covering search, navigation, fragment creation, and vault switching.

# Keyboard-driven

Full shortcut map — press Ctrl+? to view it. Vim-style j / k navigation in lists, o / e to open or edit, ? for help.

# Dark mode

System-following by default; manual light/dark toggle in the header. The theme matches the CLI's color: auto behaviour.

# Same vaults, same files

The GUI uses the same .parc vault format as the CLI — there is no separate database. Open the same vault from parc list and parc-gui and you see the same fragments. Changes from one are visible in the other after a reindex (or immediately, if both are watching the same SQLite WAL file).