Skip to main content

Frontend Development

Frontend code lives in src/ and uses React 19 + TypeScript.

Entry points and window model​

The frontend entry point is src/main.tsx. It decides which app tree to load based on the ?window= query parameter in the URL:

  • Main window — AppProvider + App.tsx
  • Child windows — ChildAppProvider + ChildWindowRouter

Current child-window flows include:

  • settings
  • new-session
  • quick-command
  • auto-upload

If you are changing these flows, start with:

  • src/main.tsx
  • src/ChildWindowRouter.tsx
  • src/lib/windowManager.ts

Component and directory structure​

src/
├── components/          # UI components
│   ├── dialog/          # Dialog and child-window related components
│   ├── panel/           # Left/right sidebar and bottom helper panels
│   ├── terminal/        # xterm workspace and terminal-related components
│   ├── layout/          # Outer layout, title bar, activity bars
│   └── ui/              # Shared base UI components (shadcn/ui)
├── context/             # React Context providers
├── hooks/               # Custom hooks
├── i18n/                # Internationalization
├── lib/                 # invoke wrapper, window manager, workspace helpers
├── pages/               # Child-window pages
├── types/               # Shared type definitions
├── App.tsx              # Main application shell
└── main.tsx             # Frontend entry point

State management​

AppContext​

src/context/AppContext.tsx is the main state container for the primary window. It manages:

  • Tabs and pane trees
  • Active tab and active pane
  • Saved connections and group refreshes
  • App settings and UI settings
  • Startup restoration of the workspace

ChildAppProvider​

src/context/ChildAppProvider.tsx is the lightweight provider for child windows:

  • Loads and saves settings only
  • Does not hold the full workspace state
  • Syncs settings changes back to the main window through events

TransferContext​

src/context/TransferContext.tsx listens to transfer-event and centrally manages:

  • Transfer queue items
  • Progress, paused, canceled, and error state
  • Pause / resume / cancel / retry actions

Calling Tauri commands​

Frontend code should prefer the shared wrapper in src/lib/invoke.ts rather than scattering raw @tauri-apps/api/core invoke() calls everywhere.

import { invoke } from '@/lib/invoke';

const sessionId = await invoke<string>('create_ssh_session', {
  connectionId: 'uuid-here',
});

This wrapper centralizes error logging and makes future call behavior easier to change.

Listening to backend events​

Many frontend features rely on Tauri events, for example:

  • terminal-output-{id}
  • cwd-changed-{id}
  • session-closed-{id}
  • transfer-event
  • sessions-changed
  • connections-changed
  • otp-request
  • cloud-sync-status-changed
  • cloud-sync-history-changed
  • cloud-sync-conflict

Terminal rendering, file browsing, resource monitoring, transfer queues, and the Cloud Sync status / history / conflict UI all sit on top of these events.

Workspace model​

The workspace has two layers.

workspaceTabs.ts​

This file manages the persisted logical workspace:

  • Tabs
  • Pane trees
  • In-tab splits
  • Serialization / restoration of ui.open_tabs

tabWindows.ts​

This file manages the live runtime terminal layout:

  • Which tabs are attached to which leaf
  • The active tab for each leaf
  • Runtime split ratios

When editing tabs, splits, or multi-area terminal layout behavior, first decide which layer you are actually changing.

Terminal integration​

src/components/terminal/XTerminal.tsx is the main xterm.js integration point. It handles:

  • Search / Fit / WebLinks addons
  • Shell integration and command suggestions
  • Gutter rendering for line numbers and timestamps
  • Action links and keyword highlighting
  • Large-output protection
  • Reconnect-related behavior

If you are changing terminal presentation, this is usually the first file to inspect.

Cloud Sync frontend entry points​

If you are changing Cloud Sync UI flows, start with these files:

  • src/pages/SettingsPage.tsx — settings-tab structure, save blocking, and master-password prerequisites
  • src/components/settings/SyncBackupTab.tsx — provider config, automatic strategies, manual actions, and conflict handling
  • src/components/panel/SyncBackupHistoryPanel.tsx — workspace history panel and quick conflict actions
  • src/App.tsx — how the Cloud Sync panel is wired into the main workspace
  • src/lib/cloudSync.ts — frontend defaults, formatting helpers, and provider validation utilities

Together these files define the full user flow through settings state, Tauri commands, and cloud-sync events.

Internationalization​

User-facing UI text uses react-i18next. Locale files are in:

  • src/i18n/locales/zh-CN.json
  • src/i18n/locales/en.json

Whenever you add or change visible UI text, update both locale files.

UI component conventions​

The project uses shadcn/ui as its base component layer. Shared UI components live in src/components/ui/.

If you need a new reusable UI piece, prefer existing components and project style patterns over building a parallel base component system.