Pipelab

Pipelab is a visual automation tool designed to create task automation workflows and cross-platform desktop applications.

🏗️ Orchestration Overview

Pipelab is built as a monorepo with three primary application layers that work together to provide a seamless automation experience:

graph TD
    classDef main fill:#0096FF,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px;

    subgraph UserInterface["User Interface"]
        UI["@pipelab/ui (Vue 3)"]
    end

    subgraph Container["Desktop Container"]
        Electron["@pipelab/app (Electron)"]
    end

    subgraph Engine["The Engine"]
        CLI["@pipelab/cli (Node.js)"]
    end

    UI <-->|WebSocket| CLI
    UI <-->|IPC| Electron
    Electron ---|Spawns Sidecar| CLI
    CLI ---|Executes| Workflows[Release Workflows]

    class UI,Electron,CLI main;

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• The Engine (@pipelab/cli): A standalone Node.js server that handles workflow execution, manages plugin logic, and exposes a WebSocket API.
• The Interface (@pipelab/ui): A Vue 3 application that provides the Release workflow editor. It connects to the CLI via WebSockets for real-time execution feedback.
• The Container (@pipelab/app): An Electron wrapper that provides native OS integration (file dialogs, system tray). In production, it automatically manages the CLI as a "sidecar" process.

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🛠️ Start Pipelab

1. Prerequisites

Tool versions are managed via mise. Check mise.toml for the current requirements (Node 24 and pnpm 10.33.0).

2. Environment Configuration

Create a .env file in the root directory. This is the single source of truth for all packages:

SUPABASE_URL=your_project_url
SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=your_key
PIPELAB_CLOUD_WORKER_URL=https://pipelab-cloud.your-account.workers.dev
POSTHOG_API_KEY=your_key

SUPABASE_URL and SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY enable authentication. Existing .env files can temporarily keep using SUPABASE_ANON_KEY; when both are present, the publishable key takes precedence. PIPELAB_CLOUD_WORKER_URL configures the Cloudflare Worker used for artifact uploads. POSTHOG_API_KEY enables telemetry. The app still starts without them, with the related cloud features disabled.

3. Installation

pnpm install

4. Development

The fastest way to start the entire ecosystem is from the root:

pnpm dev

Tip

This starts the UI dev server and Electron. Electron starts and manages the local CLI sidecar itself, so do not start @pipelab/cli separately for the desktop workflow.

The Electron window opens after the UI is available on port 5173. Use Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop the development processes.

5. Production package

Create a runnable application bundle for the current operating system:

pnpm package

Create an installable distributable instead:

pnpm make

Both commands build the CLI bundle and include it with the desktop application as its production sidecar. Forge writes results to apps/desktop/out/; package creates an unpacked application bundle, while make creates the platform-specific installer/archive. Build on each target operating system for its native installer format.

Useful commands

Command	Purpose
pnpm dev	Start the desktop app in development mode.
pnpm build	Build all workspace packages.
pnpm package	Create a production desktop bundle for the current platform.
pnpm make	Create a production installer/archive for the current platform.
pnpm test	Run the workspace test suites.
pnpm typecheck	Run TypeScript checks across the workspace.

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📦 Project Structure

• apps/cli: The headless engine and WebSocket server.
• apps/desktop: The Electron lifecycle and IPC handlers.
• apps/ui: Rendering and visual graph interaction.
• packages/*: Shared logic, standard constants, and modular plugins (Steam, Discord, etc.).

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🚀 Releases & Versioning

We use Changesets to manage versions and changelogs:

pnpm changeset          # Document a change
pnpm changeset version  # Bump versions
pnpm changeset tag      # Create git tags