Pressfield

Pressfield is a local-first macOS writing app where prose visibly decays while you idle. Fonts corrupt, glyph edges bleed, words drift, opacity fades, and the distortion clears when you start typing again. The adversarial loop is the product.

The app is built with Tauri 2, Rust, React, TypeScript, Vite, and SQLite via rusqlite. It is zero-network by product contract: no telemetry, no sync, no cloud.

Current State

v2 Arc 2, hardcore mode, is implemented alongside Arc 1 persistence.

Arc 1 delivered:

• P4: documents table, PRAGMA user_version v1-to-v2 migration, document CRUD over IPC, per-document stats.
• P5: autosave, launch hydration, close-to-reopen prose survival, active-document session binding.
• P6: Cmd+O command palette for switching, creating, renaming, and deleting named documents.

Latest reported gates:

• cargo test --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml: 32 tests passing.
• pnpm vitest run: 57 tests passing.
• pnpm tsc --noEmit: clean.
• pnpm vite build: clean.
• cargo tauri build: release app and DMG produced.

Outstanding Arc 1 caveat:

• The operator visual walkthrough is not yet human-confirmed: type, close, reopen, switch documents, confirm per-document text/history, and check both themes.

Next Arc

Arc 3 is the custom decay-curve editor described in IMPLEMENTATION-ROADMAP.md.

Hardcore mode permanently removes trailing words in discrete bites while decay is held at full, reversing the v1/Arc 1 invariant that decay is visual and non-destructive. It is opt-in, global, and OFF by default; each bite immediately invokes and awaits save_document with the surviving text instead of waiting for debounced autosave.

See specs/arc2-hardcore.md before changing Arc 2; ARC2-HANDOFF.md records the earlier planning state.

Development and verification

Run all commands below from the repository root. CI uses Node.js 22 and pnpm 10; use those versions to reproduce its environment. The repository does not declare support for other versions. Install the locked frontend dependencies:

pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

Rust checks and native development also require Rust/Cargo and the Tauri 2 platform prerequisites. For macOS desktop development, install Xcode Command Line Tools. Linux test prerequisites are listed in .github/workflows/ci.yml. The app targets macOS; a green Linux CI run does not verify macOS packaging.

For a small local fixture check, run a focused frontend file or Rust test:

pnpm test src/__tests__/wordCount.test.ts
cargo test --locked --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml round_trip_session_with_keystrokes

The frontend tests use Node or happy-dom and test helpers and components without running native IPC. Rust store tests use in-memory databases, with one WAL test using a temporary file; these test commands do not launch the app or open the user's prose database. Choose the affected test file or Rust name filter when changing another area.

For the broader local checks:

pnpm test
cargo test --locked --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml
pnpm exec tsc --noEmit
pnpm build

pnpm build runs TypeScript and the Vite production build. CI runs the frontend and Rust tests plus TypeScript; it does not build a desktop bundle. No dedicated lint or format script is configured. The test counts above are historical receipts, not assertions about the current checkout.

For UI changes, inspect the changed behavior in the web shell as applicable:

pnpm dev

Vite uses port 1420 and fails if it is occupied. The web shell has no native Tauri IPC; browser-only checks cannot verify persistence, native events or desktop close/reopen behavior. Verify those behaviors in the native app when relevant:

pnpm tauri dev

Native runs write to ~/.pressfield/pressfield.db. Use a disposable OS account and scratch documents for desktop/manual checks; keep hardcore mode OFF unless specifically testing its opt-in destruction contract on disposable text. For editor, persistence or theme changes, manually check type/close/reopen, document switching and both themes. Use screenshots or hand control, not scripted keystroke injection. Pure documentation changes do not require a browser pass.

Desktop packaging is a separate, optional macOS release lane:

pnpm tauri build

This uses the repository's npm Tauri CLI and the configured macOS signing identity; it is not a routine smoke check. For distribution, follow the current release references in CLAUDE.md and RELEASE-NOTES-0.1.0.md.

Guardrails

• Do not add outbound network behavior.
• Do not put decay rendering logic in React components; keep Canvas distortion in src/canvas/decay.ts.
• Do not use unwrap() or expect() in non-test Rust.
• Do not implement hardcore mode until the Arc 2 design contract is explicit, opt-in, and OFF by default.
• Do not use scripted keystroke injection for visual verification; use screenshots or hand control to the operator.