miniSCP/README.md

# miniSCP

A cross-platform, dual-panel SFTP/local file manager — a small WinSCP-style
commander built on **Bun**, **Electrobun**, and **Angular**.

Each of the two panels independently shows either the local filesystem or a
remote server over SSH/SFTP, so you can move files **local↔remote**,
**remote↔remote**, or **local↔local** through one symmetric engine.

> **Name & icon are placeholders.** See [Rebranding](#rebranding) — it's a
> one-file change.

## Developer docs

Dense reference material lives in [docs/](docs/): [architecture](docs/architecture.md)
(processes, windows, RPC, every module/service), [build & release](docs/build-and-release.md)
(Build-n versioning, per-target release pipeline, CI), [platform notes](docs/platform-notes.md)
(macOS/Windows/Linux matrix, runtime deps + smoke tests), and
[gotchas](docs/gotchas.md) (known landmines).

## Features

- Dual-panel commander UI; either panel can be Local or any saved connection.
- **Session tabs**: each tab is an independent left/right workspace; remote
  sessions stay connected and transfers keep running in background tabs.
- Per-panel action toolbar with a direction-explicit send button, plus a
  VSCode-style status bar showing live transfer progress (click to expand the
  transfer queue with per-file speed and ETA).
- **Overwrite confirmation** on name collisions, with a source-vs-destination
  comparison (size, modified date, which is newer) and batch replace-all /
  skip-all.
- **Settings** (gear, top-right): light / dark / system theme and speed units
  (MB/s or Mbps), persisted across restarts.
- On macOS the tab bar is fused with the window titlebar; other platforms keep
  a standard titlebar.
- **Menu-bar (tray) icon**: template icon that adapts to light/dark; click it
  to bring the app to the front.
- **Edit files** (F4 / ⌘E / toolbar / File menu): a built-in editor works on local
  and remote files directly; or pick an external app (Settings → Editor →
  Custom → Choose…). External edits of remote files download to a temp folder,
  are watched, and every save auto-uploads (visible in the transfer list) until
  the session disconnects. Leftover temp files from a crash are offered for
  cleanup at the next start.
- Browse, sort (name/size/modified, folders first), full keyboard control
  with remappable shortcuts (see below). Enter / double-click on a local file
  can open it in its default app (Settings → File list; off by default).
- Create folder / file, rename, delete (recursive), change permissions (chmod).
- Upload, download, and remote→remote send — files **and** whole folders —
  with a transfer queue, per-job progress, and cancel.
- Connection manager: saved connections organised into folders, password or
  private-key auth (with passphrase).

## Stack

| Layer      | Choice                                                        |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Runtime    | Bun (main process, all SSH/SFTP + file IO)                    |
| Desktop    | Electrobun 2.0 via Hutch (native webview, typed RPC bridge)   |
| Frontend   | Angular 22 (standalone, signals, zoneless) in `ui/`           |
| Styling    | Tailwind CSS v4, Oxide-derived tokens (no component library)  |
| Icons      | TDesign shapes redrawn on 14/16px pixel grids (`@ng-icons`)   |
| SSH/SFTP   | `ssh2` (pure-JS under Bun)                                    |

The repo is a Bun workspace: the Electrobun app at the root, the Angular app in
`ui/`. Shared types and the RPC contract live in `src/shared/` and are imported
by both sides.

```
src/shared/     types.ts, rpc.ts (wire contract), branding.ts
src/bun/        Electrobun main process
  fs/           FileSystemProvider + LocalProvider + SftpProvider + registry
  transfers/    engine.ts (queue/stream copy) + walk.ts (recursive helpers)
  store/        connections.json persistence
ui/src/app/     Angular components + signal services
```

## Prerequisites

- [Bun](https://bun.sh) ≥ 1.3 (`bun --version`).
- macOS: **Xcode Command Line Tools** (for the app build).
- Linux: **AppIndicator** — the app links it for the tray and will not start
  without it (`ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED`). `libayatana-appindicator` (Arch),
  `libayatana-appindicator3-1` (Debian/Ubuntu),
  `libayatana-appindicator-gtk3` (Fedora), plus system `webkit2gtk`.
  Details and diagnostics in [platform notes](docs/platform-notes.md).
- No Node install required — a preload shim (`scripts/node-version-shim.ts`)
  satisfies the Angular CLI's Node version check while running under Bun.
- Network on the first `bun install`: Electrobun 2.x's npm package is a
  bootstrap that downloads its build tool (Hutch), the Electrobun core and the
  pinned Bun runtime into `~/.hutch` (~200 MB), and projects the SDK into the
  gitignored `.hutch/devkit/`.

## Setup

```bash
bun install          # installs root + ui workspace deps
```

## Develop

```bash
bun run dev
```

This starts the Angular dev server (hot reload for UI code) and launches the
Electrobun app pointed at it. Edits under `ui/` reload instantly; edits to the
Bun main process (`src/bun/**`, RPC schema) trigger an app relaunch.

## Releases

Versioning is Sublime-style: **Build n**, where n is the commit count
(`git rev-list --count HEAD`), regenerated into the gitignored
`src/shared/version.gen.ts` by every build script (and `postinstall`).

One artifact per invocation, on the matching host — electrobun cannot
cross-compile (Hutch builds for its own OS and arch):

```sh
bun run release -- --target mac-arm64   # on an Apple Silicon Mac
bun run release -- --target win-x64     # on a Windows 11 x64 machine
bun run release -- --target linux-x64   # on a Linux x64 machine
```

Artifacts land in `release/<target>/miniSCP-Build<n>-<target>.*` — a `.dmg`
on the Mac; on Windows a `-Setup.zip` installer **and** a `-portable.zip`
(unzip anywhere and run); on Linux Electrobun's `-Setup.tar.gz` installer.
There is no Intel Mac build: Electrobun 2.x publishes no macOS x64 core.
CI: `.gitea/workflows/release.yml` runs the
same script on a macos + windows runner matrix once act_runners are
registered; trigger by pushing a `build-<n>` tag.

## Build a packaged app

```bash
bun run build        # ng build (ui/dist) + electrobun build -> build/*/miniSCP*.app
```

The Angular bundle is copied into the app under `views://app`. The macOS icon is
compiled from `assets/icon.iconset` into `AppIcon.icns` automatically.

For a distributable (optimized, with auto-update channel) build, use
`bunx electrobun build --env=stable` (see the
[Electrobun docs](https://electrobun.dev/electrobun/) for signing,
notarization, and release hosting).

## Rebranding

Everything user-facing reads from **[`src/shared/branding.ts`](src/shared/branding.ts)**:

```ts
export const BRANDING = {
  appName: "miniSCP",          // window title, bundle name, app-data folder
  identifier: "es.teknes.miniscp",
  legacyNames: [],             // previous names; their data dirs migrate on boot
  version: "0.1.0",
  icon: "assets/icon.iconset",
} as const;
```

To change the icon: edit `assets/logo.svg` (app icon) and
`assets/tray/tray-glyph.svg` (menu-bar glyph), then run
`bun scripts/gen-icons.ts` — it regenerates the macOS iconset, `icon.png`, the
tray template image, and the tray progress frames from the SVGs
(`@resvg/resvg-js`, dev-only dependency).

> Renaming `appName` changes the app-data directory. Add the old name to
> `legacyNames` and the app moves the previous folder (connections, settings,
> edit temp files) into place on the next boot.

## Where connections are stored

Saved connections live in a plain JSON file in the OS app-data directory
(macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/miniSCP/connections.json`), written with
`0600` permissions.

> ⚠️ **Passwords are stored in plaintext** in this file (a deliberate v1
> simplicity choice). Anyone who can read the file can read the passwords. If
> that isn't acceptable for your use, use key-based auth or don't save the
> password (connect ad-hoc). OS-keychain storage is a natural future addition.

## Keyboard shortcuts

The whole app works from the keyboard, and **every command can be remapped** in
**Settings → Keyboard**: press **+** on a row and type the keys, see conflicts,
reset one row or all. Remaps apply live in every window, the right-click menus'
hints and the toolbar tooltips follow, and so does the macOS menu bar. The
defaults:

| Command | macOS | Windows / Linux |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **File list** | | |
| Move up | `↑` | `↑` |
| Move down | `↓` | `↓` |
| Page up | `PgUp` | `PgUp` |
| Page down | `PgDn` | `PgDn` |
| First item | `Home` | `Home` |
| Last item | `End` | `End` |
| Select / deselect | `Space` | `Space` `Ins` |
| Select all | `⌘A` | `Ctrl+A` |
| Open | `↩` `⌘↓` | `Enter` |
| Parent folder | `⌫` `⌘↑` | `Backspace` `Alt+↑` |
| Switch panel | `⇥` `⇧⇥` | `Tab` `Shift+Tab` |
| Show the item's menu | `⇧F10` `⌃↩` | `Shift+F10` `Menu` |
| **Files** | | |
| Send to the other panel | `F5` | `F5` |
| Edit | `⌘E` `F4` | `F4` `Ctrl+E` |
| Rename | `F2` | `F2` |
| New folder | `⇧⌘N` `F7` | `F7` `Ctrl+Shift+N` |
| New file | `⌘N` `⇧F4` | `Shift+F4` `Ctrl+N` |
| Permissions | `⌘I` | `Ctrl+I` |
| Delete | `F8` `⌦` | `F8` `Del` |
| Move to Trash | `⌘⌫` | `Ctrl+Del` |
| Copy path | `⌥⌘C` | `Ctrl+Shift+C` |
| Reveal in file manager | `⌥⌘R` | `Alt+Shift+R` |
| Open in default app | `⌘O` | `Ctrl+O` |
| Refresh | `⌘R` | `Ctrl+R` |
| Go to path | `⌘L` | `Ctrl+L` |
| Choose what the panel shows | `⌘K` | `Ctrl+K` |
| **Sorting** | | |
| Sort by name | `⌥1` | `Alt+1` |
| Sort by size | `⌥2` | `Alt+2` |
| Sort by modified | `⌥3` | `Alt+3` |
| Sort by kind | `⌥4` | `Alt+4` |
| Sort by rights | `⌥5` | `Alt+5` |
| Sort by owner | `⌥6` | `Alt+6` |
| Sort by group | `⌥7` | `Alt+7` |
| **Tabs** | | |
| New tab | `⌘T` | `Ctrl+T` |
| Close tab | `⌘W` | `Ctrl+W` |
| Close other tabs | `⌥⌘W` | `Ctrl+Shift+W` |
| Close tabs to the right | — | — |
| Next tab | `⌃⇥` `⇧⌘]` | `Ctrl+Tab` `Ctrl+PgDn` |
| Previous tab | `⌃⇧⇥` `⇧⌘[` | `Ctrl+Shift+Tab` `Ctrl+PgUp` |
| Go to tab 1 | `⌘1` | `Ctrl+1` |
| Go to tab 2 | `⌘2` | `Ctrl+2` |
| Go to tab 3 | `⌘3` | `Ctrl+3` |
| Go to tab 4 | `⌘4` | `Ctrl+4` |
| Go to tab 5 | `⌘5` | `Ctrl+5` |
| Go to tab 6 | `⌘6` | `Ctrl+6` |
| Go to tab 7 | `⌘7` | `Ctrl+7` |
| Go to tab 8 | `⌘8` | `Ctrl+8` |
| Go to last tab | `⌘9` | `Ctrl+9` |
| Move tab left | `⌃⇧PgUp` | `Ctrl+Shift+PgUp` |
| Move tab right | `⌃⇧PgDn` | `Ctrl+Shift+PgDn` |
| Disconnect tab | `⌘D` | `Ctrl+D` |
| **Window** | | |
| Settings | `⌘,` | `Ctrl+,` |
| Connection manager | `⇧⌘K` | `Ctrl+Shift+K` |
| Show / hide transfers | `⌘J` | `Ctrl+J` |
| Install update | — | — |
| Bigger interface | `⌘=` `⇧⌘=` `⌘Num +` | `Ctrl+=` `Ctrl+Shift+=` `Ctrl+Num +` |
| Smaller interface | `⌘-` | `Ctrl+-` |
| Interface at 100% | `⌘0` | `Ctrl+0` |
| Close window | `⌘W` | `Ctrl+W` |
| **Editor** | | |
| Save | `⌘S` | `Ctrl+S` |
| Find | `⌘F` | `Ctrl+F` |
| Find next | `⌘G` | `F3` |
| Find previous | `⇧⌘G` | `Shift+F3` |
| Wrap lines | `⌥Z` | `Alt+Z` |
| **Connection manager** | | |
| New connection | `⌘N` | `Ctrl+N` |
| New stack | `⇧⌘N` | `Ctrl+Shift+N` |
| Save connection | `⌘S` | `Ctrl+S` |
| Connect / open stack | `⌘↩` | `Ctrl+Enter` |
| Delete connection or stack | `⌘⌫` | `Del` |
| Rename stack | `F2` | `F2` |
| Import from WinSCP | `⌘O` | `Ctrl+O` |

**Fixed keys** (not remappable): Esc closes menus, dialogs and the find bar —
in the file list it clears the filter, then cancels a connect, then clears the
selection. Enter / Esc confirm / cancel dialogs and Tab walks their controls
(on macOS too, without the system's Keyboard navigation setting). Typing in the
file list filters it (Backspace trims); Shift + any movement key selects the
rows the cursor passes. ↑ ↓ Home End Enter work in every menu.

(On Macs, function keys may need `fn` — every F-key command also has a ⌘ key
or a toolbar button.)

## Same-file protection

Copying a file or folder onto itself would truncate it to zero bytes (the
destination is opened for writing before the source is read). miniSCP blocks
this at several layers:

- **Same session / same host**: every connection carries a filesystem identity
  (`local`, or `resolvedIP:port` — the hostname is DNS-resolved, so
  `myserver.lan` and its IP compare equal even across two panels/tabs holding
  separate SSH sessions to the same server). Equal identity + equal or nested
  paths ⇒ the transfer is refused before anything is opened.
- **Hidden aliases** (two *different* addresses that reach the same machine —
  NAT, split DNS): when identities differ but source and destination paths
  collide anyway, a probe file is written through one connection and looked up
  through the other; if it's visible on both, they're the same machine and the
  copy is refused. (SFTP offers no device/inode identity — the mechanism
  `cp`/`rsync` use locally — so probing is the only deterministic test.)
- The overwrite dialog never offers to "Replace" a file with itself — such
  items are auto-skipped with a notice.

**Known residual limitation**: the same filesystem mounted at *different
paths* on two connections (bind mounts, NFS exported twice, shared container
volumes) cannot be detected — the paths differ, so no guard or probe triggers.
Be careful when two panels reach the same data through different mount points.

## Portability notes

Platform seams are isolated behind `process.platform` / `PLATFORM` branches
marked with `PORTABILITY:` comments: editor launch (`open` / `cmd /c start` /
`xdg-open`), app pickers, owner/group lookups, tray images, window chrome,
shell-integration wording, drive listing, and the connections-file ACL. The
application menu ([src/bun/menu.ts](src/bun/menu.ts)) is macOS-only for now;
the in-app UI covers every menu action.

Right-click menus are **HTML, on every platform**
([ui/src/app/core/context-menu.service.ts](ui/src/app/core/context-menu.service.ts)) rather than native —
electrobun's native context menu is a documented no-op on Linux, and one menu
implementation beats two that drift. Only reveal / open-with-default / copy-path
cross to the backend, through the `shellItemAction` RPC.

## Windows (beta)

Windows 11+ x64 is supported as a **beta** target (win-arm64 deferred). All
electrobun APIs the app uses are implemented on Windows; known issues are
upstream:

- **HiDPI blur** ([electrobun#324](https://github.com/blackboardsh/electrobun/issues/324)):
  WebView2 rendered at 1x on scaled displays on Electrobun 1.18; 2.x ships
  per-monitor DPI setup — to re-check on the first 2.x Windows build.
- **Notifications** use legacy balloon style, not Windows toast.
- **Unsigned binaries**: both the Setup.exe installer and the portable exe
  trigger SmartScreen/Mark-of-the-Web warnings on first run. The installer
  unpacks to `%LOCALAPPDATA%` and, since Electrobun 2.x, ships an uninstaller.
- `connections.json` is protected with an `icacls` current-user ACL instead of
  POSIX 0600 (which is meaningless on Windows).

First-Windows-boot smoke test: drives dropdown lists C:\ etc.; navigate to a
drive root ('..' disappears); local↔remote transfers; external editor launch
(`cmd /c start`) and the .exe picker; Show in Explorer / Recycle Bin; tray icon
renders colored; Permissions absent on local panels; Ctrl+labels in tooltips;
portable zip runs from any folder.

## Linux (beta)

Linux x64 is supported as a **beta** target and ships Electrobun's own
installer (`-Setup.tar.gz`).
One hard requirement: the AppIndicator library listed under
[Prerequisites](#prerequisites) — electrobun links it for the tray, so without
it the app aborts at startup with `ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED` rather than merely losing
its tray icon.

- **No native menus at all** upstream (both the app menubar and context menus
  are no-ops). The menubar was already macOS-only and the context menus are now
  HTML, so nothing is missing in practice.
- **Tray visibility** depends on the desktop: KDE, XFCE, MATE and Cinnamon show
  it; GNOME 3.26+ needs the AppIndicator extension. The app works either way.
- **Unsigned**, and no AppImage or `.deb` — unpack the `-Setup.tar.gz` and run
  its `installer`.
- **NVIDIA GPUs** need `WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1` or the window renders
  black. The dev scripts set it automatically when an NVIDIA driver is
  detected; an installed build needs it set by hand (e.g. in its desktop
  entry) — see [gotchas](docs/gotchas.md#linux).

Full dependency table, diagnostics and the first-boot smoke test:
[platform notes](docs/platform-notes.md).

## Known issues

- **Rare native crash under load.** A long-running session (multiple remote
  connections, extended uptime) could hit a Bun panic — a segfault inside Bun
  1.3.13's FFI thread-safe callbacks executing Electrobun's native→worker
  bridge (`FFI_Callback_threadsafe_call` → `web_worker.spin` in the decoded
  crash report). This is an upstream Bun × Electrobun bug, not app code; a
  restart recovers cleanly and in-flight work isn't corrupted. Electrobun 2.0.2
  pins Bun 1.4.0, which may have fixed it — not yet confirmed under load. Bun's
  own crash reporter link is printed to the console on panic.

## Not in v1

Drag-and-drop, file preview/edit, transfer resume, symlink following
(symlinks are listed but skipped by transfers), OS keychain, tab persistence
across restarts, Linux AppImage/.deb packages (the release is Electrobun's
Setup installer).