build: guard desktop release prerequisites

.gitignore

@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ smoke-platform
 plugins/
 vendor/
 frontend/e2e-results/
+release/

LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+Verstak Desktop
+Copyright (C) 2026 Verstak contributors
+
+This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free
+Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any
+later version.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
+FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more
+details.
+
+The complete license text is available at:
+https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
+
+SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later

README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,81 @@
-# verstak-desktop
+# Verstak Desktop
 
-Verstak Core Platform + UI Shell — plugin runtime, capability registry, vault API, event bus, sync client
+Verstak is a local-first desktop workspace for files, notes, browser captures,
+activity and work journal entries. This repository contains the Go/Wails desktop
+host and UI shell; user-facing functions are delivered by official plugins.
+
+> **Alpha software.** Use a disposable vault while evaluating it. APIs, storage
+> formats and packaging can change before the first stable release.
+
+## What the alpha does
+
+- keeps each workspace's identity independent of its current directory name;
+- keeps browser captures in a reviewable Inbox, with archive and restore rather
+  than a destructive “remove from inbox” action;
+- records local file/note activity and, after review, turns it into journal
+  entries without creating a workspace automatically;
+- accepts optional browser domain-time batches. The browser extension is
+  opt-in: it sends only normalized domain names and bounded durations, never
+  URLs, page titles, page contents, keystrokes or navigation history;
+- runs official plugins from a `plugins/` directory next to the executable.
+
+## Components
+
+Clone these repositories as siblings when building a complete local setup:
+
+| Repository | Purpose |
+| --- | --- |
+| `verstak-desktop` | desktop host and UI shell |
+| `verstak-official-plugins` | Files, Notes, Browser Inbox, Activity, Journal and other official plugins |
+| `verstak-browser-extension` | Chromium/Firefox capture and optional domain-activity extension |
+| `verstak-sdk` | plugin manifest schema and TypeScript API |
+
+## Build from source (Linux)
+
+Requirements: Go, Node.js with npm, Python 3, the [Wails v2 build
+prerequisites](https://wails.io/docs/gettingstarted/installation/), and the
+WebKitGTK development package for your distribution.
+
+```bash
+git clone https://git.mirv.top/verstak/verstak-sdk.git
+git clone https://git.mirv.top/verstak/verstak-official-plugins.git
+git clone https://git.mirv.top/verstak/verstak-desktop.git
+git clone https://git.mirv.top/verstak/verstak-browser-extension.git
+
+cd verstak-sdk && ./scripts/build.sh
+cd ../verstak-official-plugins && ./scripts/build.sh
+cd ../verstak-desktop
+./scripts/install-dev-plugins.sh
+./scripts/build.sh
+```
+
+The Linux executable is placed in `build/bin/`. Start it with `--debug` to
+display internal plugin-provider IDs and write diagnostic logs.
+
+## Release artifacts
+
+Maintainers can create a Linux desktop tarball after the sibling repositories
+above have been built:
+
+```bash
+cd verstak-desktop
+./scripts/release.sh v0.1.0-alpha.1
+```
+
+It writes `release/verstak-desktop-linux-amd64-<version>.tar.gz` and a matching
+`SHA256SUMS` file. The archive is self-contained: unpack it and run the
+included executable. Browser and SDK packages have their own release scripts
+in their repositories.
+
+## Privacy and activity tracking
+
+The extension's passive domain tracker is disabled by default. Enabling it
+requires an explicit choice in the extension and lets the user maintain a
+domain exclusion list. Manual page, selection and link captures are separate
+actions; they enter Browser Inbox and never create a workspace or journal
+entry by themselves.
+
+## License
+
+Copyright © 2026 Verstak contributors. Licensed under
+[GNU AGPLv3 or later](LICENSE).

frontend/src/App.svelte

@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@
       const settings = await App.GetAppSettings();
       debug.log('[App] checkVault: GetAppSettings returned', settings);
       flog('checkVault: GetAppSettings returned');
+      if (settings?.debug) debug.enable();
 
       debug.log('[App] checkVault: calling GetVaultStatus...');
       vaultStatus = await App.GetVaultStatus() || { status: 'unknown', path: '', vaultId: '' };

frontend/src/lib/shell/TodaySurface.svelte

@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@
     ].flatMap(key => normalizeRows(settings?.[key])).filter(item => {
       const tagged = String(item.workspaceRootPath || item.workspaceName || item.workspaceNodeId || '').trim();
       if (tagged !== workspace) return false;
+      if (String(item.globalState || 'inbox') === 'archived') return false;
       const captureId = String(item.captureId || '');
       if (!captureId || seen.has(captureId)) return !captureId;
       seen.add(captureId);
@@ -501,9 +502,14 @@
     const workspaceAtStart = String(workspaceRootPath || '').trim();
     loadedWorkspaceRoot = workspaceAtStart;
     loading = true;
-    const [browserSettings, activitySettings, journalSettings, todoSettings, resources] = await Promise.all([
+    const [browserSettings, activitySettings, activityRecords, journalSettings, todoSettings, resources] = await Promise.all([
       readPluginSettings('verstak.browser-inbox'),
       readPluginSettings('verstak.activity'),
+      App.ReadPluginDataNDJSON
+        ? App.ReadPluginDataNDJSON('verstak.activity', 'activity-events')
+          .then(value => decodeTuple(value, []))
+          .catch(() => [])
+        : Promise.resolve([]),
       readPluginSettings('verstak.journal'),
       readPluginSettings('verstak.todo'),
       loadWorkspaceResources(),
@@ -511,11 +517,10 @@
     if (workspaceAtStart !== String(workspaceRootPath || '').trim()) return;
 
     captures = browserCaptureRowsForWorkspace(browserSettings);
-    activityEvents = rowsFor(activitySettings, [
+    activityEvents = normalizeRows(activityRecords).filter(item => {
-      workspaceKey('events:workspace:'),
+      const tagged = String(item.workspaceRootPath || item.workspaceName || item.workspaceNodeId || '').trim();
-      'events:global',
+      return !tagged || tagged === workspaceAtStart;
-      'events',
+    });
-    ]);
     journalEntries = rowsFor(journalSettings, [
       workspaceKey('worklog:workspace:'),
       'worklog',

frontend/src/lib/shell/WorkbenchHost.svelte

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   import PluginBundleHost from '../plugin-host/PluginBundleHost.svelte';
   import Icon from '../ui/Icon.svelte';
   import { i18n } from '../i18n/index.js';
+  import { debug } from '../log/debug.js';
 
   export let openedResource = null;
   let locale = i18n.getLocale();
@@ -53,7 +54,9 @@
   {:else if openedResource}
     <div class="workbench-header vt-page-header">
       <span class="workbench-title vt-page-title">{resourcePath}</span>
-      <span class="workbench-provider vt-badge accent">{providerId}</span>
+      {#if debug.isEnabled() && providerId}
+        <span class="workbench-provider vt-badge accent" data-debug-provider>{providerId}</span>
+      {/if}
       <button class="close-btn btn-ghost btn-icon" type="button" title={tr('common.close')} aria-label={tr('common.close')} on:click={closeWorkbench}>
         <Icon name="x" size={18} />
       </button>

frontend/src/lib/test/wails-mock.js

@@ -3343,6 +3343,14 @@
     },
     ReadPluginDataNDJSON: function (pluginId, name) {
       var data = (pluginData[pluginId] && pluginData[pluginId][name]) || [];
+      if (!Array.isArray(data) && pluginId === 'verstak.activity' && name === 'activity-events') data = [];
+      if (!data.length && pluginId === 'verstak.activity' && name === 'activity-events') {
+        data = Object.keys(pluginSettings[pluginId] || {}).filter(function (key) {
+          return key === 'events' || key === 'events:global' || key.indexOf('events:workspace:') === 0;
+        }).flatMap(function (key) {
+          return Array.isArray(pluginSettings[pluginId][key]) ? pluginSettings[pluginId][key] : [];
+        });
+      }
       return Promise.resolve([Array.isArray(data) ? data.slice() : [], '']);
     },
     WritePluginDataJSON: function (pluginId, name, data) {

internal/api/app.go

@@ -2067,6 +2067,7 @@ func (a *App) GetAppSettings() map[string]interface{} {
 		"theme":            cfg.Theme,
 		"language":         cfg.Language,
 		"devMode":          cfg.DevMode,
+		"debug":            a.debug,
 		"userPluginsDir":   cfg.UserPluginsDir,
 		"lastOpenedAt":     cfg.LastOpenedAt,
 	}

internal/api/app_test.go

@@ -1791,11 +1791,14 @@ func TestAppSettingsLanguageAPI(t *testing.T) {
 	if err := settings.Update(&appsettings.Config{Theme: "light", DevMode: true}); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	app := &App{appSettings: settings}
+	app := &App{appSettings: settings, debug: true}
 
 	if got := app.GetAppSettings()["language"]; got != "system" {
 		t.Fatalf("initial language = %#v, want system", got)
 	}
+	if got := app.GetAppSettings()["debug"]; got != true {
+		t.Fatalf("debug = %#v, want true", got)
+	}
 	if errStr := app.UpdateAppSettings(map[string]interface{}{"language": "ru"}); errStr != "" {
 		t.Fatalf("UpdateAppSettings language: %s", errStr)
 	}

scripts/release.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+VERSION="${1:-}"
+
+if [[ -z "$VERSION" || ! "$VERSION" =~ ^[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._-]*$ ]]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 <version>" >&2
+  echo "example: $0 v0.1.0-alpha.1" >&2
+  exit 2
+fi
+
+if ! command -v pkg-config >/dev/null || \
+  (! pkg-config --exists webkit2gtk-4.1 && ! pkg-config --exists webkit2gtk-4.0); then
+  echo "Linux desktop releases require libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev or libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+OFFICIAL_PLUGINS="${VERSTAK_OFFICIAL_PLUGINS_DIR:-$ROOT/../verstak-official-plugins}"
+if [[ ! -d "$OFFICIAL_PLUGINS" ]]; then
+  echo "official plugins repository not found: $OFFICIAL_PLUGINS" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "=== verstak desktop release $VERSION ==="
+(cd "$OFFICIAL_PLUGINS" && ./scripts/build.sh)
+"$ROOT/scripts/install-dev-plugins.sh"
+"$ROOT/scripts/build.sh"
+
+BINARY="$(find "$ROOT/build/bin" -maxdepth 1 -type f -name 'verstak-desktop*' -print -quit)"
+if [[ -z "$BINARY" ]]; then
+  echo "desktop binary was not produced in build/bin" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+RELEASE_ROOT="$ROOT/release"
+STAGING="$RELEASE_ROOT/verstak-desktop-$VERSION-linux-amd64"
+ARCHIVE="$RELEASE_ROOT/verstak-desktop-linux-amd64-$VERSION.tar.gz"
+rm -rf "$STAGING" "$ARCHIVE"
+mkdir -p "$STAGING"
+
+cp "$BINARY" "$STAGING/verstak-desktop"
+cp "$ROOT/README.md" "$ROOT/LICENSE" "$STAGING/"
+cp -R "$ROOT/plugins" "$STAGING/plugins"
+tar -C "$RELEASE_ROOT" -czf "$ARCHIVE" "$(basename "$STAGING")"
+(cd "$RELEASE_ROOT" && sha256sum "$(basename "$ARCHIVE")" > SHA256SUMS)
+
+echo "release archive: $ARCHIVE"
+echo "checksums:       $RELEASE_ROOT/SHA256SUMS"