verstak-desktop/README.md

Verstak

Keep the context of your work together — locally.

Files, notes, links, browser captures, activity and work history in one extensible local-first workbench.

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[!WARNING] Verstak is currently alpha software. APIs, storage formats and packaging may change before the first stable release. Use a test vault and keep backups of important data.

What is Verstak?

Verstak is a local-first workbench that keeps the context around your work in one place.

A Deal can represent almost anything:

• a software project;
• a client or customer;
• a server or infrastructure site;
• a device under repair;
• an article or research topic;
• a training course;
• a personal long-term project.

Normally, information about such work is scattered across directories, notes, browser tabs, task managers, password managers, terminal history and memory.

Verstak brings it together in a local vault that remains under your control.

No account, cloud service or sync server is required for local use.

Verstak in use

Overview: return to a Deal and see its recent work, captures and items that need attention.	Files: manage ordinary folders and documents inside a Deal.

Notes: keep Markdown notes next to the Deal they describe.	Journal: record a completed session and retain its context.

Main features

Feature	Description
Deals	Organize files, notes and activity around durable projects, clients and other areas of work.
Files	Browse and manage ordinary files stored inside your vault.
Notes	Create Markdown notes, overview pages and links between related information.
Overview	Quickly return to recent work and see what may need attention.
Browser Inbox	Send pages, links, selections and files from a browser into Verstak.
Activity and Journal	Reconstruct work sessions and turn selected activity into journal entries.
Todo	Keep optional task lists inside individual Deals and across the whole vault.
Search	Search across notes, files and supported plugin data.
Trash	Restore deleted items or remove them permanently from one central location.
Secrets	Keep credentials and access information connected to the relevant Deal.
Templates	Create repeatable Deal structures for common types of work.
Plugins	Add, replace or disable tools without turning Verstak into one rigid monolithic application.
Optional sync	Synchronize vaults between devices using a self-hosted Verstak Sync Server.

Download and install

Download the latest build from the GitHub Releases page.

Release packages already include the matching official plugins.

System	Download	Installation
Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04 or newer	verstak_<version>_amd64.deb	Install through APT.
Other x86_64 Linux distributions	verstak-linux-x86_64-<version>.AppImage	Make the file executable and run it.
Windows 10/11 x64	verstak-windows-amd64-<version>.zip	Extract the archive and launch Verstak.cmd.

Debian and Ubuntu

sudo apt install ./verstak_*_amd64.deb

Launch Verstak from the application menu or run:

verstak

AppImage

chmod +x verstak-linux-x86_64-*.AppImage
./verstak-linux-x86_64-*.AppImage

On a system without FUSE support:

APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1 ./verstak-linux-x86_64-*.AppImage

Windows portable version

1. Download verstak-windows-amd64-<version>.zip.
2. Extract it to a local directory.
3. Run Verstak.cmd.

Do not run Verstak directly from inside the ZIP archive or from a network share.

Verstak uses the Microsoft WebView2 Runtime. It is already included with Windows 11 and most current Windows 10 installations. If Verstak does not start, install the Microsoft WebView2 Runtime x64.

Background and tray mode

Closing the main window keeps Verstak running in the system tray. Use Show Verstak to bring it back and Quit to exit the application completely. This lets scheduled Todo reminders continue while the window is hidden.

Verify a download

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file.

On Linux:

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

First start

1. Create or open a vault

A vault is the root directory where Verstak stores your work.

Choose a writable local directory. For example:

Documents/
└── Verstak/

Your files and notes remain ordinary files that can be accessed without Verstak.

2. Create your first Deal

Inside the vault, create a Deal for a project, client, server, device or another area of work.

For example:

Home server
Customer Alpha
Verstak development
3D printer
Training course

3. Add context

Open the Deal and add the information needed to return to it later:

• notes and decisions;
• documents and source files;
• useful links;
• access information;
• journal entries;
• tasks;
• materials captured from the browser.

4. Return through Overview

The Overview screen shows recent changes, unfinished captures, activity and other useful entry points back into your work.

How Verstak stores data

Verstak follows several principles:

• your vault is local and works without an account or internet connection;
• files and notes remain readable outside the application;
• synchronization is optional and is not the source of truth;
• the user should understand where data is stored and what happens to it;
• application tools are provided by plugins rather than being permanently embedded into the core.

The desktop application loads plugins from a plugins/ directory located beside the executable.

Browser integration

The optional browser extension can send the following into Browser Inbox:

• the current page;
• selected text;
• a link;
• a downloaded or selected file.

Repository:

mirivlad/verstak-browser-extension

To connect the extension:

1. Open Browser Inbox settings in Verstak.
2. Copy the Receiver URL and Pairing Token.
3. Paste them into the extension settings.
4. Save the settings and send a test page.

Passive domain activity tracking is disabled by default. When enabled, it sends bounded time totals by normalized domain. It does not send page contents, keystrokes or full browsing history.

Optional synchronization

Local use does not require a server.

For synchronization between devices, deploy the optional self-hosted Verstak Sync Server.

Each vault is connected separately. The local vault remains the primary copy of your data.

Build from source

Requirements

• Go 1.24 or newer;
• Node.js 20 or newer with npm;
• Python 3;
• Git;
• Wails v2 build dependencies;
• WebKitGTK development packages on Linux.
• Ayatana AppIndicator development files on Linux (sudo apt install libayatana-appindicator3-dev).

See the Wails installation documentation for distribution-specific dependencies.

Clone the repositories

The desktop, SDK and official plugin repositories must be cloned as sibling directories:

verstak-source/
├── verstak/
├── verstak-sdk/
└── verstak-official-plugins/

mkdir verstak-source
cd verstak-source

git clone https://github.com/mirivlad/verstak.git
git clone https://github.com/mirivlad/verstak-sdk.git
git clone https://github.com/mirivlad/verstak-official-plugins.git

Build

cd verstak-sdk
./scripts/build.sh

cd ../verstak-official-plugins
./scripts/build.sh

cd ../verstak
./scripts/install-dev-plugins.sh
./scripts/build.sh

The resulting application will be located at:

./build/bin/verstak-desktop

Run it with additional diagnostics:

./build/bin/verstak-desktop --debug

Build release packages locally

These commands create local artifacts in release/. They do not publish a GitHub Release.

Debian package

./scripts/package-deb.sh v0.1.0-alpha.1

AppImage

./scripts/package-appimage.sh v0.1.0-alpha.1

Windows portable ZIP

The Windows archive can be cross-compiled on Linux using MinGW:

sudo apt install gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 zip
./scripts/package-windows-portable.sh v0.1.0-alpha.1

Project repositories

Repository	Purpose
verstak	Desktop application, core platform and UI shell
verstak-official-plugins	Official Files, Notes, Journal, Todo and other plugins
verstak-sdk	TypeScript SDK, schemas and plugin contracts
verstak-browser-extension	Browser capture and optional activity integration
verstak-sync-server	Optional self-hosted synchronization server
verstak-docs	Product and platform architecture documentation

Compatible components should be built from the same release line.

Development status

Verstak is under active development.

The current alpha is intended for testing, feedback and experimentation. Backward compatibility is not guaranteed until the first stable release.

Bug reports and feature discussions are welcome in GitHub Issues.

License

Copyright © 2026 Verstak contributors.

Verstak is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later.