Engram

Single-user, local-only desktop app for authoring Picmonic / Sketchy-style mnemonic scenes. Markdown-driven content, Konva-based canvas, ZIP import/export.

Authoritative spec: docs/PRD.md, docs/SPEC.md.

Install (end users)

Download the latest Windows installer from Releases — pick Engram_<version>_x64-setup.exe (NSIS) or Engram_<version>_x64_en-US.msi.

First-run note: Engram is not yet code-signed. Windows SmartScreen will show "Windows protected your PC" the first time you run the installer. Click More info → Run anyway. Subsequent installs and auto-updates do not re-trigger the warning.

The app self-updates: on launch it checks GitHub Releases and prompts when a new version is available. You can also trigger a check manually via File → Check for updates….

Your data lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.dogebooch.engram\ (IndexedDB inside WebView2). Uninstalling removes the binary; data persists. Use File → Export Bundle to back up a Picmonic to a .zip.

Develop

Prerequisites (one-time)

• Node.js 20+ (nodejs.org)
• Rust (rustup.rs) — required only if building the desktop app
• Microsoft C++ Build Tools — install Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools, "Desktop development with C++" workload — required only if building the desktop app
• WebView2 — pre-installed on Windows 11

Run

git clone https://github.com/Dogebooch/Engram.git
cd Engram
npm install                # postinstall regenerates symbol index
npm run tauri:dev          # desktop app, hot reload
# OR
npm run dev                # plain web dev server at localhost:3000

tauri:dev first run takes 3–10 minutes (Rust compiles a lot of crates). Subsequent runs are seconds.

Test / lint

npm test
npm run lint

Build a local installer

npm run tauri:build

Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/msi/Engram_<version>_x64_en-US.msi.

Release (maintainer)

1. npm run version:bump -- patch (or minor / major) — bumps package.json, src-tauri/Cargo.toml, src-tauri/tauri.conf.json together.
2. git commit -am "release: vX.Y.Z" and git tag vX.Y.Z
3. git push origin main --tags

GitHub Actions builds the installer, signs it with the updater key, and publishes a Release with latest.json. Installed users get an update toast within seconds of opening the app.

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.