127 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
127 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
# StepForge
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StepForge is a **fully offline**, open-source desktop app for Windows and
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Linux that captures step-by-step workflows as screenshots, lets you annotate
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and describe each step in a focused three-pane editor, and exports the result
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to Markdown, DOCX, PPTX, PDF, HTML (WIP), GIF (WIP), confluence (WIP), Wiki.js (WIP), and image bundles (WIP). The current reconmendations for exporting is Markdown and PDF.
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It is an independent offline desktop guide-capture tool inspired by publicly
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documented workflow patterns of commercial documentation tools like Folge. It contains no
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third-party branding, assets, or code from those tools, and it never talks to
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the network: no telemetry, no update checks, no license checks, no cloud, no
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remote AI.
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## Overview
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The core workflow:
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1. **Capture** — take full-screen, active-window, or region screenshots with
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configurable delay, pause/resume, and global hotkeys; or import images and
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paste from the clipboard.
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2. **Annotate** — rectangles, ovals, lines, arrows, text, tooltips, numbered
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markers, blur, highlight, magnify, and crop on a resolution-independent
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annotation scene graph.
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3. **Describe** — rich-text titles and descriptions, informational text
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blocks, code blocks, tables, step links, and placeholders.
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4. **Export** — every exporter renders from the same normalized Render AST,
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so output is deterministic across formats.
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## What's Included
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- **Guide library** with folders, favorites, title search, full-text search,
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duplicate/move/delete, and a quick-actions palette (`Ctrl+/`).
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- **Capture engine** — the editor's **Capture ▾** button offers full screen,
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active window, and region capture (the app hides itself during the shot),
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plus continuous capture sessions that grab a step on every click where the
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OS allows it, or on a 3/5/10 s auto-interval everywhere else. The REC bar
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shows the live count and the start/pause control. Delay, global
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hotkeys, click markers, clipboard paste, and PNG/JPEG/GIF import included.
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The full keyboard shortcut list lives under **More ▾ → Keyboard
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shortcuts** in the editor.
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- **Three-pane editor** — step tree with substeps, statuses
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(todo/in-progress/done), hidden/skipped steps, focused view (zoom/pan that
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never mutates the original image), autosave, and command-stack undo/redo.
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- **Annotation canvas** — normalized JSON scene graph with
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resolution-independent coordinates; annotations render identically in the
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editor and in every exporter.
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- **Sharing & backups** — single-file `.sfgz` archives (zip-based, path-
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traversal validated), linked guides with `.lock-sfgz` lock files and
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explicit save, plus automated snapshot backups and restore.
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- **Exports** — JSON, Markdown, Simple HTML, Rich HTML (checkboxes + floating
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TOC), PDF, animated GIF, image bundle, DOCX, and PPTX, with per-format
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export templates shareable as `.sfglt` files.
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- **Settings & theming** — system/light/dark themes, capture options,
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keyboard shortcuts, preview step count.
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Everything except the Electron shell is dependency-free Node.js: the ZIP,
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PNG, GIF, PDF, DOCX, and PPTX writers are all implemented in this repository
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using only Node built-ins.
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## Getting Started
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For a windows installation, see [docs/windows_installation](docs/windows_installation.md) or for a developer/more in depth walkthrough, see [docs/GETTING_STARTED.md](docs/GETTING_STARTED.md).
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Requirements: Node.js 20+ and npm (Electron is the only dependency).
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```bash
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npm install # one-time, fetches the Electron shell
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npm start # launch StepForge
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```
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First run creates the local data directory (`~/.local/share/stepforge` on
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Linux, `%APPDATA%/stepforge` on Windows; override with `STEPFORGE_DATA_DIR`).
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## Testing
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Please create your tests so that when the following is ran it automatically
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tests your test.
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```bash
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bash tests/run_test.sh
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```
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The runner executes every `tests/checks/test_*.sh` script; those scripts run
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the workflow test suites under `tests/unit/` with `node --test`. The tests
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exercise real workflows like creating guides, round-tripping archives, exporting
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documents, and validating the bytes of the output, not string matching.
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## Building & Packaging
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```bash
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bash scripts/bootstrap-offline.sh # verify toolchain availability
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bash scripts/verify.sh # full test suite + smoke checks
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bash scripts/build-release.sh # assemble runnable app directory
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bash scripts/package-linux.sh # portable tar.gz + .deb (+ AppDir spec)
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npm run package:windows # Windows installer .exe in releases/
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pwsh scripts/package-windows.ps1 # same Windows installer build via PowerShell
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```
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See [build/build_report.md](build/build_report.md) for what was produced on
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this machine and which packaging tools were unavailable.
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## Offline Guarantee
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The shipping app makes **zero network calls**. There is no telemetry, no
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update check, no license validation, no cloud sync, no account system, and no
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remote AI. Exports embed no remote fonts or CDN references. See
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[docs/SECURITY.md](docs/SECURITY.md) for the threat model.
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## Contributing
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See [docs/CONTRIBUTING.md](docs/CONTRIBUTING.md) for the full contribution flow,
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including the issue-number requirement for every pull request and the
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clean-room rules.
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## Repository Layout
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Project docs live in `docs/` and prompt handoffs live in `ai_prompts/`.
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See [docs/ARCHITECTURE.md](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md) for the repo layout.
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## License
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
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Basically, do whatever you want with it just don't make money off it or sell it.
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