CST-agent/app/README.md

# app/ — the Qt front end

CST-agent's GUI: **Qt 6 + QML + the C engine, in one process**. No HTTP
server, no port, no token, no second process — the app creates a `cst_agent_t`
directly and drives it through `cst_agent.h`.

```
app/                         the GUI
  src/main.cpp               entry point, --workspace / --selftest
  src/core/AgentCore.*       QObject around cst_agent_t: turns, hooks, consent
  src/core/ToolProvider.h    how the front end hands tools to the engine
  src/platform/<os>/         platform tools the app implements itself
  qml/Main.qml               the window (chat, tool runs, consent dialog)
  tools/selftest.c           C smoke test of the embedding path (no Qt)
```

## Build

```sh
# engine + GUI + C smoke test
cmake -S app -B build-app -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build-app -j
QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen ctest --test-dir build-app   # cst-app-selftest

# the app alone
./build-app/cst-agent-app --workspace ~/notes
./build-app/cst-agent-app --size 480x900    # the narrow (drawer) layout
./build-app/cst-agent-app --uitest          # drive the window, exit code = failures
./build-app/cst-agent-app --selftest        # same checks as the C test
```

The standalone build is the supported one: `app/CMakeLists.txt` uses the
`cstcore` target when the parent project defines one, and otherwise builds
the engine itself from `../src` (TUI, `main.c` and the HTTP front end
excluded). Wiring it into the repository's `CMakeLists.txt` as
`-DCST_APP=ON` is on the list below.

Needs Qt 6.4+ with **Quick / Qml / QuickControls2** (`qt6.qtdeclarative`,
`qt6.qtquickcontrols2` on Nix; the online installer's "Qt 6.x Desktop" on
Windows/macOS). Without them the configure step warns and builds only the C
smoke test — that is deliberate: the embedding path stays verifiable
everywhere. Kirigami is not required yet; `qml/Main.qml` uses Qt Quick
Controls and keeps the layout in Kirigami's shape (single column, cards,
navigation drawer) so swapping in `org.kde.kirigami` later is a QML-only
change. Point the app at a Kirigami outside the Qt prefix with
`-DCST_APP_QML_IMPORT=/path/to/qml`.

## Why in one process

The engine is a library, not a daemon: `libcstcore.a` (Makefile) / the
`cstcore` target (CMake). The app owns one `cst_agent_t` per window, so
there is no protocol to version, no socket to authenticate and no second
process to babysit — and the CLI, TUI and WebUI keep working off the same
source.

- `AgentCore::send()` runs `cst_agent_run_turn_ex()` on a worker thread;
  the `cst_agent_hooks_t` callbacks turn into Qt signals (assistant deltas,
  tool events, tool results, todo, turn end).
- Consent is a blocking hook: the worker waits on a `QWaitCondition`, the
  GUI answers, the turn goes on. `CST_PERM_DENY / ONCE / ALWAYS_TOOL /
  ALWAYS_PREFIX` map 1:1 onto the buttons, and `ALWAYS_*` still lands in
  `.agent/permissions.json`, so a desktop decision is visible to the TUI.
- `cancel()` is `cst_agent_request_cancel()`; the turn unwinds as a normal
  result, not an exception.

## Layout and input

One shell, three sizes (everything is styled from `qml/Theme.qml`):

- **Desktop**: the sidebar is docked and its divider can be dragged (double
  click restores the auto width). Hover states, tooltips, selectable text and
  a wheel-scrolled transcript.
- **Narrow window** (below `Theme.compactBreakpoint`, 880 px): the sidebar
  folds away, the header grows a `☰` button, and the settings slide in over
  the transcript with a scrim; the sidebar itself scrolls, because a phone
  window cannot show it all.
- **Touch**: controls keep a `Theme.touchTarget` (34 px) hit area, buttons do
  not depend on hover, the composer asks the platform keyboard not to
  autocorrect (`ImhNoPredictiveText`), and Enter/Shift+Enter still behave.

`--uitest` checks this without a human: it loads the window, clicks with
synthesized **mouse** events, taps with a synthesized **touch** device, types
into the composer, drives the session list, then narrows the window to 460 px
to assert the dock → drawer switch and opens/closes the drawer. One line per
check, non-zero exit on failure:

```sh
QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen ./build-app/cst-agent-app --uitest
# ok   wide window: sidebar docked
# ok   mouse click on "general" reaches the engine
# ok   touch tap on "coding" reaches the engine
# ...
```

## Sessions

A GUI session is a file in the workspace's store (`.agent/sessions/<id>.jsonl`),
the same one the CLI, the TUI and the WebUI use — `AgentCore::open()` resolves
the workspace's current session before the engine starts, so nothing is written
next to the process's working directory.

- The sidebar lists the store (newest first): title or first prompt, message
  count, "3h ago"; the open one is highlighted. `+ new` starts a session, `×`
  deletes one (the engine first moves off a session it has open, so it never
  sits on a file that is gone), and a click switches.
- Switching **replays** the transcript: `AgentCore::history()` walks the stored
  messages and returns the same rows the live signals build — messages,
  thoughts, notes, and one card per tool call, with its result paired by name
  (a call with no result keeps state `unfinished`, so no spinner runs
  forever). A reopened session therefore renders like the turn that wrote it.
- Session controls are disabled while a turn runs: switching would move the
  engine out from under it.

`--uitest` covers the flow end to end: `writeFixtureSession()` writes a small
session through the store API (a tool call with its result), the checks click
its row, assert the five replayed rows and the paired result, start two new
sessions (the view empties), delete one by its `×` (the open one stays), and
switch back.

`--uitest` uses a scratch workspace unless `--workspace` is given, since it
creates and deletes sessions. On a machine without a screen,
`CST_APP_SHOT=shot.png` makes the run save the window as a PNG when it is
done; `CST_APP_DUMP=1` prints how many session rows the visual tree holds.

## Provider, model, key

The sidebar shows where the engine points (`provider · model`); the gear in the
header opens the dialog that changes it.

- The provider list is the engine's own preset table (`cst_provider_count()`),
  with each entry's base URL and where its key would come from: "key saved"
  (`.agent`-independent, `<config>/cst-agent/credentials`), "key from
  OPENAI_API_KEY", or "no key". A key itself is never sent to the QML side —
  the dialog only ever describes it.
- "Use this" calls `AgentCore::useProvider()`, which runs
  `cst_ps_switch_provider()` / `cst_ps_set_key()` on the engine's live config:
  a pasted key is verified against the provider's `/models` before it is saved
  (offline it is kept unverified and the header says so), the model is
  remembered in `settings.json`, and the **session is not touched**. Model
  candidates come from the provider entry, the fetched cache
  (`cst_ps_cached`, no network) and the remembered pick; the label next to the
  field is `cst_model_info` ("200K · text only").
- The dialog also reports the session's token use (`cst_agent_usage`).

`--uitest` checks it end to end: the presets are readable, an unknown provider
is refused, the gear opens the panel, the provider rows exist, a model typed
into the field reaches the engine when "Use this" is clicked, the note says so,
and Close puts the dialog away. The run points `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` at its scratch
directory, so settings and keys of the real user are never rewritten.

## Attachments

The next prompt can carry files, and they arrive three ways:

- **📎 in the composer** opens a file picker (`QtQuick.Dialogs`).
- **Dropping files on the window** — a `DropArea` covers it; while something is
  dragged over, the border turns accent and says "drop to attach".
- **Ctrl+V** with an image on the clipboard. Text is left to the editor's own
  paste: the composer asks `AgentCore::clipboardHasImage()` first and only
  intercepts the keystroke when there is an image.

`AgentCore::attachFile()` / `attachClipboard()` call `cst_agent_attach_file()` /
`cst_agent_attach_bytes()`: the engine validates the file, copies it next to
the session (`.agent/sessions/`), and the next `run_turn` carries it — the
window only shows what the engine's `pending` list says, one chip per file in
the engine's own words ("note.txt (text/plain, 21 B)"), with "clear all"
(`cst_agent_pending_clear`). A prompt consumes the list, so the chips go away
with the turn. When the model cannot be shown images
(`cst_agent_sees_images() == 0`), the composer says so and the engine sends
them as text notes instead.

`--uitest` writes a file into its scratch workspace and checks the whole path:
`attachFile` succeeds, the engine reports one pending attachment, a missing file
is refused with a reason, the composer shows one chip, "clear all" empties the
list, and — with an 8×8 image put on the clipboard — `clipboardHasImage()` and
`attachClipboard()` behave.

## Tools the app provides

A tool implemented in the front end is registered with `cst_tool_register()`
and the owner `app:<name>`, exactly like a plugin or MCP server would:

```c
cst_tool_def_t def = {0};
def.name = "notification_send";
def.desc = "Send a system notification.";
def.perm = CST_TP_ASK;          /* class: drives the consent dialog */
def.perm_name = "notify";       /* policy: what the user is really granting */
def.platforms = ANDROID_ONLY;   /* NULL = everywhere */
def.available = probe;          /* 0 / -1 with a reason; cached */
def.run_ex = my_run;
def.ud = my_state;
def.owner = "app:android";
cst_tool_register(&def);
```

- `platforms` + `available` decide *whether* the tool exists here: an
  Android-only tool never reaches the prompt or `tools[]` on Linux, and
  `cst_tool_run()` refuses it with the reason if a model asks anyway.
- A front-end tool may take over the **name** of a built-in that cannot run
  on this host (the Android clipboard replacing the desktop `xclip` one);
  it may not shadow one that works.
- `cst_tool_unregister_owner("app:android")` drops them again — do it when a
  platform service goes away, then `cst_tool_meta_reload()`.
- `setenv("CST_PLATFORM", ...)` overrides the detected host name (tests, a
  launcher that knows better).

Note `run_ex` runs on the worker thread while the turn is going: touch the
GUI only through queued signals.

## Platform notes

| Platform | How the engine gets built | Platform tools |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | `cmake -S app -B build-app` (libcurl via pkg-config) | clipboard (shell helpers), notification (`notify-send` / D-Bus) |
| Windows | Qt's MinGW kit, `cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<Qt>/lib/cmake`; the engine needs libcurl for Windows (see `docs/README-windows.md`) | notification via the WinRT/tray API, clipboard through the core's Win32 path |
| Android | engine compiled with the NDK inside the APK (`-DCST_TUI=0`, `CST_NO_WEBUI=1`); the app talks to Android APIs through Qt (JNI) | notification (Android), share sheet, clipboard, file picker |
| macOS | Qt from the installer, libcurl from the system | notification (`osascript`), clipboard (`pbpaste`/`pbcopy`) |

Android's long-term shape: the core lives in the APK (no Termux needed), the
platform tools are Kotlin/JNI behind the same `cst_tool_register()` contract.
The build flag that keeps Unix helpers out of the picture is
`CST_PLATFORM=android` (or the `__ANDROID__` detection inside the engine).

## Status

- [x] engine as a library (`libcstcore.a` / `cstcore`), in-process embed API
- [x] tool metadata: `perm_name`, `platforms`, `available`, shadowing rule
- [x] `AgentCore` (turns, cancel, consent, todo) and the C smoke test
- [x] QML shell: transcript cards, tool cards with diff coloring, thinking
      blocks, consent/ask dialogs, sidebar, responsive dock/drawer layout,
      `--uitest` for mouse, touch and small-screen checks
- [x] session list in the sidebar: new / switch / delete, transcript replay
- [x] settings dialog: provider, model, key (`cst_ps_*`), token counters
- [x] attachments: picker, drop on the window, Ctrl+V image paste
- [ ] a real turn driven through the window (needs a provider key)
- [ ] tool results that carry images (they are stored, not drawn yet)
- [ ] Kirigami (Breeze look), tray, global shortcuts
- [ ] Android APK (engine in-process, JNI platform tools)