Wenmei🎋文美 — A markdown editor with an AI that lives in your folder

Markdown is beautiful. We read, we write and now we can code too. Wenmei transforms markdown editor into a desktop thinking environment built on local markdown, sandboxed folders, and Pi-AI Agent.

Markdown files and local folders are the source of truth. Wenmei brings a calm editor, a sandbox-aware file tree, and a Pi/terminal surface into the same folder-native workspace.

Architecture

• Frontend: React 19 + TypeScript + Vite + Tailwind CSS
• Desktop core: Rust + Tauri v2
• Communication: Frontend calls Rust commands via @tauri-apps/api/core invoke()
• State: Zustand for frontend state, Rust WenmeiState for persisted app/vault state
• Files: Plain markdown files on disk — no database, no proprietary format
• Registry harness: A global sandbox registry authorizes folders without writing metadata into every folder
• Vault harness: Explicitly promoted folders get local .wenmei/ metadata
• Safety: Relative path containment, action log, delete-to-trash under local or global Wenmei metadata
• Pi direction: Global Pi RPC as the first real engine; bundled Pi sidecar later

Product Use Case

Local folder = Sandbox = The thinking room for AI Agent
Markdown = Durable thinking surface that connects thoughts of yours
Pi Panel = Liberty to organize thoughts, folders and researches
Terminal Mode = The liberty of CLI terminal for more agentic workflow
Wenmei = window + boundary + memory surface

CLI entry points:

wenmei /path/to/folder
wenmei /path/to/file.md
wenmei --new-window /path/to/folder
wenmei create /path/to/new-note.md
wenmei edit /path/to/maybe-missing.md
wenmei mkdir /path/to/new-folder
wenmei sandbox /path/to/folder
wenmei vault /path/to/folder
wenmei promote /path/to/folder
wenmei composite Project /path/to/folder-a /path/to/folder-b

Plain folder opens use the global sandbox registry, so Finder and CLI use do not scatter .wenmei/ metadata everywhere. Use wenmei vault, wenmei promote, or the in-app Promote button when a folder should become a durable Wenmei vault with local .wenmei/ metadata.

Project Structure

src/              React frontend
src-tauri/        Rust/Tauri desktop core
public/           static assets
MARKDOWN_WORKSPACE_SPEC.md  product spec

Relevant frontend files:

src/components/Header.tsx       top orientation/vault switcher
src/components/FileTree.tsx     left local file navigation
src/components/CenterPanel.tsx  edit / preview / split / paper modes
src/components/PiPanel.tsx      current Pi surface, moving toward real Pi RPC
src/store/appStore.ts           app state
src/lib/tauri-bridge.ts         Rust invoke wrappers
src/lib/markdown.ts             markdown rendering

Engine Ownership Split

Global Pi owns:
  executable/runtime
  provider auth
  model config
  global Pi packages/extensions

Wenmei sandbox owns:
  cwd
  session dir
  memory
  action log
  trust mode
  file boundary
  UI state

Global Pi is the engine, not the authority.

Building

# Development
npm install
npm run tauri dev

# Production builds
npm run desktop:build:win    # Windows (.msi + .exe)
npm run desktop:build:mac    # macOS (.dmg)
npm run desktop:build:linux  # Linux (.deb + .rpm + .AppImage)

For WSL Linux builds from Windows, platform-specific prerequisites, and the full testing procedure, see docs/BUILD.md.

Hacker version aims to open source with MIT License.