Electron Desktop

CLI-JAW is available as a native macOS desktop application built with Electron. It wraps the full dashboard experience and adds a terminal, diff viewer, browser panel, and folder panel.

Installation

Download the DMG from the releases page and drag CLI-JAW to your Applications folder. The app bundles the dashboard and connects to your local CLI-JAW instances.

# Build from source:
npm run electron:dist:mac

Panel Layout

The Electron app provides a multi-panel workspace:

Browser Panel

The desktop browser panel uses webview tags for full browsing. Features:

• Tab management (Cmd+T new tab, Cmd+W close tab, Cmd+1-4 switch tabs)
• URL bar with smart input -- URLs navigate directly, search terms go to Google
• Default new tab opens Google
• Local/private hosts are allowed (desktop only -- not available in Web UI)

Diff Viewer

The diff panel shows Git changes for your project:

• Repo root candidates from projectDirs, workingDir, pinned root, home fallback
• Configurable diff settings: root policy, diff mode, base ref, untracked files
• Server-backed API prevents git operations from running in Electron main process
• Path traversal and ref validation guards in diff-service.ts

Keyboard Shortcuts

See the Keyboard Shortcuts reference for the complete list. Key desktop shortcuts:

macOS Permissions

The Electron app may prompt for macOS automation access. Grant it in System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Automation. The app's quit flow is visible and handles cleanup gracefully.

Development

# Run Electron in dev mode (concurrent with jaw server):
npm run electron:dev

# Build the Electron app:
npm run electron:build

# Create macOS DMG:
npm run electron:dist:mac