Architecture#

predoc is composed of four independent layers that share a single content/ directory of plain markdown files.

Layers#

Editor — A Milkdown v7 WYSIWYG interface (Turbo + Stimulus). Loads and saves content via HTTP API calls (GET/PUT/DELETE /content/*, GET /api/tree, POST /api/move). The editor frontend is a static SPA — HTML + JS + CSS — with no server logic of its own.

GUI — A native C++23 desktop window (Saucer + Qt6 WebEngine / WebKitGTK / WKWebView / WebView2) that hosts the editor. Serves editor files and handles content API calls entirely in-process via a custom app:// URL scheme handler — no TCP server, no database, no port.

CLI — A native C++23 binary (cli/bin/predoc) that orchestrates the layers. Default command spawns the GUI. Subcommands: fetch-deps (download Hugo + theme), package (build + assemble artifacts).

SSG — Runs Hugo with the Book theme to produce a static site into build/. Hugo and the theme are downloaded automatically by predoc fetch-deps.

Why Plain Markdown#

No database, no lock-in. The directory tree is the page hierarchy. content/docs/advanced/config.md → /docs/advanced/config. Stop using the app and you keep your docs.

Technology Stack#