Contributing to omadesign

Build and contribute to the native Linux app.

How to work on it

git clone https://github.com/michaelmonetized/omadesign.git
cd omadesign
cargo test
cargo run --release --bin omadesign

Rust 2024. Install Git, stable Rust, a C/C++ compiler and pkg-config. The C++ compiler builds the bundled RAW decoder; no installed LibRaw is needed. cargo is the toolchain. No GTK app, no Electron, no GitHub Actions.

Layout

src/
  geom.rs         points, bounds, Bézier, hit testing     (no UI)
  document.rs     layers, shapes, command history
  compositor.rs   tiny-skia renderer + PNG/JPEG export
  paint.rs        brush, erase, smudge, clone, fill, wand
  photo.rs        develop pipeline + histograms
  trace.rs        raster to vector (threshold and color)
  boolean.rs      union / subtract / intersect / xor
  text.rs         rustybuzz OpenType + glyph outlines
  tools.rs        personas, tools, shortcut table
  app.rs          studio state and document commands
  app/
    tabs.rs       document ownership and tab switching
    recovery.rs   background recovery snapshots
    shortcuts.rs  keyboard commands
    photo_session.rs  photo selection, previews and textures
  ui/             chrome, canvas, studios, photo, welcome
    jobs.rs       background asset, icon and font requests
assets/phosphor/  Phosphor Light (MIT)
docs/             manual, project status, contributing
site/             landing page (TanStack Start)
scripts/          local release + curl installer

Mutations go through Cmd + History. Tests cover geometry, boolean, paint, develop, project round-trip, SVG, export, type, zoom, place, and trace.

Keep file and network work outside the frame loop. Tab switches transfer document state instead of cloning it. Rendering caches are derived from document data and invalidated when that data changes; they do not belong in saved projects.

Project conventions

Complete tools. Implement the advertised behavior; live text must remain editable.
No hardcoded UI colors. Chrome reads the Omarchy / ~/.config theme. Fallback is Catppuccin Mocha, used only when no theme is on disk.
Icons are Phosphor Light. Use the glyphs in src/ui/icons.rs.
UI font is the desktop font. Resolve it through Omarchy and fontconfig.
Deep modules. geom and text have no egui types. Tests share the same seams.
Local builds. ./scripts/release.sh zig-links glibc 2.35 for aarch64 and x86_64. Build release packages locally; do not add GitHub Actions workflows that use billed runners.

Pull requests

cargo test is green.
If you touched UI, say how you verified it (run the app; there is no browser here).
If you added a command, it has an undo.
Do not bump the version unless you are cutting a release.

Every QA pass

Finish each pass with a dated entry in CHANGELOG.md: give it a memorable title, explain what feels different, and name the bugs that went away. Keep it readable by someone testing the app, with verification and known limits stated honestly.

Push the tested changes to a branch and open or update its GitHub pull request. Then build and reinstall the same revision for human testing:

cargo build --release --bin omadesign
./scripts/install.sh

The installer also works inside a release tarball. It replaces the binary atomically, so an open session can finish safely. Relaunch omadesign before testing the new build; an already running window still uses the previous one.

Releasing

On the build machine:

# bump version in Cargo.toml
./scripts/release.sh
git tag vX.Y.Z
gh release create vX.Y.Z dist/omadesign-X.Y.Z-*.tar.gz*

Refuse to ship if objdump -T shows GLIBC newer than 2.35.

License

MIT. Phosphor Light is MIT (see assets/phosphor/LICENSE-MIT).