LinkScape

LinkScape is a WinUI 3 desktop browser-style app built on .NET 10 and Microsoft UI Reactor.

It includes a tabbed browsing shell, a command center rail, persistent history and favorites, configurable search providers, and customizable acrylic backdrop presets.

Tech Stack

• .NET 10
• WinUI 3 / Windows App SDK
• Microsoft UI Reactor
• SQLite via Microsoft.Data.Sqlite
• MSIX packaging

Current Features

• Tab-based browsing UI
• Compact and expanded left tab rail
• Command Center sections for:
  • History
  • Recent
  • Most Visited
  • Favorites
  • Settings
  • Chat placeholder
• Persistent tab state
• Persistent browsing history
• Persistent favorites store
• Search provider selection
• Acrylic backdrop gradient presets
• Windows desktop packaging via MSIX

Design System and UX Direction

LinkScape follows a desktop-first, keyboard-friendly design with a focus on clarity, speed, and personalization.

Design Principles

• Clarity first: obvious layout, clear labels, predictable behavior
• Low friction: common actions should require minimal clicks
• Progressive density: compact when needed, detailed when expanded
• Accessible by default: keyboard navigation, readable contrast, semantic labels
• Personal feel: themes and acrylic presets without sacrificing usability

Visual Language

• Spacing scale: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32
• Corner radii:
  • Small controls: 6
  • Cards/panels: 10
  • Dialogs/surfaces: 12
• Elevation:
  • Flat by default
  • Subtle emphasis for hover/active states
• Typography:
  • Title
  • Section heading
  • Body
  • Caption/meta

Theming

LinkScape supports customizable acrylic presets. Recommended built-in preset names:

• Midnight
• Frost
• Sunset
• Graphite

Each theme should define:

• Primary accent
• Surface/background layers
• Border/subtle separator color
• High-contrast text and icon color pairs

Information Architecture

Left rail organization:

1. Top: Tab actions and quick creation
2. Middle: Main destinations (History, Top Sites, Favorites, etc.)
3. Bottom: Settings and app-level actions

Command Center sections should be clearly differentiated by purpose:

• History: chronological navigation history
• Top Sites: most visited destinations
• Recent Tabs: recently active tab sessions
• Favorites: saved/pinned destinations

Interaction Guidelines

• Always show visible keyboard focus
• Keep icon-only controls labeled with tooltips and accessible names
• Preserve discoverability in compact rail mode
• Use non-blocking loading for heavy sections (history/favorites)
• Prefer immediate shell rendering and async data hydration

Accessibility Baseline

• Ensure contrast compliance for text over acrylic backdrops
• Provide semantic names for tab close buttons, section headers, and rail controls
• Maintain comfortable hit targets for pointer and touch
• Support full keyboard traversal for primary navigation paths

UX Roadmap (Design)

Now

• Improve hierarchy and spacing consistency
• Clarify section naming (History, Top Sites, Recent Tabs, Favorites)
• Add polished empty states

Next

• Add first-run hints/onboarding cards
• Add tab pinning and quick tab recovery affordances
• Improve compact rail discoverability

Later

• Advanced tab grouping
• Optional command customization
• Expanded personalization presets

Project Structure

src/LinkScape/
  App.cs                         App bootstrap and backdrop configuration
  TabViewPage.cs                 Main browser page and state management
  Browser/
    Components/BrowserChrome.cs  Rail, title bar, command center UI
    State/BrowserTabActions.cs   Tab state transformations
  Models/BrowserTab.cs           Tab model
  Services/
    TabPersistenceService.cs     Tab persistence
    HistoryPersistenceService.cs History database
    FavoritesService.cs          Favorites database
    SettingsService.cs           Settings database
    BrowserHistoryImportService.cs Imported browser history support
  Assets/
    Help/
      helper.html                Linker help page (local MCP/AI assistant reference)
  Package.appxmanifest           MSIX manifest

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• Visual Studio 2026 Insiders or a compatible .NET / Windows App SDK toolchain
• Windows App SDK workload / WinUI desktop development support

Getting Started

1. Open LinkScapeSolution.slnx in Visual Studio.
2. Restore packages.
3. Build and run the src/LinkScape/LinkScape.csproj project.

Or from a terminal:

dotnet build .\src\LinkScape\LinkScape.csproj

Local Data

The app creates local SQLite databases at runtime for:

• tabs
• history
• favorites
• settings

Current database files used by the app:

• tabs.db
• history.db
• favorites.db
• settings.db

Debugging MCP and Linker Chat

MCP and Linker chat diagnostics are written to:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\LinkScapeCache\mcp-debug.log

Stream the log live in PowerShell with:

Get-Content "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\LinkScapeCache\mcp-debug.log" -Tail 100 -Wait

If LINKSCAPE_CACHE_DIRECTORY is set, use that directory instead of Documents\LinkScapeCache.

Signing and Open Source Safety

Private signing assets are intentionally not stored in the repository.

• MSIX signing is disabled by default in LinkScape.csproj
• A sample local signing file is provided at:
  • src/LinkScape/LinkScape.Signing.props.example
• To sign locally or in CI:
  1. Copy that file to src/LinkScape/LinkScape.Signing.props
  2. Fill in your local PFX path or certificate thumbprint
  3. Keep that file out of source control

Ignored signing assets include:

• *.pfx
• *.snk
• src/LinkScape/LinkScape.Signing.props

Notes

• The project targets net10.0-windows10.0.26100.0
• Packaging is configured for MSIX
• Some UI and accessibility cleanup items may still remain as ongoing work

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

See the LICENSE file for the full text.