Gist Desktop Apps

Whilst on the face of it Gist Desktop Apps appear to be similar to Electron Apps that utilizes a .NET Core backend instead of Node.js, it employs a shared architecture where all Apps are run with the same app dotnet tool installable with:

$ dotnet tool install -g app

Where it enables a number of unique features:

Ultra Lightweight Desktop Apps

Unlike Electron which bundles Chromium with every install, all Sharp Desktop Apps utilize the same app dotnet tool which in addition to the latest version of Chromium, also includes many popular .NET server + client JS/CSS framework libraries - saving Vue Desktop Apps from having to include them. This effectively reducing their footprint to just App-specific Server + Client logic, so whilst a Hello World Electron App can require >100MB, this Vue Desktop Project Template bundles down to a 15kb .zip - which includes the 14kb uncompressed .NET Server .dll.

Launch Desktop Apps from URLs

Thanks to their light footprint Desktop Apps can be launched directly from URLs using the app:// URL Scheme, e.g. a modified version of this Project Template can be launched from:

app://vuedesktop

Which uses the unique global alias your app was published with.

It's also possible to pass additional params to enable deep links into Apps ServiceStack Studio utilizes to be able download, run & immediately invoke App specific functionality like connecting to a remote site, e.g:

app://studio?connect=https://localhost:5001

Create customized Apps by mixing in Gists

Another unique feature of Gist Desktop Apps is being able to mix in multiple files into the App's directory to create custom App builds, e.g. the SharpData generic RDBMS UI viewer utilizes this feature to copy & immediately open an embedded SQLite database for querying:

app://sharpdata?mix=northwind.sharpdata

app://sharpdata?mix=chinook.sharpdata

Launch from public or private GitHub Repos

If preferred Desktop Apps can also be published & launched directly from your GitHub Repo which can be launched with app://{user}/{repo}, e.g`:

Tip

Can open by pasting above links in browsers URL as GitHub doesn't render links with custom URL Schemes

If your repo has published releases it will use your most recent release, otherwise it uses the master archive.

Private Repos & Gists

Apps can also be launched from private Gists and Repos by either having end users configure the GitHub Access Token with access to the private gist or repo in the GITHUB_TOKEN Environment variable or can be specified in the URL or command-line with:

app://user/repo?token={GITHUB_TOKEN}
$ app open user/repo -token {GITHUB_TOKEN}

Copy Directory

Another way to distribute & run Apps is to XCOPY the /dist folder which users can launch by running app command in the App's folder or by specifying the path to the app's app.settings, e.g:

$ app C:\path\to\app\app.settings

Where you can also create a Windows Shortcut for a more integrated Desktop App:

$ cd C:\path\to\app
$ app shortcut

Tip

Add favicon.ico to use your own icon in the shortcut

Cross Platform Support

Whilst the app dotnet tool is Windows-only, all Sharp Apps can also be run cross-platform on macOS/Linux with the x dotnet tool where it will open in the users preferred browser, e.g:

$ x open vuedesktop 

Always uses latest version

Thanks to their tiny footprints the default behavior is to always download & run the latest version of the App when published to a Gist or Repo which automatically happens when launching Apps using the app:// URL Scheme or app open command.

If preferred you can save 1-3 seconds on an App's launch time by using the app: URL scheme or app run command where it will instead load the previously downloaded version, e.g:

app:vuedesktop
$ app run vuedesktop