Labee

Labee is a desktop + web app for running research work with coding agents: a chat workspace backed by the Claude CLI, an interactive canvas, a catalog of reusable skills/protocols, and a per-user file deck.

It is a Bun + Turbo monorepo. The web UI is a Vite + React SPA, the backend is an Effect HTTP server, and the desktop app is an Electron shell that embeds the server.

Layout

apps/
  web/        Vite + React 19 SPA (TanStack Router, Tailwind v4)
  server/     Effect HTTP server (auth, skills, deck, chat SSE) — serves the web client
  desktop/    Electron shell that forks the bundled server
packages/
  contracts/  Effect Schema types shared across web + server
  shared/     framework-agnostic helpers
db/           drizzle users schema (SQLite local/desktop, Postgres server)
scripts/      dev-runner, desktop artifact builder, deploy, user CLI

Requirements

• Bun (packageManager pins the version)
• Node 24+ (the server runs under Node when packaged; node:sqlite is used)
• The claude CLI installed and authenticated (the chat/extraction features spawn it; override the binary with CLAUDE_BIN)

Development

bun install
bun run dev          # server (:3000) + web (:5733, proxies /api → server)

Other entry points:

bun run dev:server   # server only
bun run dev:web      # web only
bun run dev:desktop  # server + web + electron

Build

bun run build              # all workspaces (contracts, web, server, desktop)
bun run dist:desktop:dmg   # packaged macOS .dmg (electron-builder)

Users

User accounts live in a SQLite store (data/labee.sqlite, or LABEE_DATA_DIR). The first account created is auto-promoted to admin. Manage from the CLI:

bun run user list
bun run user create you@example.com --admin

See docs/architecture.md for how the pieces fit together and docs/deploy.md for server deployment.