Desketch

A local-first desktop drawing app powered by Tauri and tldraw.

At a glance

• Works offline with local folders and Git-friendly .tldr files
• Fast canvas with a minimal UI focused on drawing
• Desktop-first workflow with project folders and a status bar

Quick start

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Run the desktop app:

npm run tauri dev

3. Open a project folder and start drawing.

Features

• Open a project folder and browse drawings from the sidebar
• Create new drawings and save to .tldr files
• Dirty-state indicator and status bar for current file/project
• Keyboard shortcuts for open, new, and save

Usage

Desketch is folder-based: you open a directory and the app treats it as your drawing project. Files are stored as .tldr so they are easy to version with Git and share.

Open a project folder

1. Launch Desketch.
2. Use Open Project Folder or Ctrl/Cmd+O.
3. Choose a folder on disk (an existing repo works great).

Once opened, the sidebar lists the drawings in that folder.

Create a new drawing

1. Use New Drawing or Ctrl/Cmd+N.
2. Give the drawing a name.
3. Start sketching on the canvas.

Desketch creates a new .tldr file in the project folder.

Save changes

Desketch shows a dirty-state indicator when there are unsaved changes.

1. Use Save or Ctrl/Cmd+S.
2. The current drawing is saved back to its .tldr file.

Organize with Git

Because drawings are plain files in your project folder, you can commit them like any other asset.

git status
git add .
git commit -m "Add new concept sketches"

Keyboard shortcuts

• Ctrl/Cmd+O Open project folder
• Ctrl/Cmd+N New drawing
• Ctrl/Cmd+S Save

Development

Install dependencies:

npm install

Run the desktop app:

npm run tauri dev

Run the web app:

npm run dev

Build:

npm run build

Windows developer setup

Use the PowerShell installer on Windows:

.\install.ps1

Notes:

• The script installs Node.js (LTS), Rust (rustup), and Visual Studio Build Tools.
• When the Visual Studio installer opens, select Desktop development with C++.
• After installation, run npm install and npm run tauri dev.

Initialize a repo for drawings

Create a new Git repo and use it as your Desketch project folder.

1. Create a new repository named docs (on GitHub or locally).
2. Clone it:

git clone git@github.com:YOUR_USER/docs.git

3. Open Desketch, choose "Open Project Folder", and select the cloned docs folder.
4. Create or save .tldr drawings inside the repo so they are Git-enabled and easy to version.

Tech stack

• Tauri 2
• React 19
• tldraw