QA Scribe

QA Scribe is a local-first desktop testing notepad for capturing testing Sessions and turning raw testing material into structured Testware.

During a Session, testers capture Entries such as Notes, Observations, API Responses, Logs, possible Findings, screenshots, and managed attachments in a chronological Session Timeline. QA Scribe can then help review a Generation Context and create editable Session Report Drafts.

Current Status

QA Scribe has been rebuilt as a Rust/Tauri application with a fresh SQLite schema. The previous Electrobun/Bun MVP remains historical product reference only; existing MVP data, Drizzle artifacts, Bun SQLite migrations, and Electrobun app-data layouts are not migration targets.

Implemented capabilities include:

• Session Library create/reopen/delete flows.
• Session Context and Objective Notes.
• Session Timeline Entry capture with include/exclude controls for generation.
• Findings linked to Entry Evidence and managed attachment Evidence, with Finding deletion.
• Managed attachment import by local path and pasted clipboard image data.
• Attachment preview data URLs and local Markdown/JSON Session export.
• Editable Testware Drafts persisted in local SQLite, with Draft deletion.
• Explicit user-triggered AI generation through already-authenticated local Claude Code, Codex CLI, or GitHub Copilot CLI commands when available.
• Local app settings for the generation system prompt.

Tech Stack

• Desktop shell: Tauri 2
• Core: Rust Cargo workspace
• UI: React, TypeScript, and Vite
• Storage: fresh Rust-owned SQLite schema through rusqlite
• Bridge: typed Tauri commands and serde DTOs
• AI: local CLI process execution only; QA Scribe does not store provider API keys

Install

Download desktop builds from GitHub Releases.

macOS:

• Download the .dmg for your Mac.
• Use aarch64 for Apple Silicon and x64 for Intel.
• Open the DMG and drag QA Scribe into Applications.

Linux:

• Download the .AppImage, .deb, or .rpm from the latest release.
• Debian/Ubuntu users can enable the signed APT repository:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://ddv1982.github.io/qa-scribe/install-apt-repo.sh)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install qa-scribe

After the repository is enabled, normal sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade runs handle updates.

The APT bootstrap downloads the repository setup package and verifies it with the pinned QA Scribe APT signing key before installing the repository configuration.

Development

Requirements:

• Rust stable
• Node.js 22.13 or newer
• Bun 1.3.5 or newer
• Platform toolchain for the local Tauri target
• Optional authenticated local AI CLIs: claude, codex, or copilot

Install frontend dependencies:

bun install --cwd frontend

Run the desktop app in development mode:

bun run dev

Build the Rust workspace and frontend:

bun run build

Run the broad verification gate:

bun run verify

Run the non-GUI smoke harness:

bun run smoke

Validate package metadata JSON:

bun run package:check

AI Providers

AI generation is optional. Capture, persistence, manual review, Draft editing, attachment handling, and export work without AI configuration.

QA Scribe does not manage API keys. It checks local CLI readiness and only starts generation when the user explicitly chooses a ready provider and runs generation.

• Claude Code: checks claude --version and claude auth status --json, detects model aliases from claude --help, then runs claude -p with the prompt on stdin. When a non-default model is selected, qa-scribe passes --model <model>. AI action jobs use --output-format stream-json --include-partial-messages so the UI can show progress and partial output.
• Codex CLI: checks codex --version and codex login status, detects selectable models from codex debug models, then runs codex exec --skip-git-repo-check -. When a non-default model is selected, qa-scribe passes --model <model>. AI action jobs use --json so the UI can show progress and partial output.
• GitHub Copilot CLI: checks the real copilot version command. If the standalone CLI is not present, qa-scribe only treats gh copilot as ready when gh copilot -- --help confirms the Copilot CLI bridge is installed. Plain gh copilot --help does not mark Copilot ready.

Provider status can be ready, auth required, install required, or error. Provider model and reasoning choices are recorded on each AI Run, included in the provider prompt, and passed to provider CLIs where supported. Provider authentication remains the responsibility of the local CLI.

Data And Privacy

• Storage is local SQLite under the Tauri app-data directory.
• Managed attachment files are stored under attachments/<session-id>/ in the app-data directory.
• SQLite stores attachment metadata, ownership, hashes, and relative paths.
• Deleting a Session through the Tauri app removes its managed attachment files and cascades database rows.
• Deleting a Finding removes its Evidence links; deleting a Draft removes only that Draft row and preserves AI Run history.
• AI calls send only the selected Generation Context text and attachment metadata, not raw attachment binaries.
• Existing Electrobun/Bun databases are intentionally not read or migrated.

Project Structure

crates/qa-scribe-core/  Domain, SQLite storage, attachments, export, generation, tests
crates/qa-scribe-app/   Non-GUI smoke harness
src-tauri/              Tauri 2 shell and command modules
frontend/               React/Vite renderer and typed Tauri bridge
docs/                   Rebuild plan and architecture decisions

Documentation

• Rust rebuild plan
• Rebuild ADR
• Project language
• Quality scenarios
• Code size guidelines
• Architecture decisions
• Release workflow
• Historical planning docs remain in docs/ for reference.