> *A lighthouse for your knowledge. Local-first snippet and knowledge management for developers.*
Faro is a desktop app for capturing, organizing, and retrieving developer snippets: code, CLI commands, and notes. The core philosophy is **dump-first, organize-later**: zero friction on capture, smart retrieval when you need it.
Built with Tauri v2 + Svelte 5.
---
## Philosophy
- **Dump first, organize later.** Capture friction kills the habit. Retrieval is the product.
- **Local-first.** Your snippets live on your machine. No accounts, no cloud, no sync.
- **Intentional minimalism.** Every feature cut is a feature that doesn't need maintaining.
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## Features
### Quick Note
Global hotkey (`Ctrl+Shift+Space` by default) opens a focused floating window — anywhere, anytime, even when Faro's main window isn't focused. Paste your snippet, add a title and tags, save. It auto-detects the content type and language on save. No mode-switching, no navigation, no friction.
### Full-Text Search
FTS5-powered search across all snippet titles and content. Results update as you type.
### Auto Content Detection
highlight.js inspects content on save and automatically classifies it as `code`, `cli`, or `text`, plus detects the specific language (Rust, Python, bash, SQL, etc.) and creates system tags. You can override the type manually.
**Left panel** — timeline navigation, tag browser with inline filter, new snippet button, settings access.
**Center panel** — full-text search bar, snippet list with type icons and 2-line previews, tag chips (user tags and auto-detected language tags are visually distinct).
**Right panel** — snippet content, directly editable in place. Explicit save keeps accidental edits from destroying data.
### Tag System
Two tag sources coexist on each snippet:
- **User tags**: whatever you type in the tags field
- **System tags**: auto-detected language labels (e.g. `rust`, `python`, `bash`)
Both are browsable from the left panel. Clicking a tag filters the center panel to matching snippets.
- Tauri v2 system dependencies — see the [Tauri prerequisites guide](https://v2.tauri.app/start/prerequisites/) for your OS
**Install dependencies:**
```bash
pnpm install
```
**Run in development:**
```bash
pnpm tauri dev
```
**Build a release binary:**
```bash
pnpm tauri build
```
The installer/binary lands in `src-tauri/target/release/bundle/`.
---
## Name & Identity
**Faro** — Spanish/Portuguese for *lighthouse*. A reference tool that helps you find things. The purple accent aligns with dusk and lighthouse imagery, which is either a happy accident or destiny, depending on how dramatic you're feeling.
