Run from source

For contributors, or if you'd rather build the .exe yourself. Since 2.0 the app is written in Rust with Tauri.

What you need

Windows 10 or 11 (WebView2 is already part of Windows).
Rust and the MSVC build tools.
Node.js.

Run

git clone https://github.com/lennmoe/vnrpc
cd vnrpc
npm install
npm run dev

Keep your real data apart

Set the VNRPC_DATA_DIR environment variable to a test folder: the app then keeps its settings and Library there instead of %APPDATA%, and can run next to your normal copy.

Build the .exe

npm run build

Close the app first. The result is src-tauri\target\release\vnrpc.exe (published as VisualNovelRPC.exe).

Tests and formatting

cd src-tauri
cargo test
cargo fmt
cd ..
npx prettier --write "ui/**/*.{js,css,html}"

Project layout

The engine is in Rust (src-tauri/src). The interface is plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript modules (ui/), with no build step.

src-tauri/src	What
`engine.rs, state.rs`	The loop: detection, reading time, idle mode, Discord.
`engines.rs, title_parser.rs`	Engine detection, title cleaning, chapter and route parsing.
`config.rs, vndb.rs, vndb_list.rs, steam.rs`	Library files, VNDB search, covers, list, rating and wishlist.
`discord.rs`	Rich Presence over Discord's IPC pipe.
`screenshots.rs, capture.rs, hotkey.rs, sound.rs`	Capture key, window capture, shutter sound.
`mascot.rs, ui_windows.rs, tray.rs`	Desktop mascot, speech balloon, toast, main window, tray.
`launcher.rs, backup.rs, updater.rs, autostart.rs`	Play (Locale Emulator, NTLEA), export and import, updates, startup.
`images.rs, clipboard.rs, shell.rs, winapi.rs`	Thumbnails, clipboard, Explorer, Win32.
`commands/`	What the windows can call, by feature.

ui/js	What
`pages/`	One file per page: home, cover, library, game, wishlist, screenshots, share, settings, what's new.
`components/`	Chart, share card, theme tab, hotkey input, Play, release notes, update, Discord button.
`popups/`	The mascot, its speech balloon, the screenshot toast.
`app.js, router.js, store.js, ui.js`	Startup, navigation, shared state, small widgets.

Version 1.x was a Python app. Its code is still in the repository's history if you need it.