Snow App

[!WARNING] > macOS Users: If the app shows "damaged" or "cannot be opened" after installation, run the following command in Terminal:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Snow\ App.app

You will be prompted to enter your login password to remove the quarantine attribute.

High-performance cross-platform desktop application powered by Electron, React, TypeScript, and Rust.

中文文档

Overview

Snow App is a developer-focused desktop application that integrates AI-powered chat, terminal emulation, SSH remote management, Git tooling, and a built-in browser panel into a single unified workspace. It leverages a Rust native module for performance-critical operations such as SQLite storage, AI streaming, file watching, and HTTP requests.

Features

• AI Chat - Streaming AI assistant with markdown rendering, syntax highlighting, and configurable system prompts
• Integrated Terminal - Full PTY-based terminal emulation powered by node-pty and xterm.js
• SSH Management - Connect to and manage remote servers via SSH with credential persistence
• Git Panel - Visual Git diff viewer and repository management
• Browser Panel - Built-in browser with proxy support for web inspection
• MCP Support - Model Context Protocol integration for extensible AI tooling
• Codebase Explorer - Project file tree with workspace directory management
• i18n - Multi-language support with a locale system
• Settings Management - Granular configuration for API keys, custom headers, proxy, sensitive commands, and more
• Cross-Platform - Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Shell	Electron 37
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript 5.9
Bundler	electron-vite (Vite 4)
Native	Rust 2021 Edition (napi-rs 3)
Packaging	electron-builder 26
Terminal	node-pty, xterm.js 6
SSH	ssh2
Storage	rusqlite (SQLite, bundled)
AI/HTTP	async-openai, reqwest
Markdown	markdown-it, streaming-markdown, highlight.js
Icons	lucide-react

Project Structure

snow-app/
├── src/
│   ├── main/            # Electron main process
│   │   ├── app/         # Application bootstrap & window management
│   │   ├── codex/       # Codex compatibility import layer
│   │   │   └── importer.ts # Manual settings import for MCP, Skills, Plugins, and prompts
│   │   ├── ipc/         # IPC handler registration
│   │   ├── native/      # Rust native bridge
│   │   ├── pty/         # PTY & terminal management
│   │   ├── settings/    # Configuration stores
│   │   ├── snowCli/     # CLI path & profile management
│   │   ├── ssh/         # SSH connection management
│   │   └── utils/       # Shared utilities
│   ├── preload/         # Electron preload script
│   └── renderer/        # React frontend
│       ├── components/  # UI components (sidebar, main content, right panel)
│       ├── hooks/       # Custom React hooks
│       ├── i18n/        # Internationalization
│       └── utils/       # Frontend utilities
├── native/              # Rust native module
│   └── src/
│       ├── api/         # AI API integration
│       ├── exports/     # napi-rs export bindings
│       ├── mcp/         # MCP protocol implementation
│       ├── prompt/      # System prompt handling
│       └── storage/     # SQLite persistence
├── scripts/             # Build & utility scripts
├── resources/           # App icons & static assets
└── electron.vite.config.ts

Codex compatibility imports are started manually from the Codex compatibility entry in Settings; the app does not synchronize Codex files during startup.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• Rust (stable toolchain) - required for building the native module
• Cargo - comes with Rust

Platform-Specific

• macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools
• Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools (C++ workload)
• Linux: build-essential, pkg-config, and system SQLite (or use bundled)

Getting Started

Installation

npm install

Development

npm run dev

This starts the Electron app in development mode with hot module replacement.

Build

npm run build

This compiles the Rust native module and bundles the Electron application via electron-vite.

Package

npm run build:app

This builds the app and produces a distributable package via electron-builder. Output is written to release/.

Type Checking

npm run check

Runs both TypeScript type checking (tsc --noEmit) and Rust checking (cargo check).

Available Scripts

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start development server with HMR
npm run build	Build Rust native module + Vite bundle
npm run build:app	Build + create distributable package
npm run build:rust	Build only the Rust native module
npm run check	TypeScript + Rust type checking
npm run check:ts	TypeScript type checking only
npm run preview	Preview the production build

Native Module

The Rust native module (snow_native) is compiled to a Node addon (.node) via napi-rs. It provides:

• AI API streaming - Async streaming responses via async-openai with bring-your-own-transport (BYOT)
• SQLite storage - Embedded database via rusqlite for settings and chat history
• File watching - File system monitoring via the notify crate
• HTTP client - Full-featured HTTP client via reqwest with compression support
• MCP protocol - Model Context Protocol implementation

License

MIT - Copyright (c) 2026 MayMay