Dipper Worker

Desktop AI Worker · AI collaboration assistant

Simple, efficient, reliable, economical.

Dipper Worker is a desktop AI collaboration assistant. Through conversation you can handle file operations, code execution, web retrieval, browser automation, image text recognition, document generation, and more, plus built-in browser, terminal, screenshot, bookmarks, and other desktop collaboration features.

Chinese: README_ZH_CN.md.

Features

• Simple: Add a workspace → fill in API Base / Key / Model → start chatting. Built-in catalog of 20 major model providers (DeepSeek, Zhipu, Tongyi Qianwen, Doubao, Kimi, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, etc.); one-click select and auto-fetch model lists.
• Efficient: Agent worker dispatches built-in tool packs (+ optional workspace plugins and MCP); after each turn, background learning deposits memory and reusable skills—smoother over time; explore subagents run in parallel by CPU core count.
• Reliable: Keys encrypted via OS secure storage (safeStorage); permission gates + authorized folders + path guards + network guards (SSRF protection); sessions persisted locally.
• Economical: Pure local desktop app—no subscription, no middleman service; ships with China mirrors for packaging, ready out of the box. Conversations automatically conserve tokens: oldest messages are trimmed to context budget before send, long sessions auto-compact with summaries, avoiding oversized context driving up per-request cost.

Desktop collaboration

• Built-in browser: Multi-tab, back/forward/refresh, bookmarks (library + floating overlay), browsing-data cleanup, browser fingerprint isolation, open local HTML / images.
• Built-in terminal: Default cwd is the current workspace; create / restart / end sessions.
• File panel: Browse the workspace tree; quick open / reveal in folder / download.
• Screenshot: Global hotkey; annotate (rectangle / arrow / text / brush), color picker.
• System tray: Closing the window keeps the app in the tray for quick restore; single-instance lock.
• Session management: Groups, drag-and-drop, pin, archive, search, rename, context compaction.
• Settings: AI providers, Agent parameters, permissions & authorized folders, shortcuts, appearance (theme / layout / font scale).
• Chinese / English UI: Language auto-detected; switch anytime.

Self-learning

After each turn, background silent deposition:

• User preferences & habits → memory/USER.md
• Project facts / decisions → searchable memory notes
• Reusable experience → skills/*/SKILL.md (auto-loaded by the agent next time)
• Reusable flows → workflows/*/WORKFLOW.md (mermaid orchestration + steps + rules; agent follows the flow)

Low-confidence results are discarded automatically; logs go to .dipper-worker/learning.jsonl and do not interrupt by default.

Workspace

• Single workspace: Sidebar + to add or switch directories; rename, change color / icon, open folder, remove (clears registration only, does not delete disk).
• Global config (includes secrets): ~/.dipper-worker/worker.json — Provider / API Key / Model / MCP / Agent params, workspace registry.
  • Optional retention block controls cleanup (built-in defaults if omitted): maxUserMemoryBullets, maxMemoryNotes, toolResultRetentionMs, learningLogRetentionMs / learningLogPruneMinSize / learningLogPruneIntervalMs.
• Inside workspace (no secrets): sessions/, session-groups/, memory/, skills/, workflows/, uploads/, downloads/, outputs/, plugins/; permissions, authorized dirs, and appearance profiles under <workspace>/.dipper-worker/.
• Workspace plugins: install packs at <workspace>/plugins/<pack>/ (manifest.json + entry). External packs share one plugin-host child process and one workspace trust domain (packs are not isolated from each other). Loaded on workspace start; hot-reloaded when files change (idle; selective by kind). reloadWorkspace() forces a full refresh. Trusted local code; cannot override builtin pack ids or tool names. Sample: examples/plugins/echo-pack/.
• Security: API keys live only in OS secure storage (secrets.json, safeStorage encrypted); getConfig is redacted before return; plaintext keys only via the dedicated reveal-api-key channel after in-app confirmation.

Architecture

Three process layers (renderer / worker / runtime); microkernel packages live under runtime/packages. Electron is one product host; the runtime can also run headless via runtime/hosts/cli.

┌─ renderer/ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Renderer (React)  ◀── contextBridge ──▶ Electron IPC           │
└───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                                │ ipcRenderer.invoke / on
                                ▼
┌─ worker/ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Main (Electron)  ◀── UtilityProcess ──▶ RPC                    │
└───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                                │ call / host-req · event / host-res
                                ▼
┌─ runtime/bootstrap ─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Agent Worker (UtilityProcess · agent-host)                      │
└───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                                ├──▶ LLM Provider  HTTP (OpenAI-compatible)
                                ├──▶ MCP Server    JSON-RPC 2.0
                                └──▶ Child processes  exec / scripts

Package	Role
@dipper/protocol	Wire messages, invoke allowlists, capability / pack IDs, plugin contracts
@dipper/kernel	CapRegistry, transports, PluginRegistry, disk pack loader
@dipper/agent	Runtime, sessions, tools, packs, runners (runtime/packages/agent)
@dipper/host-desktop	Desktop browser + OS secrets capabilities
@dipper/host-cli	File/env secrets (no browser)

Project layout

dipper-worker/
├── renderer/          # Layer 1 · React UI
├── worker/            # Layer 2 · Electron main / preload / IPC / desktop
│   ├── bridge/        # AgentBridge
│   ├── caps/          # browser Cap implementations
│   ├── desktop/       # tray / browser-panel / terminal / screenshot…
│   ├── i18n/          # main-process UI strings (e.g. tray)
│   └── ipc/
├── runtime/           # Layer 3 · Agent runtime (standalone headless capable)
│   ├── bootstrap/     # agent-host, child-host
│   ├── hosts/cli/     # embedded / child library API
│   └── packages/      # @dipper/* microkernel packages
├── shared/            # renderer ↔ worker type boundary
├── examples/plugins/  # Sample workspace tool packs
├── scripts/           # electron-dev / dist / clean / rasterize-icon
├── resources/         # Icons
├── skills/            # Bundled skills
└── docs/              # PACKAGE / PROTOCOL / MODEL-DATA / PLUGINS / workflow

Development environment

• Node.js >= 20
• pnpm 11+

Quick start

cd dipper-worker
pnpm install
pnpm dev   # build packages + electron main → Vite + Electron

Scripts

Command	Description
pnpm dev	Build runtime/packages + worker + runtime/bootstrap → Vite + Electron
pnpm build	Clean dist → build renderer + electron (includes build:packages)
pnpm build:packages	Clean and build @dipper/* packages
pnpm typecheck	Build packages + TypeScript check
pnpm runtime:smoke	Headless runtime smoke (no Electron)
pnpm icon:rasterize	Generate platform icons from SVG
pnpm dist	Icons + build + package for current environment
pnpm dist:win	Windows x64: NSIS
pnpm dist:mac	macOS arm64: dmg + zip
pnpm dist:linux	Linux x64: AppImage
pnpm dist:protected:*	Obfuscate electron side, then package (raise reverse-engineering bar)

Packaging: docs/PACKAGE.md. App↔model data: docs/MODEL-DATA.md. Wire protocol: docs/PROTOCOL.md. Workspace plugins: docs/PLUGINS.md.

License

Dipper Worker is open source under the MIT License.

Copyright © 2026 Dipper. All rights reserved.