Desktop Application

The EFES-NG Prototype includes an Electron-based desktop application for managing and previewing projects without the command line.

Download the latest version of the EFES-NG Prototype desktop application from here by expanding Assets and choosing the installer for your operating system (-setup.exe for Windows, .dmg for Mac, .AppImage or .deb for Linux). On Mac, pick the …-arm64.dmg for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4, ...) or …-x64.dmg for Intel Macs (check > About This Mac if unsure). See the GitHub repository's README for complete instructions.

Creating a New Project

Click New in the toolbar to open the project creation wizard. Enter a project name, choose your XSLT stylesheets (EpiDoc, SigiDoc, or custom), and select a location. The wizard generates a ready-to-use project with all configuration files.

Opening a Project

Click Open in the toolbar and select your project folder (the one containing pipeline.xml). The app loads the pipeline and displays the node list.

Building & Watching

The toolbar buttons change based on the current state:

State	Available Actions
Ready	Start: runs the pipeline and enters watch mode
Building	Cancel: aborts the current build
Watching	Stop: stops the file watcher

Clean removes all generated files and caches (available when not building).

Node List

The left panel shows all pipeline nodes with real-time status:

• Gray dot: pending (not yet started)
• Yellow dot (pulsing): currently running
• Green dot: completed successfully
• Red dot: failed (error message shown inline)
• Dimmed: cached (skipped because inputs haven't changed)

A progress bar at the top shows overall build completion.

Composite Nodes

Nodes that contain sub-steps (like xsltTransform which auto-compiles stylesheets) are shown as collapsible groups. Click the chevron to expand and see individual child nodes. The parent shows a summary. If a child is running, the parent displays which one; if a child errors, the error bubbles up.

Item Progress

Nodes processing multiple files show a counter (e.g., 42 / 128) that updates in real time.

Node Inspector

Click any node to open the inspector panel on the right. It shows:

• Node type: e.g., xsltTransform, copyFiles
• Cache stats: how many items were cached vs. rebuilt (e.g., 120/128 cached)
• Description: what the node does
• Configuration: all node settings with special rendering for input references (from, files, dir, collect)
• Dependencies: upstream nodes (clickable to navigate)
• Outputs: declared output keys with file lists (expandable)
• Output directory: path to the node's output folder

The inspector panel is resizable by dragging its left edge.

Live Preview

Click Preview to open your site in a browser. The preview includes status overlays:

• "No build output yet": shown when the output directory is empty
• "Building...": blue animated banner during builds
• "Pipeline stopped": amber banner when the watcher is inactive
• Error toast: bottom-right notification with error details

The page automatically reloads after each successful build.

Exporting

Click Export to build your site and save it to a folder for deployment to static hosting. The export dialog lets you choose a destination folder and optionally set a path prefix for subdirectory deployment (e.g., /my-project/).

Log Panel

The bottom panel has two tabs:

• Log: timestamped log messages from the pipeline (node starts, completions, errors, watcher events)
• Messages: user-facing messages from pipeline nodes (e.g., xsl:message output from XSLT stylesheets), grouped by node

A badge on the Messages tab shows the count of new messages. Nodes that produced messages also show a badge in the node list; clicking it opens the Messages tab filtered to that node.

Log Files

The application writes log files to the default system location for troubleshooting:

• macOS: /Users/yourname/Library/Logs/EFES-NG Prototype/
• Windows: C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\EFES-NG Prototype\logs\
• Linux: /home/yourname/.config/EFES-NG Prototype/logs/

Replace yourname with your system username.