# 2026-02-22
## 2200

Requirements:
- Need a better Revolt client that's cross-platform native
    - Ideally macOS / iPadOS / iOS / Windows / Linux / Android / Web
- Need the UI / UX to be top-notch and feel good in the hands, otherwise people won't use it
    - On top of this, it should also be _fun_ and _cute_
- Accessibility should be considered, but I do not have experience in this area, will need to do research
- Currently Revolt has a (now deprecated) web app and a native app that doesn't support custom endpoints
    - We're forking from Revolt, so don't need to worry about breaking changes on their end
    - Sticking with the name ermine cause I like it (stylized `ermine` all lowercase to be cool)
- Decided to try using Slint + Rust for a more bare-bones low-level approach
- Licensing
    - Slint requires GPLv3 without a paid license - fine with this
    - Revolt is also AGPLv3
    - Code I write will be MIT as I don't want to hinder people re-using anything for any reason
- Have already spent a number of hours 100% vibe coding a prototype
    - Used Flutter + Dart (was considered for this iteration)
    - It worked okay, had a UX close to what I want as a starting point, so we know what we want is possible, we just need to build it
    - There are just too many bugs and there's no way to trust the code written underneath
    - Feel awful and ashamed of vibe coding, giving away my agency and creativity to an LLM and to big tech, rotting away my ability to create
- This is a project to push myself outside of my comfort zone towards something I've not done before, to grow beyond the limitations I've placed upon myself
    - Having seen what other people've worked on, over months, and the kind of dedication they have towards software quality, I know this is something that will take time to craft instead of something I can bang out in a few hyperfixated days

Resources:
- Slint
    - https://docs.slint.dev/latest/docs/slint/
- Rust
    - https://docs.rs/http/latest/http/
    - https://docs.rs/sqlite/latest/sqlite/
    - https://docs.rs/json/latest/json/
    - https://docs.rs/websocket/latest/websocket/
    - https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/testing/unit_testing.html
- Revolt
    - https://developers.stoat.chat/developers/endpoints/
    - https://developers.stoat.chat/api-reference
    - https://stoat.chat/api
    - https://revolt.handmadecities.com/api
    - https://github.com/livekit/livekit
- HMC
    - https://git.handmadecities.com/HMC/handmade-revolt

Notes:
- Slint reminds me a lot of when I tried messing with SwiftUI
- Trying to make things look pretty early on is a fools errand
    - Need to remember to make things work, then make them look nice
- Have not used Rust before so this should be interesting
- HMC Revolt seems to be on version 0.8.2 while Stoat is now on 0.11.5
    - Have an OpenAPI spec for the latest stoat, but no historical ones
    - Need to figure out what differences exist, if any, and how to support different server versions cleanly
- Seems like there's an `/api` endpoint with information about the server (if it's a revolt server)
    - App version
    - autumn endpoint (file server)
    - january endpoint (media server)
    - voso ?
    - livekit ?
        - livekit seems to be what's used for voice / video support
        - Currently not supported by HMC Revolt instance
    - main websocket
- Trying to use progenitor + openAPI spec to generate rust code, not going that well, and Gwen said it may be better to write these by hand
    - progenitor didn't work due to it operating under the assumption that endpoints only return one type, which this spec violates (https://github.com/oxidecomputer/progenitor/issues/950)
- Read through documentation mostly, taking it slow and making sure I understand how things are working, being patient with myself

# 2026-03-20
## 0220

Figured the API endpoint (`/api`) would be a good place to start. Now have successful deserialization.

Sidebars are important, so I added two, one for channel list and another for server list. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to integrate different instances seamlessly.