Developer Guide

Developer Guide

This page is a practical map for engineers who want to read or modify the PlexyDesk source tree.

Read these first

• tasks/README.md - current work areas and implementation notes
• install-deps.sh - the fastest view of build and system dependencies
• Makefile - build modes, active runtime entry points, and source grouping
• include/plexy/plexy_ui.h - public client API
• PlexyUI API - generated reference page built directly from include/plexy/plexy_ui.h
• examples/hello_uikit.c - smallest useful UI example
• docker/README.md - package build workflow
• plexyshell.conf.example - runtime configuration surface

Key source areas

Path	What you will find there
src/renderer/	Compositing, window effects, dock, menubar, shaders, async renderer, and GPU configuration
src/backend/	DRM, X11-related display backend code, session management, and display backend selection
src/input/	libinput integration, focus policy, and input coordination
src/core/	Shell runtime, event loop, dock manager, drag/resize state, and display layout state
src/server/	Compositor-side protocol server
src/wayland/	Wayland bridge and XWM interoperability work
src/canvas/	Canvas rendering, text, layout, styling, and animation support
lib/	Client-side event loop and protocol support

Build workflow

Standard release build:

make

Verbose debug build:

BUILD_MODE=debug make

The Makefile groups sources by subsystem and applies different compiler and logging flags for debug versus release mode. Release builds enable aggressive optimization and link-time optimization.

Public client API

The main client-facing API lives in include/plexy/plexy_ui.h. It covers:

• application and window lifecycle
• widget creation
• layout primitives such as row, column, justify, align, padding, and gap
• state changes such as visibility, text, value, and enabled state
• styling helpers such as corner radius, fill color, elevation, and glass material
• event hooks for clicks, values, text changes, keys, and menus

Example-driven learning

The best small files to read early are:

• examples/hello_uikit.c
• examples/canvas_demo.c
• examples/drawer_demo.c
• examples/settings_panel.c
• examples/showcase_demo.c

Applications and experiments

The apps/ directory includes larger experiments such as:

• plexy_term
• plexy_browser
• plexy_clock
• fileman
• pcalc
• vim

Packaging and service helpers

• docker/README.md explains the Ubuntu Docker package flow
• scripts/systemd/ contains the user slice, service, installer, starter, and status helpers

Good follow-up pages

• Architecture
• Getting Started
• Examples
• Development Status