Asten

Asten is a local-first writing environment with a canon engine. The name is another name for Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing. The thesis is unchanged: let the machine be the editor, not the writer.

Asten is a Verne product. The desk is a manuscript editor with a binder, comments, find, page view, and track changes. The engine reads the page, keeps a gradual canon of what is settled and what is only proposed, and weighs the two on the Scales: attribute clashes, life after death, two clocks, routes, knowledge, relations, author invariants. Every mark explains itself and offers repairs the author owns. Word and Docs remain guests. No account, no sync. Asten never writes the prose; any AI feature follows the AI policy (D27).

Try the alpha

Release 0.1.0-alpha.1 has unsigned Windows x64 desktop and API builds. Linux x64 remains on the previous 0.0.1c release. The desktop app runs the engine on your machine, can open a sample novel, imports Word, Markdown, HTML and plain text, moves a project as one .asten file, backs up its library, and has an optional installed-agent or bring-your-own-key assistant (off by default; it explains, searches and proposes, never writes, and shows you the exact request before it is sent). The same workbench runs at https://asten.103.191.50.32.sslip.io/ with the real engine in a private sandbox per visitor, deleted 24 hours after the first visit; it is for trying Asten, not for manuscripts. How it is hosted: deploy/pre-alpha/README.md and docs/SECURITY.md.

Platforms

Current desktop releases: 0.1.0-alpha.1 for Windows x64 and 0.0.1c for Linux x64 (unsigned), and the hosted visitor copy in any modern browser (it has no assistant). Configured but not yet published: Windows ARM64, macOS 11+ (one universal build), Linux aarch64, and the Android and iOS shells. A browser can also talk to the local API. See docs/PLATFORMS.md for the support matrix, build recipes and signing.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.85 or newer (edition 2024; CI uses stable)
• Node.js 22 or newer
• pnpm 11
• Windows desktop development: WebView2 and the Tauri prerequisites

Run

pnpm install

# Terminal 1: local API
pnpm dev:api

# Terminal 2: browser desk
pnpm dev

# Marketing site
pnpm www

# Desktop shell (embeds the API, pairs itself)
pnpm dev:desktop

The API listens on 127.0.0.1:4317; the desk on localhost:1420; the site on localhost:4320. When no client is paired yet the API prints a six-digit pairing code. Type it once on the desk's pair screen; the browser keeps a token. More codes come from the desk's Guests panel.

Desktop data is stored in the operating system's application-data directory as asten.db. API development data defaults to data/asten.db.

Environment

Variable	Default	Meaning
ASTEN_BIND	127.0.0.1:4317	Listen address
ASTEN_DATABASE_PATH	data/asten.db	SQLite file
ASTEN_AUTH	pairing	pairing, owner, or off (refused beyond loopback)
ASTEN_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	built-in list	Extra browser origins, comma-separated
ASTEN_SERVE_DESK	unset	Serve a built desk (apps/web/dist) from the API
ASTEN_COOKIE_SECURE	false	Mark the session cookie Secure behind TLS
ASTEN_TRUSTED_PROXIES	unset	Proxies whose X-Forwarded-For is trusted, addresses or CIDRs

See docs/SECURITY.md for the threat model.

Workspace

apps/
  web/                    The desk: shared React frontend
  desktop/src-tauri/      Tauri shell; embeds the API
  www/                    Public site, legal record, crawl files
  addin-word/             Word task pane (guest; pairs with a code)
  addin-docs/             Docs sidebar (guest; pairs with a code)
crates/
  asten-ir/               Story IR: anchors, entities, facts, events, contexts
  asten-time/             Clocks, calendars, time parsing, temporal network
  asten-blocks/           Block model: patches, hash chain, merge, anchors, blame
  asten-diagnostics/      Codes, severities, diagnosis, suppressions, baselines
  asten-logic/            The analyses
  asten-perceive/         Language-agnostic perception, no models
  asten-ls/               Story language server protocol
  asten-engine/           Incremental engine and queries
  asten-auth/             Tokens, pairing codes, passphrases, rate limiting
  asten-domain/           Product types
  asten-application/      Use cases and the repository boundary
  asten-storage/          SQLite adapter and migrations
packages/
  contracts/              TypeScript API contracts, generated from Rust and drift-checked
  brand/                  Ink and paper tokens
services/
  asten-api/              Axum HTTP transport and SSE
  asten-prealpha/         Hosts one API per visitor for the hosted pre-alpha (D29)
deploy/
  pre-alpha/              Compose, nginx and README for the hosted pre-alpha
  release/                Local Linux release build (Docker)
docs/
  ENGINE_DESIGN.md        The engine design
  architecture.md         Crate layering and transport
  DECISIONS.md            Why things are the way they are
  ROADMAP.md              Shipped, in review, next, later, never
  PLATFORMS.md            Support matrix, build recipes, signing
  PARITY.md               What each client can do
  SECURITY.md             Threat model and auth modes
  API.md                  Calling the HTTP API: pairing, tokens, the stream ticket, every route
  BRAND.md                Brand guidelines
  HANDOFF.md              Current stage

Quality checks

pnpm check          # tsc + cargo check
pnpm lint           # oxlint + clippy -D warnings
pnpm test           # vitest + cargo test
pnpm format:check   # prettier + rustfmt
pnpm contracts:gen  # regenerate packages/contracts/src/generated from the Rust types
pnpm e2e            # Playwright: builds the current desk and asten-api, starts the API on 127.0.0.1:4391 with a throwaway database, pairs, runs apps/web/e2e
                    # first time only: pnpm --filter @asten/web exec playwright install chromium

The TypeScript contracts are generated from the Rust types with ts-rs (packages/contracts/src/generated, committed). The handwritten contracts in packages/contracts/src/index.ts are checked against them by src/drift.ts, so a field that changes on one side fails the type-check until both agree.

Licence

Asten is released under the MIT License; see LICENSE. The names Asten and Verne and their logos are not covered by it.

The engine design draws on the MIT-licensed dynodoc-engine reference. No code from the AGPL dynodoc application is used.

0.0.1c: The optional assistant supports installed subscription CLIs alongside API keys. Canon checks remain rule based, proposed facts require confirmation, and the assistant never writes prose. The native assistant completed a real bounded Claude subscription request. See installed agent connections and acceptance.