ThinkComposer2

ThinkComposer2 is a modernized fork of ThinkComposer focused on a native Windows desktop experience.

Current Direction

• Native WinUI 3 application for Windows.
• Modern .NET codebase targeting .NET 10 for the new app surface.
• Legacy ThinkComposer package import through a bridge layer.
• Modern document format support with .tcdoc.
• Legacy .tdom and .tcom import support.
• View-only .tcview compatibility where appropriate.
• Light and dark themes inspired by VS Code.
• Reproducible publish and release scripts.

Status

The WinUI app covers the main editor workflow:

• Create, open, import, merge, and save documents.
• Render concepts, relationships, group regions, and visual complements.
• Pan, zoom, select, multi-select, move, delete, undo, and redo.
• Edit document structure through Explorer and Inspector panels.
• Edit concept details, markers, styles, tables, links, attachments, and generation templates.
• Export HTML/SVG/PDF, generate PDF/HTML reports, presentations, and printable HTML previews.
• Build portable release artifacts with manifests and SHA-256 verification.

Remaining product decisions are tracked in:

• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-08-winui-parity-audit.md
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-08-winui-release-guide.md

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or newer.
• .NET 10 SDK.
• Windows App SDK dependencies restored from NuGet.
• .NET Framework 4.8 targeting support for the legacy bridge/tests.

Build

dotnet build ThinkComposer.WinUI\ThinkComposer.WinUI.csproj `
  -p:Configuration=Debug `
  -p:Platform=x86

Run

dotnet run --project ThinkComposer.WinUI\ThinkComposer.WinUI.csproj `
  -p:Configuration=Debug `
  -p:Platform=x86

Open a legacy sample:

dotnet run --project ThinkComposer.WinUI\ThinkComposer.WinUI.csproj `
  -p:Configuration=Debug `
  -p:Platform=x86 `
  -- PredefinedContent\Business_Model.tdom

Publish A Portable Build

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\release-winui.ps1 `
  -Configuration Release `
  -RuntimeIdentifiers win-x64 `
  -OutputRoot artifacts\winui-internal `
  -UpdateChannel internal

The release script creates:

• artifacts\winui-internal\ThinkComposer.WinUI-Release-win-x64.zip
• artifacts\winui-internal\release-index.json
• per-runtime release-manifest.json
• per-runtime artifact-hashes.json

Verify the release index:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\verify-winui-release.ps1 `
  -IndexPath artifacts\winui-internal\release-index.json

Smoke Test

Run the UI smoke test against a clean published artifact:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\smoke-winui-ui.ps1 `
  -ExecutablePath artifacts\winui-internal\Release-win-x64\ThinkComposer.WinUI.exe `
  -DocumentPath PredefinedContent\Business_Model.tdom `
  -ExpectedTitle "Business Overview" `
  -StartupSeconds 8

Original Project

This fork is based on the original ThinkComposer project by Nestor Marcel Sanchez Ahumada.

Original wiki:

https://github.com/nmarcel/ThinkComposer/wiki