Schemas for the whole v1 surface: 38 methods, 9 events, 25 named types and the
JSON-RPC envelope, with x-privileged / x-transports / x-deadlineMs / x-errors
annotations that both generators emit as data rather than prose.
Four generators over one IR (contracts/codegen/schema_ir.py), so the C++ structs,
the TypeScript types and the OpenRPC document cannot disagree about what the
contract says:
gen_cpp.py -> core/generated/velox_proto.{hpp,cpp}
gen_ts.py -> extension/src/shared/protocol/
gen_openrpc.py -> contracts/openrpc.json
gen_cpp_conformance.py -> tests/conformance/cpp/fixture_dispatcher.hpp
Inbound parsing never throws: parse<T>() returns std::expected<T, ParseError> and
nlohmann's throwing ADL from_json is deliberately not emitted. Schema constraints
(minimum, maxLength, pattern, ...) become real runtime checks in both languages —
the daemon does not trust the extension and the extension does not trust the
daemon.
59 golden fixtures: a success case per method, 12 error cases, 9 events. Replayed
by tests/conformance/ against both the generated C++ and a live server over both
transports. tools/mockd serves the same fixtures with unhappy-path flags so the
GUI and EXT lanes never wait for veloxd.
run.sh also proves capture.offer fails open: with a daemon answering slower than
750 ms the client gives up and lets Firefox take the download.
core/generated/ is libveloxproto, a separate target from libveloxcore, which
still never sees JSON — see docs/adr/0009.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_012fgjnqFCS5h5L7gZTZo3rV
Velox Download Manager (VDM)
An IDM-class download manager for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS: multi-segment accelerated HTTP(S) downloading, resume, categories and automatic file distribution, queues and scheduler, speed limiter, a Firefox extension that captures downloads automatically, and clipboard link capture.
Name is a placeholder. Binaries are
veloxd,velox-gui,velox,velox-nmhost. Rename before first release if you want something else — do it in M0, never later.
Status
Phase M0 — scaffolding. No implementation code exists yet. This repository currently contains the architecture, the wire contract, the roadmap, and one brief per build lane so that several agents can work in parallel without colliding.
Start here:
| Document | What it answers |
|---|---|
| docs/01-architecture.md | Process model, why four binaries, framework choices and why |
| docs/02-roadmap.md | Milestones M0–M7, what runs in parallel, exit gates |
| docs/03-gui-spec.md | IDM-parity UI: every window, dialog, column, menu |
| docs/04-engine-design.md | Segmentation, resume, buffers, rate limiting, disk I/O |
| docs/05-extension-spec.md | Firefox capture, transports, pairing, media grabber |
| docs/06-risks-and-spikes.md | Snap Firefox, Wayland clipboard, and the other landmines |
| docs/07-packaging.md | .deb/PPA, Flatpak, AMO signing, install layout |
| contracts/README.md | The interface. Both sides build against this |
| CLAUDE.md | Rules of engagement for agents working in this repo |
Per-lane briefs live in docs/agents/ — one per agent, each with an owned directory list, a definition of done, and the files it must never touch. To dispatch the agents, use docs/agents/PROMPTS.md — six copy-paste prompts plus the worktree commands and the wave order.
Architecture in one picture
┌────────────────────┐ native messaging (stdio JSON) ┌──────────────┐
│ Firefox extension │◄───────────── or ──────────────►│ velox-nmhost │
│ (MV3, TS) │ loopback WS 127.0.0.1 + token └──────┬───────┘
└────────────────────┘ │
│
┌────────────────────┐ ▼
│ velox-gui (Qt 6) │◄──── JSON-RPC 2.0 over Unix socket ──► ┌─────────────┐
└────────────────────┘ $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/velox/velox.sock │ veloxd │
│ (daemon) │
┌────────────────────┐ │ │
│ velox (CLI) │◄───────────────────────────────────────┤ libveloxcore│
└────────────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│
SQLite + sparse files
The daemon owns all state and all sockets. The GUI is a view — closing it does not stop a download. The extension never touches the disk; it hands URL + headers + cookies to the daemon and gets a task id back.
Repository layout
vdm/
├── contracts/ ⭐ Wire contract: JSON Schema, fixtures, codegen. Frozen per version.
├── core/ C++23 libveloxcore — engine. No UI, no RPC, no SQL.
├── daemon/ C++23 veloxd — RPC server, scheduler, queues, SQLite store.
├── gui/ C++23 velox-gui — Qt 6 Widgets, IDM-parity UI.
├── cli/ C++23 velox — scriptable client.
├── nmhost/ C++23 velox-nmhost — Firefox native-messaging bridge (thin pipe).
├── extension/ TS Firefox MV3 WebExtension.
├── tools/
│ ├── mockd/ TS mock daemon — lets GUI + extension work before veloxd exists.
│ ├── testserver/ Deliberately hostile HTTP server (no Range, flaky, redirects, auth).
│ ├── bench/ Throughput and CPU benchmarks.
│ └── fuzz/ libFuzzer targets for parsers.
├── tests/
│ ├── conformance/ Protocol suite. Every lane must pass it. Gate for merging.
│ ├── integration/ veloxd + testserver.
│ └── e2e/ Playwright: real Firefox + real daemon + real file on disk.
├── packaging/ debian/, flatpak/, appimage/, native-host manifests.
└── docs/ Everything above, plus adr/ and agents/.
Toolchain bootstrap
Surveyed on this machine 2026-09-09 — most of it is already installed:
| Present | Version |
|---|---|
| git · cmake · ninja · g++ · gdb | 2.53.0 · 4.2.3 · — · 15.2.0 (C++23 ready) |
| qt6-base-dev · qt6-tools-dev · qt6-tools-dev-tools | ✓ |
| libcurl4-openssl-dev · libsqlite3-dev · nlohmann-json3-dev · libssl-dev | ✓ |
| libavformat-dev · libavcodec-dev · ffmpeg | ✓ |
| clang-format · clang-tidy · python3 · pkg-config | ✓ |
Only these four are missing:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
libqt6svg6-dev \ # GUI: SVG icon rendering
libsecret-1-dev \ # DAEMON: Secret Service for site logins
nodejs npm \ # EXT + PROTO: extension build, mockd, conformance runner
clang # optional: libFuzzer targets in M7
Node in the 26.04 archive may lag; if the extension toolchain needs 22+, use nvm.
Verify with cmake --preset dev && cmake --build --preset dev once lane CORE lands its
first target. Note CMake 4.2.3 is installed — newer than the 3.28 floor in
CMakeLists.txt, and it hard-errors on cmake_minimum_required below 3.5, so no
dependency may ship a pre-3.5 CMake file.