kArtGallery

A fast, lightweight desktop app for browsing local image collections. Built for artists and creators who store their work in regular folders and want a better way to browse, organize, and review it.

Features (MVP)

• Browse images from any local folder with recursive subfolder scanning
• Virtualized masonry grid for smooth scrolling through thousands of images
• Adjustable display: tile size, gap spacing, crop-to-aspect toggle
• Sortable by name, date modified, date created, or file size
• Groupable by folder, month, or year
• Folder tree sidebar for navigation
• Dark theme

Tech Stack

• Electron — cross-platform desktop shell
• React + TypeScript — UI layer
• electron-vite — build tooling with HMR
• better-sqlite3 — metadata storage (in app data directory, not your image folders)
• masonic — virtualized masonry grid
• zustand — state management

Development

npm install
npm run dev

Build

npm run build

Project Structure

src/
  main/         # Electron main process (Node.js)
    db/         # SQLite connection, migrations, repositories
    ipc/        # IPC handlers (bridge between main and renderer)
    scanner/    # Folder scanning logic
    thumbnails/ # Thumbnail generation (Phase 3)
    utils/      # Path helpers, format detection
  preload/      # Security bridge (contextBridge API)
  renderer/     # React app (Chromium)
    src/
      components/  # UI components
      hooks/       # Custom React hooks
      stores/      # Zustand state stores
      styles/      # CSS
      types/       # TypeScript interfaces