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Taxon Docs

Quickstart Guide

Welcome to Taxon — a local-first, privacy-focused task and project manager engineered for personal focus and autonomous AI agent orchestration.

Taxon runs as a cross-platform desktop application powered by Tauri 2 (Rust) and React 18, with local SQLite persistence and bidirectional markdown file synchronization.

Prerequisites

Before running Taxon, ensure your system has the following toolchains installed:

  • Node.js: v18 or higher (LTS recommended)
  • pnpm: Fast, disk space efficient package manager (corepack enable pnpm or npm install -g pnpm)
  • Rust & Cargo: Required for Tauri desktop native compilation (rustup.rs)
  • Git: Required for Git Worktree orchestration and deliverables diff tracking

Desktop Runtime vs. Web Preview

Taxon can be started in two distinct execution environments:

EnvironmentCommandPurpose & Capabilities
Desktop Native (Tauri)pnpm tauri devFull Production Capabilities: Direct SQLite database access, local filesystem operations, Git worktree orchestration, native terminal & editor launchers, and .taxon/ two-way sync.
Web Dev Preview (Vite)pnpm devFast Frontend Styling: In-memory mock storage, instant hot module reloading (HMR). No native system calls or Git operations.

5-Minute Launch Tutorial

1. Clone & Install Dependencies

Clone the repository and install all frontend packages:

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/dulatif/taxon.git
cd taxon
pnpm install

2. Launch the Desktop Application

Compile the Rust backend and start Vite frontend with Tauri IPC integration:

Terminal window
pnpm tauri dev

(Note: The first compilation takes 1-2 minutes while Cargo downloads and builds Tauri plugins and rusqlite).

3. Create Your First Project

  1. Press ⌘N (macOS) or Ctrl+N (Linux/Windows) or click + New Project in the sidebar.
  2. Enter a project name (e.g., Portfolio Core).
  3. Select or enter a category name (e.g., Engineering).
  4. (Optional) Set a Vault Path: Choose an Obsidian vault or directory where .taxon/ markdown contracts will sync.
  5. (Optional) Set Workspace Paths: Choose a local Git repository root where external coding agents will execute tasks.

4. Create Tasks & Explore Views

  • Click Quick Add Task or press ⌘N to add your first task card.
  • Switch between List, Kanban, and Workflow (DAG) views using the view selector in the project toolbar.
  • Press ⌘K anytime to open the global Spotlight Command Palette.

Next Steps