Architecture

AeroFTP is built on Tauri 2, combining a Rust backend with a React 18 + TypeScript frontend rendered in the system WebView.

High-Level Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Frontend                      │
│         React 18 + TypeScript + Tailwind         │
│                  (src/)                           │
├──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┤
│      Tauri IPC       │     Tauri Events          │
│    invoke() calls    │   emit() / listen()       │
├──────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┤
│                  Rust Backend                     │
│               (src-tauri/src/)                    │
│                                                   │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ │
│  │Protocols │ │ AI Core  │ │  AeroVault       │ │
│  │(22 impls)│ │(streaming│ │  (AES-256-GCM-   │ │
│  │          │ │ + tools) │ │   SIV + Argon2id)│ │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────────┘ │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ │
│  │AeroSync  │ │ Plugins  │ │  Credential      │ │
│  │(journal, │ │(manifest │ │  Vault (SQLite   │ │
│  │ verify)  │ │ + hooks) │ │  + AES-GCM)      │ │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Backend (`src-tauri/src/`)

The Rust backend handles all protocol communication, encryption, and system operations.

Key Modules

Module	Purpose
`ai_stream.rs`	SSE/NDJSON streaming for 15 AI providers
`ai_tools.rs`	47 provider-agnostic AI tools (file ops, shell, vault)
`ai_core/`	Abstraction layer: `EventSink`, `CredentialProvider`, `RemoteBackend` traits
`sync.rs`	AeroSync engine: journal, checksum, retry, verification
`vault_v2.rs`	AeroVault v2: AES-256-GCM-SIV chunked encryption
`context_intelligence.rs`	Project detection, file dependency graph, agent memory
`plugins.rs`	Plugin lifecycle: install, verify (SHA-256), execute, hooks
`file_tags.rs`	SQLite WAL-backed file tagging with 7 preset labels
`cloud_provider_factory.rs`	AeroCloud multi-protocol dispatch
`license.rs`	Ed25519 license verification (dev-only)

Protocol Providers

22 StorageProvider trait implementations, each in its own file:

Server protocols: FTP/FTPS (ftp.rs), SFTP (sftp.rs), WebDAV (webdav.rs), S3 (s3.rs)
OAuth2 cloud: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, pCloud, Zoho WorkDrive, Internxt, kDrive, Koofr, Jottacloud
API key / session: MEGA, Azure Blob, 4shared (OAuth 1.0), Filen, FileLu, Yandex Disk, OpenDrive

The StorageProvider trait defines 18 methods: connect, disconnect, list, upload, download, delete, rename, mkdir, stat, search, move_file, list_trash, restore_from_trash, permanent_delete, create_share_link, get_storage_quota, list_versions, download_version.

Frontend (`src/`)

React 18 with TypeScript strict mode, styled with Tailwind CSS. Four themes: Light, Dark, Tokyo Night, Cyber.

Key Components

Component	Purpose
`App.tsx`	Main layout, dual-panel file manager, connection state
`LocalFilePanel.tsx`	Local file browser (~730 lines, extracted from App.tsx)
`DevToolsV2.tsx`	Resizable panels: Code Editor + Terminal + AeroAgent
`AIChat.tsx`	AeroAgent chat UI (~1900 lines)
`SyncPanel.tsx`	AeroSync configuration and execution
`VaultPanel.tsx`	AeroVault container management
`CommandPalette.tsx`	VS Code-style Ctrl+Shift+P command launcher

IPC Pattern

Frontend-to-backend communication uses two mechanisms:

Commands (invoke): Request-response calls. Used for file operations, tool execution, credential management.
Events (emit/listen): One-way push from backend to frontend. Used for streaming AI responses (ai-stream-{id}), transfer progress, and tool progress indicators.

// Command (request-response)
const files = await invoke('list_directory', { path: '/home' });

// Event (streaming)
const unlisten = await listen('ai-stream-abc123', (event) => {
  appendToChat(event.payload);
});

Plugin System

Plugins are JSON manifest files paired with shell scripts. They are installed in the user's config directory and verified with SHA-256 checksums before each execution.

~/.config/aeroftp/plugins/
  my-plugin/
    manifest.json    # Name, version, tools, hooks
    script.sh        # Executed in sandboxed environment

Plugins can define custom AI tools and register for event hooks (file:created, transfer:complete, sync:complete).

CLI (`src-tauri/src/bin/aeroftp_cli.rs`)

The CLI is a separate binary target ([[bin]] in Cargo.toml) that reuses backend protocol code without any Tauri or frontend dependencies. It includes a batch scripting engine for .aeroftp files with 17 commands and single-pass variable expansion.

AeroFTP Documentation