IPC contract

src/core/ipc.ts is the single source of truth for the renderer ↔ main surface.

IpcApi (src/core/ipc.ts)
   │
   ├── preload implements it     `satisfies IpcApi`, exposed as window.api
   ├── main registers a handler  one ipcMain.handle per method
   └── renderer consumes it      window.api: IpcApi

Renaming or retyping a method here fails the build in all three layers. Shared channel maps and types keep implementations aligned; the IPC tests check method/channel coverage.

Channels

Channel names live in two as const maps beside the interface — IPC_INVOKE for request/response and IPC_EVENT for main → renderer pushes. Keys are method names, so the mapping is mechanical.

export const IPC_INVOKE = { ping: "app:ping", pickConfig: "config:pick", … } as const;
export const IPC_EVENT  = { themeChanged: "theme:changed", updateStatus: "update:status", … } as const;

The surface

Group	Methods
Config	getStartupConfig, pickConfig, unloadConfig
Input	pickInput, loadInput, pathForFile, unloadInput
Session	saveSession, clearSession, getSessionInfo, getRecent
Export	exportLabels
Prepare	pickSplitFile, analyzeSplitFile, runSplit, pickPrepareFiles, pickJoinFiles, analyzeJoinFiles, runJoin
Update	onUpdateStatus, installUpdate, checkForUpdates, openExternal
Shell	revealPath
Chrome	getTheme, onThemeChange, onSetMode, setMenuContext
Settings	getAppInfo, getSettings, setSettings, resetSettings, onOpenSettings
Network log	getNetworkLog, onNetworkLog
Liveness	ping

Subscriptions return an unsubscribe

Every on* method returns a teardown function rather than needing a matching off*:

onThemeChange: (listener: ThemeListener) => () => void;

The renderer calls them in a useEffect cleanup. There is no channel name at the call site and the returned cleanup removes the listener.

Response shapes carry their own failure

Config loading returns a discriminated result so normal outcomes can be handled explicitly:

type ConfigLoadResponse =
  | { status: "loaded"; config: AppConfig; path: string }
  | { status: "none" }
  | { status: "canceled" }
  | { status: "invalid"; issues: ConfigIssue[]; path?: string };

“The user cancelled the picker” is a normal outcome, not an exception. Distinguishing it from “nothing was found” and “the file was bad” at the type level means the renderer cannot conflate them.

Values that cross the boundary

IPC payloads are structured-cloned, so Date survives — but the session file is plain JSON.stringify/parse, where it does not.

That asymmetry is why reviveLabelMap re-coerces a restored session through the same coerceValue the input pipeline uses. Before it existed, a Date left as an ISO string, came back a string, failed value instanceof Date, and a record the labeler had finished silently reverted to incomplete the moment they resumed.

LabelMap uses null for “not provided” rather than undefined, because undefined does not survive JSON.

Adding a method

1. Add it to IpcApi in src/core/ipc.ts, with a doc comment.
2. Add its channel name to IPC_INVOKE or IPC_EVENT.
3. Implement it in src/preload/index.ts.
4. Register the handler in src/main/ipc.ts.
5. Call it from the renderer.

Keep the preload implementation and main registration in sync with the interface. src/core/ipc.test.ts additionally asserts that every method has a channel and vice versa, so a half-added method is caught even before the build.

Preload constraints

The preload is emitted as an unsandboxed .mjs — required for ESM. It exposes exactly IpcApi and nothing else; no ipcRenderer, no require, no Node globals reach the window.

pathForFile is the one synchronous method: it wraps webUtils.getPathForFile, which is how a dropped File becomes an absolute path now that File.path has been removed.