Building from source

Building from source is useful when you want to test changes locally or work on the app itself. Requires Node.js 24 LTS and npm 11.19.0 or newer. npm install also downloads the pinned FFmpeg and FFprobe build into vendor/ffmpeg and checks its SHA-256; it is built from source in VideoCull-FFmpeg, which also publishes its complete corresponding source. If npm --version is below 11.19.0, run npm install --global npm@11.19.0 before npm ci.

git clone https://github.com/StippieDot/VideoCull.git
cd VideoCull
npm ci
npm run dev

Common commands

Command	Description
`npm run dev`	Vite plus Electron with hot reload
`npm test`	Run the Vitest suite once
`npm run test:renderer`	Run the renderer integration tests
`npm run test:watch`	Run Vitest in watch mode
`npm run coverage`	Generate coverage reports
`npm run test:ci`	IPC contract check, backend and test TypeScript checks, and full coverage run
`npm run test:e2e`	Build the renderer and run the Electron Playwright flows
`npm run fetch:ffmpeg`	Download and verify the pinned FFmpeg build into `vendor/ffmpeg` (also runs on install)
`npm run test:cache-native`	Optional native cache regression lane
`npm run build`	Renderer-only production build
`npm run check:installer`	Validate Windows installer config and artwork
`npm run check:store`	Validate Store configuration without requiring a new Store version
`npm run check:store:strict`	Validate Store configuration and require a version newer than the submitted baseline
`npm run check:ipc`	Validate preload and type IPC contract coverage
`npm run test:profile`	Run profile bootstrap and storage compatibility tests
`npm run test:store`	Run Store packaging, distribution, guard, and transition tests
`npm run cleanup:cache`	Clean old cache and thumbnail clutter
`npm run package`	Full build plus Windows installer
`npm run package:store`	Build and validate the unsigned x64 Store APPX candidate
`npm run validate:store-package`	Validate the generated APPX identity, manifest, contents, and version
`npm run verify:store-installed`	Verify an installed Store package and its shared/package-specific paths

Notes

npm run test:ci is the normal local verification path.
Backend files under electron/ stay plain JavaScript with no build step. A file opts into type checking with // @ts-check and JSDoc types imported from src/types.ts; tsconfig.electron.json checks them.
npm ci installs the Electron runtime. Dependency install scripts are disabled for better-sqlite3 to avoid npm’s implicit native rebuild; its bundled binary is used instead.
npm run test:cache-native runs the cache tests inside Electron. better-sqlite3 ships prebuilt Node-API binaries, so no native rebuild or C++ build tools are needed.
Development Electron sessions use a separate userData folder so local settings and cache do not mix with the packaged app.
E2E runs use their own temporary userData directory and do not touch your normal app data.
The Store APPX disables filesystem write virtualization so it can share the normal VideoCull profile and user-selected AppData cache locations with the direct edition. This requires Microsoft’s restricted unvirtualizedResources capability.

Getting started

Features

Reference

Help

Building from source

Common commands

Notes

​Common commands

​Notes

Common commands

Notes