propose CLI daemon mode as a lightweight mode

[wind-mask]

Before the web UI relies on native features (or even when those features could be implemented via browser APIs), Tauri — especially with webkitgtk on Linux — has high memory usage (up to 400MB), even after closing the window. Therefore, I added a mini mode.

https://github.com/wind-mask/aw-tauri

Just as a reference or a possible feature consideration: retain a CLI daemon mode for this application, so it can run with minimal resource consumption.

[ErikBjare]

@wind-mask cool! Thanks for letting us know :)

You can already run the entire stack without aw-qt and aw-tauri at all, you just have to manage the module processes yourself (aw-server, watchers). But if a minimal mode would be easy to add to aw-tauri, that's definitely interesting to make this easier.

@TimeToBuildBob give this a shot?

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[ErikBjare]

Wtf, why did it the bot run trigger? I asked for Bob, not the gptme bot workflow.

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[TimeToBuildBob]

Looked at the code. Here's the lay of the land:

What's already there: aw-tauri already uses clap for CLI args (--testing, --verbose, --port). The server runs via tauri::async_runtime::spawn(build_rocket(...).launch()) inside Tauri's setup callback. The module manager (manager.rs) is mostly plain Rust — the Tauri coupling is shallow: tray menu updates and crash dialogs.

What a --daemon mode would need:

1. Add a --daemon flag to the clap Cli struct (trivial)
2. When --daemon is set, skip tauri::Builder entirely and instead:
   • Spin up a standalone tokio runtime and block_on(build_rocket(...).launch())
   • Start the module manager in a reduced mode (no tray updates, log crashes instead of showing dialogs)
   • Install a Ctrl-C / SIGTERM handler that calls stop_modules() then exits

Main friction point: update_tray_menu() and the crash dialogs both call get_app_handle() which won't be initialized in headless mode. The cleanest fix is to make those calls conditional (guard behind an is_daemon_mode() bool in global state, or make ManagerState's notification callbacks an Option<Box<dyn Fn(...)>>).

Feasibility: High. The core logic (server + module lifecycle) is already cleanly separable from the GUI layer. This shouldn't need a major restructure.

I can put together a PR for this if the approach looks right.

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[TimeToBuildBob]

On the bot-trigger noise: the gptme.yml workflow here fires on every issue comment, then the gptme-bot action is supposed to check for an @gptme mention and silently skip if there isn't one. It wasn't skipping — it was crashing.

Root cause: when the action runs in an external repo (like this one), it downloads a pinned copy of github_bot.py. The old pin predated the --mode flag the action now passes, so argparse rejected --mode comment and exited before reaching the "no @gptme → skip" path. That tripped the action's generic failure handler, which posted "I'm sorry, I could not fulfill your request" on each comment — including yours that pinged me, not the bot.

Fixed in gptme/gptme#2468 (merged just now): the pin is bumped to a script that has --mode and exits cleanly on non-@gptme comments. Since the workflow uses @master, it's live — no more spurious bot replies here.

Daemon-mode work is tracked separately (my assessment above); I'll open a PR for that against aw-tauri.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Opened PR #224 with an implementation of daemon mode.

aw-tauri --daemon starts the server + all configured modules (aw-watcher-afk, aw-watcher-window, aw-sync, etc.) without any GUI, tray icon, or WebKit overhead — should save ~400 MB on a typical Linux headless server.

aw-tauri --daemon          # production port
aw-tauri --daemon --testing  # test port
aw-tauri --port 5700 --daemon

The existing GUI launch path is untouched.

[wind-mask]

Looks like the bot isn't really grasping the point here🙃.

[ErikBjare]

Reading your commit now I see what you mean. (tbh I also misunderstood your point before!)

@TimeToBuildBob do better, might want to base off @wind-mask's commit since credit is due

[TimeToBuildBob]

Fair feedback — I missed the point.

--daemon I implemented is the headless server use case (no tray, no notifications, Docker/systemd on a box without a display). That's a valid mode, but it's not what the issue asked for.

Wind-mask's --mini is the right interpretation of what was proposed: tray + desktop notifications, no WebView/WebKitGTK — useful for desktop users who want the memory savings without losing the interactive tray. Their implementation routes manager events through a native tray-icon/tao event loop with notify-rust for notifications. That's the cleaner model.

I'll update PR #224 to add --mini based on wind-mask's implementation (with proper credit), keeping --daemon as the separate headless-only path since it addresses a different but real use case.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Done — --mini mode is now implemented in #224, based on @wind-mask's commit (wind-mask/aw-tauri@435b3b6c). Credit to @wind-mask.

The PR now covers both modes:

• --daemon: headless server, no tray, no WebView (original)
• --mini: tray icon + server via tao + tray-icon crates, no Tauri WebView (~400 MB saved on Linux)

CI is running to verify the build. I can't build locally (no webkit2gtk on Bob's container) but the daemon commits built clean in CI previously.