feat(v1.3.0): Compare (file+folder diff), Recent Files, file watcher, Tier 1 AI, find UX, preview maximize, double-click open fix

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🆕 New features
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Compare — file & folder diff (see DIFF.md):
- File → Compare → Compare Files / Compare with Saved / Compare Folders
- Right-click tab → Select for Compare → "Compare with selected"
- New 'diff' tab type rendering Monaco DiffEditor (side-by-side or inline)
  with Swap / Inline / Next / Prev / Reload toolbar
- New 'folder-diff' tab type — side-by-side tree powered by dir-compare,
  colour-coded (green added · red removed · yellow modified)
- Click a modified-file row in folder-diff → opens that file's diff
- Skips node_modules / .git / dist / build / out / .next / .cache / .vscode /
  .idea / __pycache__ automatically; content-hash comparison

Recent Files menu:
- File → Open Recent → submenu with last 15 opened files (persisted in
  settings.json, deduped, stale entries auto-pruned)
- Mnemonic accelerators &1–&9 for the first nine entries
- "Clear Recent Files" at the bottom

External file-change watcher:
- fs.watch per open editor tab (debounced 250 ms)
- Clean tab → auto-reload with toast
- Dirty tab → confirm dialog "Reload from disk / Keep my version"
- Deletion detection (warning + marks tab dirty)
- Knows about our own writes — doesn't fire on the user's saves

Find UX overhaul:
- Live gutter + minimap markers update as you type (debounced 120 ms)
- Yellow bar + ● dot in gutter on every match line
- Orange bar + larger orange dot on the CURRENT match
- Find status now shows "3 of 58 matches"
- Find/Replace input contrast fixed (always white bg + black text)
- Find in Files tab — recursive search via main process, results in panel
- Mark tab — multi-colour persistent highlights (yellow / cyan / pink /
  green / orange), survives Find panel close, "Clear Marks"
- Notepad++-style search-results panel — green header, per-file group with
  collapse, click any row to navigate (or open the file in Find-in-Files mode)
- Per-tab action buttons hide when not relevant (Mark / Find in Files
  modes only show their own buttons)

Tier 1 AI Assistant additions (see ROADMAP.md):
- AGENTS.md + .notepp/memory.md auto-injected into AI system prompt
- Quick-action chips: ✨ Polish · 🔧 Refactor · 📝 Comments · 🧪 Tests ·
  💡 Explain · 📓 Memory (opens .notepp/memory.md)
- Multi-model picker — separate model setting for Chat vs Agent

Preview pane:
- Zoom controls in the preview header (−, %, +)
- Ctrl+Wheel inside the preview body zooms
- ⛶ Maximise toggle — preview takes the full editor row
- Mermaid diagrams zoom via the existing mermaid scale-transform (the new
  buttons delegate to it so the SVG actually resizes)

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🐛 Fixes
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- Double-click a file on Windows now reliably opens it inside Note++
  (was: IPC race — main sent open-files before renderer registered the
  listener; now main buffers and flushes on renderer-ready)
- Open dialog: "All Files" is the default filter again + added category
  filters (Text / Config-Data / Source Code / Web / Whiteboard)
- restoreSession editor tabs now get type:'editor' so encryption /
  compare context-menu checks no longer misfire

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🗑 Removed
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Voice / Whisper / Dictation Buddy code:
- Removed entirely (src/whisper-main.js, src/audio-capture-worklet.js,
  DICTATION.md, mic button, dictation buddy UI/CSS,
  @xenova/transformers + onnxruntime-node deps)
- Multiple attempts (Web Speech API, transformers.js in renderer +
  proxy, main-process onnxruntime-node + AudioWorklet PCM capture) all
  hit assorted instability in Electron 28. Deferred to a proper
  whisper.cpp native-bindings rewrite in a future release.

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📦 Dependencies
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- + dir-compare (folder-diff backend)
- - @xenova/transformers, onnxruntime-node (voice removed)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: Yogesh Prajapati

DIFF.md

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+# Note++ — Compare (File & Folder Diff) Spec
+
+> Status: design locked, implementation in progress.
+
+Inspired by Diff.Net / WinMerge / Beyond Compare. Two flavours:
+
+1. **File compare** — side-by-side text diff of two files
+2. **Folder compare** — side-by-side tree of two directories
+
+Both render as new **tabs** (not modals), so they can coexist with editing.
+
+## Locked decisions
+
+| Question | Answer |
+|---|---|
+| File-diff engine | **Monaco's built-in `createDiffEditor`** (already in our stack) |
+| Folder-diff engine | **`dir-compare` npm package** (~150 k weekly downloads, MIT) |
+| Where the result goes | A **new tab** of type `'diff'` (files) or `'folder-diff'` (folders) |
+| Default view | File-diff: **side-by-side**, syntax-highlighted. Folder-diff: **side-by-side tree**, colour-coded |
+| Entry points | `File → Compare → ...` menu + right-click tab → "Select for Compare" / "Compare with Selected" |
+| Skip in folder-diff | `node_modules`, `.git`, `dist`, `build`, `out`, `.next`, `.cache`, `.vscode`, `.idea`, `__pycache__` |
+| Compare mode (folder) | Filename + size + content-hash. Equal if all match. |
+
+## File compare UX
+
+```
+Tab title:  ⇆  left.js ↔ right.js
+─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+Toolbar:   [⇆ Swap]  [≡ Inline]  [↑ Prev]  [↓ Next]  [↻ Reload]
+─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+┌──── left.js ────────────────┬──── right.js ──────────────┐
+│ Monaco diff editor          │                            │
+│ - removed lines red         │  + added lines green       │
+│ - modified lines yellow     │  + modified lines yellow   │
+│ - syntax-highlighted        │  - syntax-highlighted      │
+│ - line numbers              │  - line numbers            │
+│ - overview ruler shows      │                            │
+│   change density            │                            │
+└─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘
+```
+
+- Shortcuts inside the tab: `F7` next change, `Shift+F7` previous, `Ctrl+Shift+I` toggle inline ↔ side-by-side
+- Refresh re-reads both files from disk
+- Swap reverses left/right
+- Closing the tab disposes the diff models cleanly
+
+## Folder compare UX
+
+```
+Tab title:  ⇆  /left/folder ↔ /right/folder
+─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+Toolbar:   [⇆ Swap]  [☑ Show only changes]  [↻ Reload]
+Summary:   12 added · 8 removed · 5 differ · 247 equal
+─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+┌──── /left/folder ───────────┬──── /right/folder ─────────┐
+│  📁 src                      │  📁 src                    │
+│    📄 main.js          ✎    │    📄 main.js         ✎   │
+│    📄 old.js           ⊖    │    (missing)               │
+│    (missing)                │    📄 new.js          ⊕   │
+│  📄 package.json            │  📄 package.json           │
+└─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘
+```
+
+Status icons + colours:
+- 🟢 `⊕` Added — only in RIGHT (left cell empty, right cell green)
+- 🔴 `⊖` Removed — only in LEFT (left red, right empty)
+- 🟡 `✎` Modified — in both, content differs (both yellow)
+- ⚪ Equal — in both, identical (no highlight)
+
+Click a **file** row that's marked Modified → opens that file's diff in a new tab.
+Click a **folder** row → expand/collapse.
+
+## Entry points
+
+| Where | Action |
+|---|---|
+| `File → Compare → Compare Files…` | Two file pickers → opens diff tab |
+| `File → Compare → Compare with Saved…` | Compare current tab content vs a picked file |
+| `File → Compare → Compare Folders…` | Two folder pickers → opens folder-diff tab |
+| Right-click a tab → **Select for Compare** | Marks the tab as "left" |
+| Right-click another tab → **Compare with Selected** | Opens diff (current as right) |
+
+## IPC additions
+
+| Channel | Purpose |
+|---|---|
+| `compare-folders` | `dir-compare` invocation in main; returns a flat array of entries with status |
+
+(File compare reads via existing `read-file` IPC — no new handler needed.)
+
+## Out of scope (v1)
+
+- Three-way merge view
+- Inline editing in the diff view (it's read-only)
+- Saving diff result as a patch file
+- Compare two arbitrary tabs that are already open via drag-and-drop
+- Folder-diff content hashing for very large files (we skip >10 MB binary files)

ROADMAP.md

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# Note++ — Roadmap
+
+> Drawn from a 2025/26 deep-dive on the note-taking and code-editor landscape.
+> See the conversation-of-record (this repo's session notes) for the underlying research and citations.
+
+## Vision
+
+> **Notepad++ for the agent era. Local-first. AI that acts, with permission. No plugin marketplace, no cloud lock-in, no surprises.**
+
+Note++ sits in the gap between Notepad++ (great launcher, no AI) and Cursor / VS Code (great AI, heavy install, cloud-leaning). The bet is that a small, fast, local-first developer notepad with the right slice of futuristic features will keep mind-share that the bigger players can't.
+
+## Three Differentiators (already shipped, lean into these)
+
+1. **AI auto-magic** — click 🤖, Note++ detects → installs (prompts) → starts daemon → downloads `qwen2.5-coder:1.5b` → connects. No other local AI editor does this. Cursor needs an account, Continue needs config, Cline needs a model picker.
+2. **Local-first encryption + AI** — no other product in the landscape combines AES-256-GCM per-file encryption with a local AI agent. Cursor is cloud-only AI; Standard Notes has no AI; Obsidian's encryption is paid-plugin.
+3. **Lightweight enough to be a notepad, powerful enough to refactor a function** — boots in <2 s, has a real Source Control panel, runs Ollama locally, edits via Monaco diff preview.
+
+---
+
+## Tier 1 — Ship-now (days)
+
+Quick wins that keep Note++ on the standards curve. Each is small and self-contained.
+
+| Feature | Effort | Why | Status |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **`AGENTS.md` support** — read from repo root, inject into AI system prompt | 1 hr | Vendor-neutral standard adopted by Cursor, Codex, Copilot, Jules, Gemini, Windsurf, Zed, Cline (60k+ repos). Free compatibility with the entire agentic ecosystem. | 🟡 In progress |
+| **Project memory at `.notepp/memory.md`** — auto-loaded into agent context every turn | 2 hrs | Match Claude Code / VS Code Agent Skills pattern. Tiny but important — gives users a place to write project-specific instructions the AI will always see. | 🟡 In progress |
+| **Quick-action buttons** in AI panel — `✨ Polish` / `🔧 Refactor` / `📝 Add comments` / `🧪 Generate tests` | 2 hrs | Granola's $1.5B wedge is "polish my mess." Pre-canned Agent-mode prompts that Just Work. Reuses existing diff modal. | 🟡 In progress |
+| **Multi-model picker** — separate models for chat vs agent vs quick-actions | 3 hrs | Speed/quality tradeoff per task; Continue & Cursor both do this. E.g., `qwen2.5-coder:1.5b` for chat speed, `deepseek-coder:6.7b` for agent quality. | 🟡 In progress |
+| **Voice prompt input** in AI panel | — | Tried: Web Speech API (no Google API key in Electron), `@xenova/transformers` whisper-tiny in renderer (renderer killed on inference, both main-thread and proxy modes), the same in main process via `onnxruntime-node` + `AudioWorklet` PCM capture (worked end-to-end but had assorted rough edges). All voice/dictation code removed in v1.3 cleanup. Reintroduce via native `whisper.cpp` bindings when the broader Tier 3 voice work happens. | 🗑 Removed (deferred) |
+
+## Tier 2 — Ship-soon (1–4 weeks)
+
+The leverage moves. Each one moves Note++'s capability ceiling significantly.
+
+| Feature | Effort | Why |
+|---|---|---|
+| **MCP client support** — connect to community MCP servers (filesystem, GitHub, Brave Search, Postgres, etc.) | 1–2 wks | MCP became the universal tool protocol in ~12 months (~97M monthly SDK downloads). Implementing MCP client multiplies capability instantly. Anthropic's protocol; OpenAI / LF agentic-AI foundation backed it. |
+| **Inline AI completion** (Cursor Tab pattern) via Ollama FIM | 1 wk | Predictive ghost-text edits as you type. Cursor's Sept 2025 numbers: −21% suggestions, +28% acceptance once they predicted *where* the cursor jumps. Monaco supports this via `registerInlineCompletionsProvider`. |
+| **Repo-wide chat** — when a workspace folder is open, AI can read/search across files | 4–5 days | Closes the gap with Cursor's repo chat. Uses the file-tree code we already have. |
+| **Inline git diff gutter** (added/modified/deleted markers in editor) | 3–4 days | Already on `GIT.md`'s deferred list. Showed up in both research streams as the universal expectation. Cheap with Monaco's decoration API. |
+| **Local semantic search** via `nomic-embed-text` over open workspace files | 1 wk | "Find similar code" / "find file about X" without uploading anywhere. Karpathy's LLM-Wiki pattern + a small embedding model. Works offline. |
+
+## Tier 3 — Aspirational (months, transformative)
+
+Each one would be a marketing line on its own.
+
+| Feature | Why it's worth it |
+|---|---|
+| **Encrypted Vault** (multi-note encrypted workspace) | Expand encrypted-pad to a vault model, 1Password-style. Quick toggle between plaintext workspace and encrypted vault. Differentiated against everyone except Standard Notes (and they have no AI). |
+| **Background agents on git worktrees** | Cursor 2.0's parallel-agent fan-out, but local. "Try 3 approaches to this refactor in parallel" — Note++ already has git integration; `git worktree add` is the missing piece. |
+| **Voice-to-code** (full inline) — Whisper.cpp + Cursor-style voice mode | Real differentiator; Whisper runs offline; opens accessibility. |
+| **Vision input** — paste screenshot of a hand-drawn diagram → AI converts to Mermaid | Plays to Note++'s Mermaid + Whiteboard strengths. LLaVA-equivalent runs in Ollama. |
+| **Sandbox / permission boundaries** for Agent mode | Confirm-before-shell, confirm-before-multi-file-write, deny-list for sensitive paths. Pitch: "the AI editor that won't `rm -rf` your home folder" — competitive positioning amid the 30+ prompt-injection RCE bugs disclosed across Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro, Copilot, Zed, Roo, Cline, Junie in Dec 2025. |
+| **Mobile capture companion** (PWA) | The universal mobile-desktop-parity complaint. Simple PWA captures voice/text → syncs to a Note++ inbox file via cloud-sync. |
+| **Karpathy LLM-Wiki view** for `.md` workspaces | "70× more efficient than RAG for personal scale." Curated markdown handed wholesale to long-context model. Good fit for users with a Markdown notes folder. |
+
+---
+
+## What we **won't** do (research-backed)
+
+| ❌ Don't | Why |
+|---|---|
+| **Plugin marketplace** | #1 unspoken Obsidian complaint is plugin supply-chain risk. Skiff (Notion-acquired then killed Feb 2024) showed the danger of becoming dependent on one platform's ecosystem. |
+| **Graph view** | "Universally treated as eye-candy, not a workflow." Tana's typed-node supertags > Roam-style backlinks. Graph view is dead as a feature; schema-on-read is alive. |
+| **Cloud-native sync of notes** | Notion fatigue is real (HN/Trustpilot complaints cluster around lock-in, surprise billing). Note++ wins by *not* being that. Cloud session sync (already shipped) is fine; cloud-host of notes themselves is not. |
+| **AR/VR notes** | IDC: ~14M units by end-2025 vs ~300M PCs sold/year. No breakout note app on Vision Pro. Treat as long-tail bet, not a 1–3yr play. |
+| **Compete with Cursor/Windsurf on parallel worktrees, custom foundation models** | Different product category, they raised $10B+. Compete on **focused, lightweight, local-first**. |
+| **Proprietary "Note++ rules" file format** | AGENTS.md won the standards war in 12 months. Don't fragment further. |
+| **Brain-dead RAG over notes** | Karpathy's LLM-Wiki pattern (curated markdown → long-context LLM) is "70× more efficient" for personal scale. Skip embeddings for notebooks under ~10k notes. |
+
+---
+
+## Underlying research signals (for posterity)
+
+- **Cursor 2.0** (Oct 2025): own foundation model "Composer", parallel agents on git worktrees, voice control
+- **Windsurf** (Cognition): Cascade planner+executor split
+- **Zed**: GPL open-source, $32M Sequoia, deep Anthropic integration
+- **VS Code + Copilot**: Agent Mode + MCP GA, Next Edit Suggestions, Prompt Files, Agent Skills, Agents Window
+- **Cline** (~58k stars), **Roo Code** (~22k stars), **Continue** (~32k stars) — open-source agents winning
+- **MCP**: universal in ~12 months; ~97M monthly SDK downloads
+- **AGENTS.md**: 60k+ repos in a year
+- **Granola**: $43M Series B → $125M Series C ($1.5B val) in months
+- **Notion 3.0** (Sept 2025): AI Agents → **Custom Agents** (Feb 2026)
+- **Standard Notes** acquired by Proton AG (Apr 2024); **Skiff** acquired and shut by Notion (Feb 2024)
+- **Tana**: supertags = the genuine Roam-evolution
+- **30+ prompt-injection RCE bugs** in AI IDEs (Dec 2025 disclosure)
+- **Local AI**: Qwen2.5-Coder 32B matches GPT-4o on HumanEval; Ollama is the dominant runner
+
+---
+
+## What "done" looks like for v1.3
+
+Tier 1 + a chunk of Tier 2 (MCP + inline completion). Then Note++ has:
+
+- Standards-compliant AI hosting (`AGENTS.md`, `.notepp/memory.md`, MCP)
+- Multi-model + quick-action UX
+- Voice capture (where supported)
+- Inline ghost-text completions
+- Repo-wide chat
+- Plus everything already shipped (Git, encryption, whiteboard, agent diff)
+
+That stack alone moves Note++ from "good 2024 editor with AI" to "competitive 2026 editor with a clear differentiation story" — without taking on any of the risks (plugin ecosystem, cloud sync, AR/VR) the research warns against.

package-lock.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "notepp",
-  "version": "1.2.0",
+  "version": "1.3.0",
   "description": "Note++ - A powerful text editor",
   "main": "src/main.js",
   "author": "Yogesh Prajapati",
@@ -362,6 +362,7 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@excalidraw/excalidraw": "^0.18.1",
+    "dir-compare": "^5.0.0",
     "marked": "^18.0.3",
     "mermaid": "^11.14.0",
     "monaco-editor": "^0.45.0",