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Desktop Application Guide

The GUI is a visual frontend over the same core engine used by CLI and Python API.

Operation Types

The operation dropdown has two values:

  • Index
  • Rollback

Meta Merge and Meta Merge Delete are no longer available operations in v4.

Index Workflow

  1. Select a file or directory target.
  2. Choose output mode (View only, Single file, or Multi-file).
  3. Configure options such as Extract EXIF metadata, Rename files, and hash preferences.
  4. Run the job and review Output/Log tabs.

Relationship classification is automatic in Index mode unless sidecar detection is disabled in configuration.

Output Conventions

When in-place output is active, the GUI writes:

  • File scope: <filename>_idx.json
  • Directory scope: <dirname>_idxd.json

Legacy _meta*.json naming is not used for new output.

Rename Behavior

  • Rename is available with Index operations.
  • Enabling rename performs deterministic storage-name renames and dedup-aware handling where applicable.
  • Dry-run can preview rename activity without disk mutations.

Rollback Workflow

Rollback restores files from sidecar/aggregate metadata sources and supports:

  • Flat restore
  • Hash verification toggle
  • Force overwrite
  • Skip duplicates
  • Restore sidecars toggle (legacy path support)

Rollback result output is a human-readable summary plus execution log.

Session Compatibility

If a saved session contains legacy pre-v4 merge operation values, the GUI falls back to index on load.

Notes For Future UI Review

With only two operation types, a segmented control may eventually replace the dropdown. Current behavior intentionally preserves layout stability.