Automattic / Automattic/cortext

Ship Cortext Desktop for Windows

Open
#446 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
area: desktop area: distribution priority: medium type: enhancement
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
51
Forks
2
Avg merge
3h 12m
Merged PRs (30d)
8

Description

## Goal

Cortext Desktop is currently limited to macOS. Bring the same local workspace to Windows without asking users to install or configure WordPress themselves.

## Tasks

- [ ] Build a Windows application and installer from the existing Desktop code, including the bundled runtime and Cortext plugin.
- [ ] Adapt process management, filesystem locations, ports, and first-launch setup to Windows while keeping workspace data outside replaceable application files.
- [ ] Preserve the workspace across application restarts, upgrades, repairs, and normal uninstall flows.
- [ ] Add Windows code signing, release artifacts, checksums, and update-channel support to the release process.

## Acceptance criteria

- A user can install Cortext Desktop on a supported Windows system without installing WordPress, PHP, or a database separately.
- First launch creates and opens a working local workspace.
- Pages and collections remain available after restarting and updating the application.
- The release process produces a signed installer and checksum through the normal Cortext release workflow.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by locating the existing Desktop code and the normal Cortext release workflow. Map the platform-specific process management, filesystem, ports, first-launch setup, installer, signing, and update steps before implementation. Done means a supported Windows user can install and launch a self-contained workspace, preserve data through restarts and upgrades, and receive signed release artifacts with checksums.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, php, wordpress
Domain
desktop, release
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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