Veil

Veil is a Windows desktop overlay built with WinUI 3 on .NET 10.

The project focuses on a lightweight top bar and companion panels designed for everyday desktop use without getting in the way. The app combines launcher-style search, system actions, media controls, Discord notifications, weather visuals, performance monitoring, and Veil-only background maintenance.

What Veil Does

• Draws a compact top bar on the primary monitor, all monitors, or a custom monitor selection
• Opens a Finder-style launcher with apps, Windows settings links, and AI entry points
• Delegates the Finder button to Raycast when installed (configurable per-setting)
• Shows media controls with artwork, source switching, and optional volume controls
• Displays system stats and animated runners (Cat, Parrot, Horse)
• Surfaces Discord notifications in a dedicated panel
• Runs lightweight maintenance for Veil's own memory use
• Exposes a settings window for visuals, monitor targeting, shortcuts, and performance behavior

Tech Stack

• .NET 10
• WinUI 3
• Windows App SDK 1.8
• Win32 interop for hotkeys, monitor handling, tray behavior, shell actions, and window management
• TypeScript for the embedded Finder AI web UI
• Rust for the local Handy helper

Repository Layout

apps/
  desktop/
    Veil/                    Main WinUI desktop application
    Handy/                   Local Handy fork used by Veil
tests/
  Veil.Tests/                MSTest project for service-level coverage
scripts/
  dev.ps1                    Local hot-reload style development runner
  build-setup.ps1            Inno Setup installer builder
  release.ps1                Tag + push to trigger GitHub Actions release
artifacts/                   Generated publish and installer outputs
UnicodeAnimations/           Shared spinner/animation assets and support code
.github/workflows/           CI workflow definitions
Veil.sln                     Solution entry point
dev.cmd                      Convenience launcher for scripts/dev.ps1

Application Structure

Inside apps/desktop/Veil:

• Assets/: fonts, icons, web assets, logos, and runner frames
• Configuration/: persisted settings and normalization logic
• Diagnostics/: application and performance logging
• Interop/: native Windows bindings and monitor/window helpers
• Services/: app discovery, media, startup, tray, optimization, and shell integrations
• Windows/: top bar, finder, panels, settings, and Alt+Tab related windows

Runtime Requirements

• Windows 11
• x64 environment
• .NET 10 SDK
• Rust toolchain with cargo available on PATH
• TypeScript compiler tsc available on PATH

Why cargo and tsc are required:

• dotnet build for the desktop app runs tsc to rebuild Assets/Web/FinderAi
• dotnet build also runs cargo build --release for apps/desktop/Handy

Getting Started

Restore the solution:

dotnet restore Veil.sln

Build everything in debug:

dotnet build Veil.sln -c Debug -p:Platform=x64

Run the desktop app:

dotnet run --project apps/desktop/Veil/Veil.csproj -c Debug -p:Platform=x64

Run tests:

dotnet test tests/Veil.Tests/Veil.Tests.csproj -c Debug -p:Platform=x64

Development Workflow

For local iteration, use:

.\dev.cmd

This launches scripts/dev.ps1, which:

• watches apps/desktop/Veil
• rebuilds and restarts Veil when relevant files change
• ignores generated bin, obj, and Finder AI dist outputs
• exposes dev shortcuts for restart, process listing, cleanup, and help

Watched file types include:

• .cs
• .xaml
• .csproj
• .manifest
• .ts
• .html
• .css
• .json

Hotkeys and Interaction Notes

• Finder uses Ctrl+Space (disabled automatically when Raycast is installed and delegation is enabled)

Some behavior depends on Windows shell state, active media sessions, and monitor configuration.

Packaging

Build the local installer with:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\build-setup.ps1

By default this:

• builds Veil for win-x64
• stages the output into artifacts/build/Veil
• compiles the Inno Setup script at installer/veil.iss
• publishes the installer at artifacts/inno/VeilSetup.exe

The installer performs per-user install/uninstall behavior, registers an uninstall entry in the current user registry hive, and cleans up legacy Veil installer entries.

Release

Create and publish a GitHub release with:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\release.ps1 -Version 1.0.0

The release script requires a clean Git working tree. Commit and push your changes before running it.

This creates and pushes the v1.0.0 tag. GitHub Actions then builds the Inno Setup installer and attaches VeilSetup.exe to the release.

CI

GitHub Actions currently runs on Windows and:

• checks out the repository
• installs .NET 10
• restores Veil.sln
• publishes the desktop app in Release for win-x64

Workflow file:

• .github/workflows/build.yml

At the moment, the workflow does not run the MSTest suite.

Current State

• The solution contains the main WinUI app, the local Handy helper, and MSTest coverage
• Local settings, AI secrets, and downloaded speech models live under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Veil
• The README assumes a Windows-only development environment and does not attempt to support cross-platform build or runtime scenarios

Known Caveats

• Successful desktop builds depend on both cargo and tsc being available
• Some runtime features depend on local Windows capabilities or external services
• The cargo build step requires MSVC linker (link.exe) on PATH — run builds from a Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt or prefix with VsDevCmd.bat