TLAH Studio

The official build targets Windows 10 build 19041+ and Windows 11 on x64. It is self-contained and installs per user without administrator privileges.

Why TLAH Studio

TLAH Studio is designed for work that needs more than a chat box. It keeps agent execution visible, gives each conversation an explicit workspace and permission boundary, and records the artifacts needed to understand what happened after a long run.

The app is local-first, not offline-only: chats and run records are persisted locally, while prompts or tool data leave the device only through providers, MCP servers, web/HTTP tools, remote execution, or update endpoints that the user configures or invokes.

Product highlights

Immersive living aquarium

The expanded sidebar opens with a framed, depth-layered aquarium composed from local artwork, articulated fish, water light, vegetation, particles, and bubbles. It uses GPU-composed motion with no per-frame UI timer, exposes Auto, Eco, Balanced, and High quality profiles in Settings → Appearance, and remembers pause/resume. Reduced motion, High Contrast, Energy Saver, a collapsed sidebar, or an inactive window automatically switches the scene to a deliberate still poster.

Execution controls

Approval arguments are read-only by default. Advanced edits require explicit opt-in and must be a valid JSON object accepted by the target tool before they replace the persisted invocation. Restricted execution is policy- and backend-based; it is not a VM security boundary. Use Full access only with trusted prompts and workspaces.

Create & Research workbench

Open Create & Research from the expanded sidebar, compact sidebar, message composer, or command palette. These are direct product surfaces—not prompt conventions.

Outputs are written to the active workspace. If no workspace is selected, TLAH Studio uses that chat's isolated %LOCALAPPDATA%\TLAH Studio\sandboxes\<chat> folder. The workbench displays the full path and exposes result preview, Open result, and Open folder actions, so users do not need to prepare anything outside the app.

Project snapshot

Live repository activity:

Architecture

flowchart LR
    UI[WinUI 3 Views<br/>ViewModels] --> ORCH[LlmService]
    UI --> WORKBENCH[Create & Research<br/>direct workbench]
    UI --> SETTINGS[Chat · Settings · Workspace services]
    SETTINGS --> DB[(EF Core + SQLite)]
    ORCH --> SELECTOR[Tool context selector<br/>15 or fewer initially callable]
    SELECTOR --> PROVIDERS[HTTP provider adapters<br/>OpenAI-compatible · Anthropic]
    ORCH --> ENGINE[AgentRunEngineV2]
    ENGINE --> CONTEXT[Token budget<br/>Compaction · Memory]
    ENGINE --> TOOLS[Tool registry<br/>Scheduler · Lifecycle hooks]
    WORKBENCH --> SPECIALISTS[Research · spreadsheet<br/>document · diagram]
    TOOLS --> SPECIALISTS
    SPECIALISTS --> FILES[(Validated workspace artifacts)]
    TOOLS --> GUARD[Safety classification<br/>Permission gate · Protocol guard]
    GUARD --> EXEC[Workspace · PowerShell · Git<br/>WSL · Docker · Remote]
    TOOLS --> MCP[MCP<br/>STDIO · Streamable HTTP]
    ENGINE --> EVENTS[Events · Checkpoints<br/>Artifacts · Tasks]
    EVENTS --> DB
    DB --> SURFACES[Activity · Changes<br/>Debug · Export]

The primary dependency direction is App → Core + Data, Data → Core, and Tests → Core + Data. Core owns orchestration and service contracts; Data owns EF Core configuration and SQLite initialization. See Architecture for runtime, persistence, tool-safety, and update flows.

Technology

Install

1. Open the latest release or the official download page.
2. Download TLAHStudioSetup-<version>.exe for Windows x64.
3. Run the installer, open Settings → Connection, and configure an Anthropic or OpenAI-compatible endpoint, model, and API key.
4. Select a workspace folder or keep the private sandbox, choose reasoning and permission modes, then start a chat.

The current Authenticode certificate is self-signed. Windows may show an untrusted-publisher warning even though the installer is signed. Release integrity is also protected by ECDSA-signed metadata and the published SHA-256 digest. See Release and signing.

Build from source

Requirements

• Windows 10 build 19041+ or Windows 11
• .NET 8 SDK
• Visual Studio 2022 with the Windows App SDK / WinUI workload for F5 and XAML Hot Reload
• PowerShell 7, Inno Setup 6, and Windows SDK SignTool only for signed release builds

git clone https://github.com/24373054/TLAH-Studio.git
cd TLAH-Studio

dotnet restore .\TLAHStudio.sln
dotnet build .\TLAHStudio.App\TLAHStudio.App.csproj -c Debug -p:Platform=x64
dotnet test .\TLAHStudio.Core.Tests\TLAHStudio.Core.Tests.csproj -c Release
.\tools\ci.ps1 -Configuration Release -Platform x64

Open TLAHStudio.sln in Visual Studio and launch TLAHStudio.App for desktop debugging. See Development guide and Contributing before submitting a change.

Repository layout

TLAHStudio.App/          WinUI shell, views, view models, motion, and assets
TLAHStudio.Core/         Agent runtime, providers, tools, research, artifacts, MCP, security
TLAHStudio.Data/         EF Core model, SQLite initialization, forward migrations
TLAHStudio.Updater/      Standalone update helper
TLAHStudio.Installer/    Inno Setup and signed release metadata
TLAHStudio.Core.Tests/   xUnit regression and release tests
tools/                   CI, signing, verification, and deployment scripts
docs/                    Current guides plus archived design records
deploy/download-page/    Download site assets and service configuration

Security and data boundary

• API keys use Windows DPAPI-backed protection and are redacted from diagnostic payloads.
• Conversations, settings, run history, and audit records are stored in local SQLite by default.
• Provider prompts/responses are transmitted to the endpoint selected by the user; web, HTTP, MCP, remote execution, and update operations also communicate externally when used.
• Tool requests pass through centralized safety and authorization. Full access intentionally bypasses ordinary restrictions but never the immutable catastrophic-operation guard.
• Tool Quality computes local aggregate metrics from tool names, statuses, and timestamps; it does not query prompts, tool arguments/results, or file contents.
• Security reports should use GitHub Private Vulnerability Reporting, not a public issue.

Read SECURITY.md and Privacy and data flows before using sensitive workspaces.

Documentation

Contributing

Issues and focused pull requests are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md (or 中文贡献指南), run the full CI gate, and include screenshots for visible WinUI changes. Please follow the Code of Conduct.

This is a publicly visible, proprietary source repository rather than an open-source grant. See LICENSE before using or redistributing the code. Third-party components remain under their respective terms; see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

Acknowledgements

TLAH Studio is built on .NET, Windows App SDK, CommunityToolkit, Entity Framework Core, SQLite, xUnit, TextMate grammars, and other projects listed in the third-party notices.