feat(desktop): add Quick Entry overlay with global shortcut by tink-bot · Pull Request #2340 · go-vikunja/vikunja

tink-bot · 2026-03-03T09:11:32Z

Summary

Adds a global-hotkey-activated Quick Entry overlay window (CmdOrCtrl+Shift+A) to the Electron desktop app for fast task creation without switching to the main window
Reuses the existing QuickActions.vue component, auto-selecting "New Task" mode in the overlay
Adds system tray with Show/Quick Add/Quit menu and hide-to-tray on window close
Uses BroadcastChannel API to notify the main window to refresh after task creation from the overlay

New files

File	Purpose
`desktop/preload-quick-entry.js`	Context bridge exposing `window.quickEntry.close()` IPC
`frontend/src/composables/useQuickAddMode.ts`	Detects `?mode=quick-add` URL param
`frontend/src/components/quick-actions/QuickAddOverlay.vue`	Wrapper component for the overlay window
`frontend/src/types/quick-entry.d.ts`	TypeScript declaration for `window.quickEntry`

Modified files

File	Changes
`desktop/main.js`	Full rewrite: quick-entry BrowserWindow, globalShortcut, system tray, IPC, security fixes
`desktop/package.json`	Added `files` array to electron-builder config
`frontend/src/App.vue`	Routes `?mode=quick-add` to QuickAddOverlay, transparent background
`frontend/src/components/quick-actions/QuickActions.vue`	Auto-selects "New Task" in quick-add mode, BroadcastChannel notify, skip navigation
`frontend/src/components/home/ContentAuth.vue`	BroadcastChannel listener to refresh on task creation
`frontend/src/i18n/lang/en.json`	Added `quickActions.notLoggedIn` translation key

Test plan

…annel

kolaente · 2026-03-03T09:44:10Z

auggie review

augmentcode · 2026-03-03T09:48:47Z

🤖 Augment PR Summary

Summary: Adds a global-hotkey “Quick Entry” overlay to the Electron desktop app for rapid task creation without switching to the main window.

Changes:

Rewrites desktop/main.js to start a local Express server, create both main + quick-entry windows, and add tray + hide-to-tray behavior
Adds a dedicated preload (desktop/preload-quick-entry.js) exposing close/resize IPC for the overlay
Introduces ?mode=quick-add detection and a QuickAddOverlay wrapper to render QuickActions in overlay mode
Updates QuickActions to auto-select “New Task”, avoid in-overlay navigation, and notify the main window after task creation via BroadcastChannel
Adds a main-window listener (ContentAuth) to refresh after quick-entry task creation, plus i18n + typing support

Technical Notes: Windows run with nodeIntegration: false + contextIsolation: true; external opens are routed through a protocol allowlist; the overlay is frameless/transparent/always-on-top and can be toggled via a global shortcut or tray menu.

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augmentcode

Review completed. 4 suggestions posted.

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augmentcode · 2026-03-03T09:48:48Z

desktop/main.js

-	  return { action: 'deny' };
-	});
+	mainWindow.webContents.setWindowOpenHandler(({url}) => {
+		shell.openExternal(url)


shell.openExternal(url) will open any protocol passed in (e.g. file: / javascript:) if a renderer can trigger window.open; consider validating/allowlisting safe protocols before delegating to the OS.

Severity: medium

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augmentcode · 2026-03-03T09:48:48Z

desktop/main.js

+		},
+	})
+
+	quickEntryWindow.loadURL(`http://127.0.0.1:${serverPort}/?mode=quick-add`)


The quick-entry window doesn’t set a webContents.setWindowOpenHandler, so window.open/target=_blank behavior may differ from the main window; consider applying the same “deny + safe external open” policy here as well.

Severity: low

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augmentcode · 2026-03-03T09:48:48Z

desktop/main.js

-		// On macOS it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
-		// dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
-		if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) createWindow()
+		globalShortcut.register('CmdOrCtrl+Shift+A', toggleQuickEntry)


globalShortcut.register(...) can fail (returns false) if the accelerator is already taken; consider handling/logging that outcome so the shortcut doesn’t fail silently.

Severity: low

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frontend/src/components/home/ContentAuth.vue

…indow open handler to quick-entry, log shortcut registration failure

kolaente · 2026-03-03T22:25:07Z

Things to fix:

there is too much space below the input - the window should only expand when the help icon is clicked
the input should be focused when the quick add is triggered
the help icon is in a new line, it should not do that

Emit opened/closed events when the help modal is toggled, so parent components can react (e.g. resize the quick entry window).

…lers - Move QuickAddMagic inside .action-input so the help icon sits inline with the input instead of on a new line - Focus the input via nextTick when quick-add mode activates - Add onHelpOpened/onHelpClosed to resize the quick entry window when the help modal is toggled

…ocus - Reduce initial window height from 500px to 120px so it only shows the input bar without excess space - Add quick-entry:resize IPC channel so the frontend can expand the window when the help modal opens and collapse it when closed - Wait for did-finish-load before showing/focusing the window so the input gets properly focused on each invocation

The v-focus directive fires when the input mounts, but in the Electron quick entry window the page loads before the window is shown. This means focus() is called on a hidden window and has no effect. Now check document.hasFocus() and if the window isn't focused yet, defer the focus call to when the window receives focus.

The previous approach using nextTick and window focus events didn't work because the Modal transition (v-if + Transition appear) and the Electron window visibility timing both prevent immediate focus. Use requestAnimationFrame to retry until focus actually lands on the input.

kolaente · 2026-03-03T22:49:31Z

auggie review

github-actions · 2026-03-03T22:50:58Z

Preview Deployment

Preview deployments for this PR are available at:

URL	Tag	Commit
https://pr-2340.preview.vikunja.dev	`ghcr.io/go-vikunja/vikunja:pr-2340`	latest
https://sha-3c4804b6d45bff4d6a4987e23081dbdd82e119c4.preview.vikunja.dev	`ghcr.io/go-vikunja/vikunja:sha-3c4804b6d45bff4d6a4987e23081dbdd82e119c4`	`3c4804b`
https://sha-d909b50989f7579aa23c44f53ed121c4c59ccdff.preview.vikunja.dev	`ghcr.io/go-vikunja/vikunja:sha-d909b50989f7579aa23c44f53ed121c4c59ccdff`	`d909b50`

The preview environment will start automatically on first visit. Subsequent pushes to this PR will update the pr-2340 image — the preview picks up the new version on restart. The per-commit URLs point to a specific version and will not change.

Run locally with Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/go-vikunja/vikunja:pr-2340
docker run -p 3456:3456 ghcr.io/go-vikunja/vikunja:pr-2340

Last updated for commit 3c4804b

augmentcode

Review completed. 2 suggestions posted.

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augmentcode · 2026-03-03T22:52:21Z

frontend/src/components/quick-actions/QuickActions.vue

+				searchInput.value.focus()
+				if (document.activeElement === searchInput.value) return
+			}
+			requestAnimationFrame(tryFocus)


The requestAnimationFrame(tryFocus) loop has no cancellation/stop condition if active flips back to false or the component unmounts before focus lands; this can keep scheduling frames indefinitely. Consider adding a guard/cleanup so the focus retry loop terminates when the overlay closes.

Severity: medium

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augmentcode · 2026-03-03T22:52:21Z

desktop/main.js

+
+ipcMain.on('quick-entry:resize', (_event, width, height) => {
+	if (quickEntryWindow) {
+		quickEntryWindow.setSize(width, height)


quick-entry:resize accepts width/height from the renderer and passes them straight to setSize; if these aren’t finite positive integers (or are extremely large), Electron may throw or behave poorly. Consider validating/clamping the values before applying them.

Severity: medium

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executed · 2026-03-04T00:08:49Z

@kolaente Hey! Thank you for this draft.

I saw following point in test plan:
"Overlay pre-selects "New Task" command".
Would be nice to double check if pressing "backspace" clears selection and allows to press arrow down to navigate to other options OR search OR run command.
Closing the tray on Enter makes sense as you don't want to loose focus, but a lot of times you actually want to add description/other fields too.
What if:

after Enter the new box pops-up right below the input field showing just created task title, same logic/CSS as tasks shown in search results. The box is in focus so subsequent Enter opens it fully in TaskDetail view with description field auto-focused for input. Otherwise if user don't want to continue filling task details - pressing Esc closes overlay.
next time app interface is opened it could reveal recently created task. This can help if user wanted quick task with title only, pressed Esc instead of Enter (closed overlay), but then decided to go back to add description for example.

Would be also great to expose Electron program argument as alternative to keyboard shortcut. This would allow user to manually register a shortcut with custom name available in Spotlight/Start Menu (OS quick search). Or even better - let user configure the name of such shortcut in app's settings and register such shortcut automatically.
CmdOrCtrl+Shift+A seems to me like a frequently used shortcut - even more so if app is focused - my favorite code editor already uses this combination - to avoid collisions it should be configurable in desktop app settings.

kolaente · 2026-03-05T14:18:13Z

Hey @executed, these are great points.

Closing the tray on Enter makes sense as you don't want to loose focus, but a lot of times you actually want to add description/other fields too.

I think the best way to make that work would be to have it open the task detail view when creating the task by pressing Shift+Enter (instead of just Enter). I do like the search-results idea that you mentioned as well though.

+1 for making the shortcut configurable. It should be possible to do this from Vikunja's settings.

kolaente added 8 commits March 3, 2026 10:42

feat(desktop): add preload script for quick entry window

ec6ce1b

build(desktop): include preload script in electron-builder files

82fa162

feat(frontend): add useQuickAddMode composable for quick-add detection

c6751b4

feat(frontend): add QuickAddOverlay component for quick-entry window

1060d59

feat(frontend): route quick-add mode to QuickAddOverlay in App.vue

baac3fa

feat(frontend): adapt QuickActions for quick-add mode behavior

d96ea82

feat(frontend): listen for cross-window task creation via BroadcastCh…

d41622d

…annel

feat(desktop): add quick entry window, global shortcut, and system tray

7860abd

tink-bot force-pushed the feat-quick-entry branch from fafe90a to 7860abd Compare March 3, 2026 09:43

augmentcode bot reviewed Mar 3, 2026

View reviewed changes

fix(desktop): validate URL protocols before opening externally, add w…

3addb01

…indow open handler to quick-entry, log shortcut registration failure

kolaente added 5 commits March 3, 2026 23:38

fix(frontend): add open/close events to QuickAddMagic component

eae0eae

Emit opened/closed events when the help modal is toggled, so parent components can react (e.g. resize the quick entry window).

augmentcode bot reviewed Mar 3, 2026

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