feat: add desktop feature flag for headless builds

Make the desktop GUI (eframe/egui) optional via a `desktop` feature
flag (enabled by default). Build with --no-default-features for
headless server/Docker/CI environments where winit cannot compile.

Author: yiwang

Cargo.toml

@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ keywords = ["ai", "assistant", "llm", "memory", "local"]
 categories = ["command-line-utilities", "text-processing"]
 
 [features]
-default = []
+default = ["desktop"]
+# Desktop GUI (eframe/egui). Disable for headless/server/Docker builds.
+desktop = ["eframe"]
 # GGUF embedding model support via llama.cpp (requires C++ compiler)
 gguf = ["llama-cpp-2"]
 
@@ -81,8 +83,8 @@ regex = "1"
 once_cell = "1"
 fs2 = "0.4"
 
-# Desktop GUI
-eframe = { version = "0.30", default-features = false, features = [
+# Desktop GUI (optional — disable with --no-default-features for headless builds)
+eframe = { version = "0.30", optional = true, default-features = false, features = [
     "default_fonts",
     "glow",
     "persistence",

README.md

@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ A local device focused AI assistant built in Rust — persistent memory, autonom
 ## Install
 
 ```bash
+# Full install (includes desktop GUI)
 cargo install localgpt
+
+# Headless (no desktop GUI — for servers, Docker, CI)
+cargo install localgpt --no-default-features
 ```
 
 ## Quick Start

src/cli/mod.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ pub mod ask;
 pub mod chat;
 pub mod config;
 pub mod daemon;
+#[cfg(feature = "desktop")]
 pub mod desktop;
 pub mod memory;
 
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ pub enum Commands {
     Ask(ask::AskArgs),
 
     /// Launch the desktop GUI
+    #[cfg(feature = "desktop")]
     Desktop(desktop::DesktopArgs),
 
     /// Manage the daemon

src/lib.rs

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 pub mod agent;
 pub mod concurrency;
 pub mod config;
+#[cfg(feature = "desktop")]
 pub mod desktop;
 pub mod heartbeat;
 pub mod memory;

src/main.rs

@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ async fn async_main(cli: Cli) -> Result<()> {
     match cli.command {
         Commands::Chat(args) => cli::chat::run(args, &cli.agent).await,
         Commands::Ask(args) => cli::ask::run(args, &cli.agent).await,
+        #[cfg(feature = "desktop")]
         Commands::Desktop(args) => cli::desktop::run(args, &cli.agent),
         Commands::Daemon(args) => cli::daemon::run(args, &cli.agent).await,
         Commands::Memory(args) => cli::memory::run(args, &cli.agent).await,