🧩 HaexHub – The European “Everything App”

🌍 Vision

We are living in the computer age — nearly everyone owns multiple devices: a smartphone, a laptop, perhaps even a desktop PC or tablet.
Each of these runs its own operating system — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS — and hosts a unique mix of apps and data.

Unfortunately, interoperability between these devices is often poor or even impossible.
The reasons are many:

• Platform lock-in: Vendors like Microsoft, Apple, or Google design systems that make it easy to enter their ecosystem but difficult to leave.
• Fragmented software development: Developers face high technical and financial hurdles to support multiple platforms at once.

Creating and maintaining one secure, high-quality app for all systems can be almost impossible — especially for small teams, startups, and indie developers.

And then there’s distribution: each platform requires its own build, packaging, signing, and publishing process.
What if you could build your app once and deploy it everywhere?

HaexHub makes that possible — giving every web app or PWA superpowers.

With HaexHub, developers can extend functionality via extensions that run securely inside the app, with carefully controlled permissions for accessing system features (files, shell, database, etc.).

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🚀 Enter HaexHub

HaexHub provides a framework for building and running modular, sandboxed web extensions — web apps that run in an isolated environment but can communicate securely with the host.

Each extension:

• Runs inside an IFrame.
• Uses postMessage APIs to communicate with HaexHub.
• Declares required permissions in a manifest file.
• Can be added or removed at runtime.

Without explicit permission, extensions cannot access the file system, network, or external resources — ensuring privacy and security by default.
Once granted, however, extensions can unlock full desktop-like capabilities:
access files, execute commands, or interact with SQLite databases.

Imagine a web-based VS Code that can directly access your local shell and file system — something that current web IDEs can’t do.
With HaexHub’s permission model, such power is possible, but always under user control.

HaexHub itself is cross-platform and runs on:

• 💻 Windows, macOS, Linux
• 📱 Android, iOS
• 🧠 Desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones

All user and extension data is stored in a locally encrypted SQLite database.
To sync across devices, HaexHub can connect to a synchronization server — which you can even self-host for maximum independence.

🛡️ HaexHub is built on the principles of privacy, security, and digital sovereignty.

The user is always in control of their data — deciding what to share, and with whom.

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🧠 Technical Foundations

HaexHub is powered by Tauri — a secure, efficient framework for building native apps from web technologies.

Unlike Electron (used by apps like VS Code), Tauri:

• Uses native rendering engines (WebView2, WKWebView, WebKitGTK)
• Produces smaller, faster apps
• Enforces strong sandboxing and permission models

HaexHub builds upon Tauri’s security features, extending them to third-party extensions.

🏡 Local-first by Design

HaexHub follows a strict local-first architecture:

• Works offline without accounts or internet.
• Stores data locally in encrypted SQLite.
• Uses CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) for safe synchronization across devices — even with encrypted data.

Unlike many “local-first” apps, HaexHub doesn’t just cache data in the browser.
Your data truly resides on your disk, not under a browser’s limited storage policy.

Optionally, HaexHub can sync databases via a backend service — self-hosted or external — with optional end-to-end encryption.

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🧩 Extensions

Extensions are the heart of HaexHub.

Everything the user interacts with — from password management to file syncing — will be implemented as extensions.

There are two types:

• Official/Core Extensions
• Third-Party Extensions

Each extension is a web app bundled via your preferred frontend stack:

Vue, React, Svelte, Angular, Vite, Webpack, Rollup — you name it.

🔐 Example: Password Manager

A first official extension will be a Password Manager, built with Vue/Nuxt:

• Declares database permissions via its manifest.
• Manages login credentials locally in encrypted SQLite.
• Can tag entries (e.g. “Email”) for use by other extensions — such as an email client.

🗂 Example: File Synchronization

Another planned core extension will handle file synchronization:

• Syncs files/folders between devices and cloud providers (e.g. S3, Google Drive, Dropbox).
• Lets users define sync rules per device.
• Stores configuration securely in the local database.

💬 Future Extensions

• Calendar & Contacts
• Collaborative document management
• Messenger
• Browser & Payment Services (e.g., GNU Taler integration)

With this modular design, HaexHub can evolve into a true European alternative to WeChat — but open, federated, and privacy-first.

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🧰 Installation & Setup

📦 Prerequisites

Install the following dependencies:

• Node.js / nvm
• Tauri
• Rust
• Android Studio
• WebKit2GTK + GTK3

🐧 Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  librsvg2-dev

🦊 Fedora

sudo dnf install \
  webkit2gtk4.1-devel \
  gtk3-devel \
  libappindicator-gtk3 \
  librsvg2-devel

⚙️ Development

Make sure port 3003 is available (or adjust it in nuxt.config.ts and src-tauri/tauri.conf.json).

git clone https://github.com/haexhub/haex-vault.git
cd haex-vault
pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

🧭 Summary

HaexHub aims to:

• Simplify cross-platform app development
• Empower users with local-first privacy
• Enable developers to create modular, permissioned extensions
• Bridge the gap between web and native worlds

HaexHub is the foundation for a decentralized, privacy-friendly, European “everything app.”