Tingly DS

Tingly DS is a small Go/Wails 3 desktop wrapper for https://chat.deepseek.com/. Its Go module is github.com/tingly-dev/tingly-ds. It uses the operating-system WebView rather than bundling Chromium and provides a normal application window plus a menu-bar/system-tray entry on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Preview

Behaviour

• The window opens on launch and remains available from the application icon and system tray.
• Clicking the tray icon shows or hides the window.
• The tray menu provides Show, Hide, Reload, Open in Browser, and Quit.
• Closing the window or pressing Escape hides it without ending the process.
• DeepSeek links stay embedded; unrelated HTTP(S) anchor links open in the default browser.

On Linux, tray visibility depends on status-notifier support in the desktop environment. Some GNOME installations require an AppIndicator extension.

User data and login persistence

Tingly DS uses each operating system WebView's persistent website-data store. DeepSeek cookies, local storage, and cache live outside the application artifact, so replacing the .app, .exe, or AppImage does not normally reset login:

• macOS: WKWebView data under the user's Library.
• Windows: WebView2 data under the user's local application data.
• Linux: WebKitGTK data under the user's XDG data/cache directories.

The packaged identity must remain stable for the WebView to find the same profile:

• application identifier: dev.tingly.tingly-ds
• executable/program name: tingly-ds

A binary started through the development workflow may use a separate profile. Changing the identity or manually clearing native WebView data can require signing in again.

Common requirements

• Go 1.25 or newer.

• Wails CLI matching the pinned module version:

  go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/cmd/[email protected]

Wails 3 is prerelease software. Re-run the complete native smoke-test checklist before changing its pinned version.

macOS

• macOS 12 or newer.
• Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install) for the compiler, iconutil, and codesign.

Windows

• Windows 10 or 11.
• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime. Current Windows installations normally have the evergreen runtime; otherwise install it from Microsoft.
• A native Go/Wails build environment. No NSIS or MSIX tooling is needed for the baseline .exe artifact.

Linux

• A desktop Linux distribution with GTK3, WebKitGTK, and system-tray/AppIndicator support.
• A C compiler and the development packages required by Wails. Package names vary by distribution; run wails3 doctor for host-specific guidance.
• Network access while creating an AppImage, because the Wails generator obtains its AppImage tooling during packaging.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/tingly-dev/tingly-ds.git
cd tingly-ds
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/cmd/[email protected]
go mod download
wails3 task test
wails3 task build

The native development artifact is written to bin/tingly-ds on macOS/Linux or bin/tingly-ds.exe on Windows.

Develop

go mod download
wails3 task test
wails3 task run

For file watching:

wails3 dev -config ./build/config.yml

Package

Run the same command on the target operating system:

wails3 package

It dispatches to the current platform:

Platform	Artifact	Notes
macOS	bin/TinglyDS.app	Ad-hoc signed for local use
Windows	bin/tingly-ds.exe	GUI executable with icon, manifest, and version resources
Linux	bin/tingly-ds-*.AppImage	AppImage with freedesktop desktop metadata

You can also call wails3 task package:darwin, package:windows, or package:linux explicitly on the matching host. Linux and Windows artifacts must be built natively; Linux requires CGO and its WebKitGTK libraries.

The generated artifacts are unsigned release baselines. Public macOS distribution still requires Developer ID signing and notarisation; Windows distribution should use Authenticode and an installer; Linux repository packages should be signed according to the target distribution. NSIS, MSIX, deb, rpm, and Arch packages are not part of the current baseline.

Native release verification

Before publishing a build on each target, launch the packaged artifact and verify:

1. DeepSeek loads and login succeeds.
2. close and Escape hide without quitting;
3. tray click and every tray menu action work;
4. login survives quit, relaunch, and artifact replacement;
5. unrelated links open in the default browser while DeepSeek links remain in the app;
6. upload, download, microphone, camera, clipboard, and notifications behave as expected for the native WebView.

Build metadata and Go tests can be checked on any host, but WebView2 and WebKitGTK runtime behavior must be exercised on Windows and Linux respectively.

The app and tray marks are DeepSeek assets downloaded from LobeHub Icons. Their exact source URLs, checksums, and Lobe Icons licence notice are recorded in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Security model

• No Go service is registered for page JavaScript.
• Wails simple event emission, native file-drop bridging, and release DevTools are disabled.
• Web permissions use the operating-system prompt/default policy.
• The sole raw bridge message can only request that a validated HTTP(S) URL be opened in the system browser, and only from the main DeepSeek frame.
• The Windows manifest runs with the caller's standard privileges and does not request elevation.

External-link interception is deliberately small and best-effort. DeepSeek can change its frontend or login flow, so repeat the native verification checklist after major website or WebView updates.