DREI is a web-based text editor built with Tauri that implements Emacs-style keyboard shortcuts and text navigation. The editor loads web content from a URL, allows editing with Emacs key bindings, and can save changes back to the server.

I wrote a blog post explaining what DREI is, why I wrote it, and what its limitations are.

• Rust 1.82 or newer
• System dependencies for Tauri:
  • Debian/Ubuntu: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev xdg-utils
  • Fedora: webkit2gtk4.1-devel
  • Arch: webkit2gtk-4.1

• Podman (or Docker)

make build

sudo make install

drei --selector .contents --url https://speechcode.local/blog/cosmic-chord

The project includes a Dockerfile that builds the Linux application in a container, avoiding the need to install build dependencies on your host system.

Use the provided script to build in a container and extract the binary:

./extract-binary.sh --build

This will:

1. Build a container image with all necessary build dependencies
2. Compile the DREI application inside the container
3. Extract the compiled binary to ./build/drei
4. Check if webkit2gtk is installed on your system

The script automatically builds the image if it doesn’t exist.

./extract-binary.sh [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --build              Force rebuild of the container image
  --image NAME         Image name to extract from (default: drei:latest)
  --output PATH        Output path for extracted binary (default: ./build/drei)
  -h, --help           Show help message

If you prefer to build manually:

# Build the image
podman build -t drei:latest .

# Create a temporary container and extract the binary
CONTAINER_ID=$(podman create drei:latest)

podman cp $CONTAINER_ID:/app/src-tauri/target/release/drei ./drei
podman rm $CONTAINER_ID
chmod +x ./drei

After extracting the binary, you need webkit2gtk installed on your system to run it:

sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1

sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1

DREI requires the following command-line arguments:

• --selector SELECTOR (required): CSS selector for the editable content element
• --url URL (optional): URL to load (HTTP GET) and edit (HTTP POST)
• --file PATH (optional): Local file path to load and edit

Note: At least one of --url or --file must be provided.

# Edit content from a URL
./src-tauri/target/release/drei --selector .contents --url https://example.com/page

# Edit a local HTML file
./src-tauri/target/release/drei --selector .contents --file /path/to/page.html

# Run the container-built binary with a URL
./build/drei --selector .contents --url https://example.com/page

# Run the container-built binary with a local file
./build/drei --selector .contents --file ./test.html

For development with auto-reload:

cargo tauri dev -- -- --selector .contents --url https://example.com/page

See CLAUDE.md for complete documentation of Emacs key bindings and editor features.

• C-f: Forward character
• C-b: Backward character

• M-f: Forward word
• M-b: Backward word

• C-a: Beginning of line
• C-e: End of line
• C-n: Forward line (next line)
• C-p: Backward line (previous line)

• M-e: Forward sentence
• M-a: Backward sentence

• M-}: Forward paragraph
• M-{: Backward paragraph

• M->: End of buffer
• M-<: Beginning of buffer

• C-d: Kill forward character
• M-d: Kill forward word
• M-Backspace: Kill backward word
• M-k: Kill forward sentence
• C-x Backspace: Kill backward sentence
• C-w: Kill region (cut selection)

• M-w: Save region to kill ring (copy)
• C-y: Yank (paste)

• M-c: Capitalize word
• M-l: Downcase word
• M-u: Upcase word

• C-t: Transpose characters
• M-t: Transpose words

• C-SPC or C-Space: Set mark (activate region)
• C-g: Cancel/deactivate region

• M-x: Execute command

• C-x C-s: Save page
• C-q: Quit application

If the application window appears blank, check the console output for errors. Common issues:

• Server not running: The URL must be accessible and return valid HTML.
• File not found: The file path must exist and be readable.
• Network error: Check firewall and DNS settings.
• Missing selector: The CSS selector must match an element in the loaded page.

If you see “Failed to load page” errors:

1. Verify the server is running.
2. Check that the URL is correct and accessible.
3. Ensure the server is configured to respond to requests from the application.

1. Verify the file exists at the specified path.
2. Check that the file has read permissions.
3. Ensure the file contains valid HTML.

If the binary fails to run with library errors, install webkit2gtk runtime dependencies (see “Installing Runtime Dependencies” above).

See the project repository for license information.