oats-debugging

Debugging the running oats app via MCP

oats ships a Tauri MCP server (tauri-plugin-mcp) that lets you drive the live app — list windows, screenshot, execute JS in a webview, and call backend commands. Use it to verify a fix in the real app, not just in unit tests. Pair this with superpowers' systematic-debugging for the methodology.

Enable the server

It is registered in .mcp.json as oats-desktop but disabled by default in .claude/settings.local.json (disabledMcpjsonServers). Remove it from that list (or approve the server when prompted) to use it. The app must be launched with the MCP feature:

npm run tauri:dev:debug      # = tauri dev --features mcp

Run it in the background with the sandbox disabled (cargo must compile and the GUI / network must spawn). It's a never-exiting dev server — don't wait on it to "finish".

Windows (what you'll see)

Routes live in src/main.ts. See oats-architecture for the full map. Quick version:

• settings — the settings window (pre-created hidden).
• library — titled "Meetings"; the main user-facing window.
• main — headless/blank BootstrapView; a blank screenshot of it is expected.

execute_js gotchas (these will bite you)

• Hidden WKWebViews are JS-suspended on macOS — execute_js times out until the window is shown and focused. Show the window first.
• Backend bridge: window.__TAURI__ is not exposed (the app uses ESM @tauri-apps/api). Call commands via window.__TAURI_INTERNALS__.invoke('cmd_name', args).
• No top-level await — make the last expression a promise; the tool resolves it.
• A blank window with no JS bridge usually means the Vue bundle failed to load — check the vite dev log for an unresolved import (the router statically imports every view, so one bad import breaks the whole graph).

Typical loop

1. Launch tauri:dev:debug in the background.
2. List windows; show the target window before any execute_js.
3. Inspect via JS / screenshot; reproduce the issue.
4. Drive the backend with __TAURI_INTERNALS__.invoke(...) to isolate frontend vs Rust.
5. Once root cause is found, fix per oats-vue / oats-tauri and re-verify here.