Development Hub

Central orchestration project for managing Rob's multi-project development ecosystem.

Overview

Development Hub provides:

GUI Application - PyQt6 workspace with project list, splittable terminal panes, and session persistence
CLI Tools - Scripts to create and manage projects following consistent patterns
Centralized Documentation - Docusaurus-based docs with Gitea Pages deployment

GUI Application

A PyQt6-based workspace for managing your development projects.

Running the App

cd ~/PycharmProjects/development-hub
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m development_hub

Features

Project Auto-Discovery - Scans configurable directories for git repos, with ignore patterns
Project Dashboard - View todos, goals, milestones at a glance with interactive checkboxes
Splittable Panes - Horizontal/vertical splits, each pane has its own tab bar
PTY Terminals - Full terminal emulation with TUI support (vim, htop work)
Drag & Drop - Drop files/folders into terminal to inject paths
Session Persistence - Remembers pane layout and open terminals on restart
New Project Dialog - Create projects with optional Ramble voice input
Context Menu Actions - Open terminal, editor, Gitea, docs, deploy from right-click
Documentation Preview - Preview documentation updates before applying changes
Discussion Integration - Launch orchestrated discussions for todos and milestones

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+Shift+T`	New terminal tab
`Ctrl+Shift+W`	Close current tab
`Ctrl+Shift+D`	Split horizontal
`Ctrl+Shift+E`	Split vertical
`Ctrl+Shift+P`	Close active pane
`Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right`	Switch panes
`Ctrl+B`	Toggle project panel
`Ctrl+N`	New project dialog
`F5`	Refresh project list

The `new-project` Script

The main tool is new-project, which automates creating a new project in the ecosystem:

new-project my-tool --title "My Tool" --tagline "Does useful things"

What It Creates

Gitea repository at gitea.brrd.tech/rob/my-tool
Local project at ~/PycharmProjects/my-tool/ with:
- CLAUDE.md - AI assistant context
- README.md - Project readme
- pyproject.toml - Python packaging
- .gitignore - Standard ignores
- docs/ - Symlink to centralized docs
Documentation folder at project-docs/docs/projects/my-tool/
Build configuration in build-public-docs.sh

Usage

# Full specification
new-project myproject --title "My Project" --tagline "Short description"

# Interactive mode (prompts for title/tagline)
new-project myproject

# Options
--dry-run       Show what would happen without making changes
--skip-gitea    Skip Gitea repo creation (for offline use)
--help          Show help

Architecture

src/development_hub/
├── __init__.py
├── __main__.py           # Entry point
├── app.py                # QApplication subclass
├── main_window.py        # Main window with menus
├── project_list.py       # Left panel - project discovery & context menu
├── workspace.py          # Right panel - splittable panes with tabs
├── terminal_widget.py    # PTY terminal with pyte emulation
├── project_discovery.py  # Auto-discover projects from configurable paths
├── dialogs.py            # New Project (with Ramble), Settings, Preview dialogs
├── settings.py           # JSON persistence for settings & session
├── styles.py             # Dark theme stylesheet
├── models/               # Data models (Goal, Todo, Milestone, Health)
├── views/                # Dashboard views (Project, Global)
├── parsers/              # Markdown file parsers (todos, goals, milestones)
├── services/             # Business logic (git, health checker, progress writer)
└── widgets/              # Reusable UI components

Key Classes

Class	File	Purpose
`MainWindow`	main_window.py	QMainWindow with menus, splitter layout
`ProjectListWidget`	project_list.py	Project list with context menu actions
`WorkspaceManager`	workspace.py	Manages splittable pane layout
`PaneWidget`	workspace.py	Tab container within a pane
`TerminalWidget`	terminal_widget.py	PTY-based terminal with pyte screen emulation
`ProjectDashboard`	views/dashboard.py	Project-specific dashboard view
`GlobalDashboard`	views/global_dashboard.py	Cross-project overview dashboard

Project Structure

development-hub/
├── src/development_hub/      # GUI application (see Architecture above)
├── bin/
│   └── new-project           # CLI scaffolding script
├── templates/
│   ├── gitignore.template    # Python .gitignore with docs exclusion
│   ├── CLAUDE.md.template    # AI context file
│   ├── README.md.template    # Basic README
│   ├── pyproject.toml.template
│   ├── overview.md.template  # Docs overview
│   └── updating-documentation.md.template
├── docs/                     # Symlink to project-docs
├── pyproject.toml            # Python packaging with PyQt6 dep
├── CLAUDE.md
└── README.md

Configuration

Project Search Paths

Projects are auto-discovered by scanning configured directories for .git folders. Configure in Settings dialog or edit ~/.config/development-hub/settings.json:

{
  "project_search_paths": ["~/PycharmProjects"],
  "project_ignore_folders": ["trash", "project-docs", ".cache", "__pycache__", "node_modules"]
}

Discovery rules:

Scans immediate subdirectories (not recursive)
Requires .git folder to be recognized as a project
Skips hidden folders (starting with .)
Skips folders in ignore list
Merges rich metadata from build-public-docs.sh when available

Gitea API Token

The new-project script needs a Gitea API token to create repositories automatically.

Setup options:

Environment variable: export GITEA_TOKEN=your_token
Config file: ~/.config/development-hub/gitea-token

The script will prompt for the token on first run and save it automatically.

Creating a token:

Go to https://gitea.brrd.tech/user/settings/applications
Generate a new token with 'repo' scope
Copy the token when prompted

Template Placeholders

When creating new projects, templates use these placeholders:

Placeholder	Description	Example
`{{PROJECT_NAME}}`	Lowercase project name	`my-tool`
`{{PROJECT_TITLE}}`	Display title	`My Tool`
`{{PROJECT_TAGLINE}}`	Short description	`Does useful things`
`{{YEAR}}`	Current year	`2026`
`{{DATE}}`	Creation date	`2026-01-07`
`{{GITEA_URL}}`	Gitea server URL	`https://gitea.brrd.tech`
`{{GITEA_OWNER}}`	Repository owner	`rob`

Development Hub manages these projects:

Project	Description
CmdForge	AI-powered CLI tool builder
CascadingDev	Cascading Development Framework
Orchestrated Discussions	AI Discussion Framework
Artifact Editor	Code Artifact Editor
Ramble	Voice Note Transcription

All projects follow the same patterns and can be created using new-project.

Overview​

GUI Application​

Running the App​

Features​

Keyboard Shortcuts​

The new-project Script​

What It Creates​

Usage​

Architecture​

Key Classes​

Project Structure​

Configuration​

Project Search Paths​

Gitea API Token​

Template Placeholders​

Related Projects​