Engine ↔ Website Communication — P2P Bridge & REST API

How Engine and Website Talk

Flowork OS has a unique architecture where the website (Vue SPA) runs inside Electron and communicates with a local Go engine. This creates three distinct communication channels.

Channel 1: REST API (Port 5000)

The primary communication channel. The Vue SPA makes HTTP requests to http://localhost:5000/api/* for all backend operations:

• File I/O: Read, write, search, rename files in apps/ and nodes/
• Terminal: Execute commands, start background processes
• App Management: List installed apps, upload .flow packages
• Workflows: Create, execute, and manage visual workflows
• Knowledge Bank: Store and retrieve AI memory

Channel 2: WebSocket (Port 5001)

Used exclusively by the AI assistant for real-time browser automation:

• open_ai_tab — Create a new browser window with a URL
• capture_browser — Take a screenshot of any tab
• execute_browser_script — Inject and run JavaScript
• get_console_logs — Read console output
• scrape_page — Extract page content

Channel 3: Preload Bridge

Electron's preload.js exposes the window.floworkDesktop API to the Vue SPA. This provides:

• Native OS access (file dialogs, shell commands)
• App tab management (open, close, switch tabs)
• Browser automation from the UI
• System tray and log viewer control

Detection Pattern

// Always check before using native features
if (window.floworkDesktop) {
    // Running inside Electron — full native access
    await window.floworkDesktop.openAppTab(id, name, url);
} else {
    // Running in standard browser — limited to web APIs
    window.open(url, "_blank");
}