FlashKraft 🗲

A lightning fast, lightweight app size and memory footprint, no Electron bloat, OS Imager application built with Rust and the Iced GUI framework.

Preview

Features

• 🎨 Small app size, extremely low memory footprint, Rust compiled code has C like and even better speed, no Electron runtime bloat needed, unlike Balena-Etcher needs to, see Balena Etcher Electron bloat discussions
• 🎨 21 beautiful Iced themes to choose from
• 📁 Support for multiple image formats (ISO, IMG, DMG, ZIP, etc.)
• 💾 Automatic detection of removable drives
• ⚡ Fast and efficient flashing (simulated in current version)
• 🔒 Safe drive selection to prevent accidental data loss
• 🎯 Progress tracking during flash operations

Code Examples

Working Rust examples demonstrating FlashKraft's architecture and patterns:

cargo run --example basic_usage       # Full FlashKraft application
cargo run --example custom_theme      # Theme system showcase

See examples/README.md for more details.

The Elm Architecture

FlashKraft is built using The Elm Architecture (TEA), which Iced embraces as the natural approach for building interactive applications. This architecture provides a simple, scalable pattern for managing application state and side effects.

Core Concepts

The Elm Architecture consists of four main components:

1. Model (State)

The Model represents the complete state of the application at any given moment:

struct FlashKraft {
    selected_image: Option<ImageInfo>,      // Currently selected image file
    selected_target: Option<DriveInfo>,     // Currently selected target drive
    available_drives: Vec<DriveInfo>,       // List of detected drives
    flash_progress: Option<f32>,            // Flash progress (0.0 to 1.0)
    error_message: Option<String>,          // Error message if any
}

The state is immutable and only changes through the update function. This makes the application predictable and easy to reason about.

2. Message

Messages represent all possible events that can occur in the application:

enum Message {
    // User interactions
    SelectImageClicked,
    RefreshDrivesClicked,
    TargetDriveClicked(DriveInfo),
    FlashClicked,
    ResetClicked,
    CancelClicked,

    // Async results
    ImageSelected(Option<PathBuf>),
    DrivesRefreshed(Vec<DriveInfo>),
    FlashProgress(f32),
    FlashCompleted(Result<(), String>),
}

Messages are the only way to trigger state changes. They can come from:

• User interactions (button clicks, etc.)
• Async operations (file selection, drive detection)
• Timers or subscriptions

3. Update Logic

The update function is the heart of the application. It's a pure function that:

• Takes the current state and a message
• Returns a new state and optionally a Command for side effects

fn update(&mut self, message: Message) -> Command<Message> {
    match message {
        Message::SelectImageClicked => {
            // Trigger async file selection
            Command::perform(select_image_file(), Message::ImageSelected)
        }
        Message::ImageSelected(maybe_path) => {
            // Update state with selected image
            self.selected_image = maybe_path.map(ImageInfo::from_path);
            Command::none()
        }
        // ... handle other messages
    }
}

This separation ensures:

• State transitions are predictable
• Side effects are explicit
• Logic is easy to test

4. View Logic

The view function is a pure function that:

• Takes the current state
• Returns a description of the UI

fn view(&self) -> Element<'_, Message> {
    if let Some(progress) = self.flash_progress {
        view_flashing(progress)
    } else if let Some(error) = &self.error_message {
        view_error(error)
    } else {
        view_main(self)
    }
}

The view is declarative - you describe what the UI should look like based on state, not how to update it.

Benefits of The Elm Architecture

1. Predictability: State flows in one direction, making behavior easy to predict
2. Testability: Pure functions are easy to unit test
3. Debuggability: All state changes go through update, making it easy to log and debug
4. Maintainability: Clear separation of concerns makes code easy to understand and modify
5. Type Safety: Rust's type system ensures correctness at compile time

Data Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                         │
│  User Interaction  →  Message  →  Update  →  State      │
│                                      ↓                  │
│                                   Command               │
│                                      ↓                  │
│  Async Result  →  Message  →  Update  →  State          │
│                                                         │
│                    State  →  View  →  UI                │
│                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Building and Running

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70 or later
• Cargo (comes with Rust)

Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/flashkraft.git
cd flashkraft

# Build the project
cargo build --release

# Run the application
cargo run --release

Development

# Run in debug mode (faster compilation, slower runtime)
cargo run

# Check code without building
cargo check

# Run with backtrace on errors
RUST_BACKTRACE=1 cargo run

Usage

1. Select Image: Click the "+" button to select an OS image file (ISO, IMG, DMG, etc.)
2. Select Target: Choose a target drive from the list of detected drives
3. Flash: Click the "Flash!" button to start writing the image to the drive
4. Wait: Monitor the progress bar until completion
5. Done: Safely remove the drive when prompted

Project Structure

flashkraft/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs                  # Application entry point
│   ├── view.rs                  # View orchestration
│   ├── core/                    # Core application logic (Elm Architecture)
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── state.rs             # Application state (Model)
│   │   ├── message.rs           # Message definitions
│   │   ├── update.rs            # Update logic
│   │   ├── storage.rs           # Persistent storage
│   │   ├── flash_subscription.rs # Flash operation monitoring
│   │   └── commands/            # Async commands (side effects)
│   │       ├── mod.rs
│   │       ├── file_selection.rs
│   │       └── drive_detection.rs
│   ├── domain/                  # Domain models (business entities)
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── drive_info.rs
│   │   └── image_info.rs
│   ├── components/              # UI components
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── animated_progress.rs
│   │   ├── device_selector.rs
│   │   ├── header.rs
│   │   ├── progress_line.rs
│   │   ├── selection_panels.rs
│   │   ├── status_views.rs
│   │   ├── step_indicators.rs
│   │   └── theme_selector.rs
│   └── utils/                   # Utility modules
│       ├── mod.rs
│       ├── icons_bootstrap_mapper.rs
│       └── logger.rs
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       ├── ci.yml               # Continuous Integration
│       └── release.yml          # Release automation
├── Cargo.toml                   # Rust dependencies and project metadata
├── README.md                    # This file
└── LICENSE                      # MIT License

Dependencies

• iced (0.13): Cross-platform GUI framework
• iced_fonts: Bootstrap icons for the UI
• rfd: Native file dialog for file selection
• sysinfo: System information for drive detection
• sled: Embedded database for theme persistence
• futures: Async utilities for subscriptions

Architecture Highlights

• 26 modules: Well-organized codebase
• 4 layers: Domain, Core, Components, View
• 22 tests: 100% passing
• 0 warnings: Clean clippy and rustfmt
• Elm Architecture: Pure functional state management
• Type-safe: Leveraging Rust's type system

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. When contributing, please:

1. Follow the Elm Architecture pattern
2. Keep functions pure where possible
3. Use meaningful message names
4. Add comments for complex logic
5. Test your changes

Learning Resources

• Iced Documentation
• The Elm Architecture Guide
• Iced Examples
• Rust Book

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built with Iced
• Follows The Elm Architecture