MoonkaleStatus: accepted-with-open-question
Context
The graph view must stay fluid at 100k+ nodes; Obsidian’s canvas/SVG approach and Cytoscape degrade well before that. Options surveyed in Graph Rendering Options.
Decision
Render the graph with wgpu: instanced draws, GPU compute for force layouts where WebGPU exists, WebGL2 fallback (CPU layout) elsewhere. One renderer; a SurfaceProvider trait per platform.
Consequences
- Web and mobile: straightforward (
<canvas>). - Desktop webview: WebGPU availability varies (WebView2 ✅, WKWebView ✅ recent, WebKitGTK ⚠️). Open question: run the wasm renderer inside the webview (preferred, one code path) vs. native overlay vs. offscreen streaming. Tracked as P-001 Graph surface in desktop webview; measure before deciding.
- Custom node renderers from wasm extensions must be declarative (styles, glyph ids) to stay GPU-batched; custom passes are static-only.
- Text rendering on GPU (glyph atlas) is a non-trivial sub-project; reusable by the native terminal and code editor backends later.