232 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
232 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
<p align="center">
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<img src="assets/brand/searchi-app.png" alt="searchi app icon" width="96">
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</p>
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<h1 align="center">searchi</h1>
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<p align="center"><strong>Find what matters. Locally.</strong></p>
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<p align="center">Your documents, code, photos, music and movies. One place to search.</p>
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You remember what was in the file. searchi helps you find it—even when you
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don't remember what it was called.
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Search a filename, a phrase, or describe what you're looking for in your own
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words. See the relevant passage or media preview alongside your results,
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then open the file. Your files stay on your device.
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*“cancel the supplier partnership” finds the agreement and brings its
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termination passage into view.*
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## Find it your way
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| What you remember | What to try |
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| --- | --- |
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| The file's name | `Supplier agreement.pdf` |
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| Words inside a document | `sixty days written notice` |
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| What a document is about | `cancel the supplier partnership` |
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| What a piece of code does | `retry failed requests with exponential backoff` |
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| An exact code symbol | `refreshAccessToken` |
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| A photo's subject | `mountains reflected in calm water` |
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| An artist or song title | `Nina Simone` or `Feeling Good`, if present in your music tags |
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| A scene or sound | Try `rain and thunder` or `a boat crossing a lake` in experimental media search |
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**Names, words and meaning work together.** Exact filenames help you get
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straight to a known file. Content search finds the words inside it. Google
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EmbeddingGemma 2 adds local semantic search for related meaning, images and
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sound.
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Use **All files** to narrow results by folder, file extension, modification
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date, file size or media duration. Choose a result to inspect it before opening.
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### Find the implementation
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Choose **Code** in the **All files** filters to search source files. Look up a
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symbol you know, or describe the behavior you need. Local Google embeddings
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help connect your description to an implementation; the preview preserves code
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formatting and shows the source passage's starting line.
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Rust, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, C/C++, Go, Java, C#, Swift, SQL and many
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other source formats are supported, including named build files such as
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`Makefile` and `Dockerfile`. Add your project folder and let semantic indexing
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finish for meaning-based search. See [code search](docs/CODE-SEARCH.md) for
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details and agent integration.
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## A little less searching. A little more finding.
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Matching words stand out in the results and document preview. PDF results
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retain their page number; text results show the relevant passage. If you'd
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like an explanation, expand the small **Why this result?** detail.
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Light and dark themes follow your system preference. Keyboard navigation,
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short transitions and reduced-motion support keep the interface familiar
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and comfortable. In **Settings → Appearance**, choose a solid, glass or
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frosted-glass window background and adjust its tint. Reading surfaces stay
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clear. Native glass currently requires **Windows 11 22H2 or later**. macOS,
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Linux, unsupported Windows versions and high-contrast mode currently use a
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solid background; your appearance preference is retained.
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*“mountains reflected in calm water” searches the pictures themselves,
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so a useful filename isn't required.*
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Images open in the preview. Audio and video have playback controls, and
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matching media segments can jump to their approximate location. Nothing
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autoplays when you select a result.
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## Get searchi
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**The first Windows x64 version is available.**
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- [Download the Windows installer](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.0/searchi_0.1.0_x64-setup.exe) — about 99 MB.
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- [Checksums](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/download/v0.1.0/SHA256SUMS.txt) · [Release notes](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/releases/tag/v0.1.0).
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The installer creates a launcher and sets up WebView2 if needed. This initial
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release is unsigned. macOS and Linux packages follow; source build instructions
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are available now. You can also let your local AI agent handle setup.
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### Install with your agent — copy and paste
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Paste this into an agent that can run commands on your computer:
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```text
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Install searchi on this computer and get it ready for my first search.
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Official repository: https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi
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Detect my operating system and processor architecture. Use a suitable official
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release from the README or releases page, including the initial Windows release,
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verifying its published checksums. Otherwise,
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set up the current source version using the repository's installation/build
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instructions. Handle the required tools and dependencies for me; don't just
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give me a list of commands to run. Keep the installation in a dedicated folder
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and preserve any existing searchi settings and index.
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Install the desktop app by default. On headless Linux, install the command-line
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version instead, without desktop dependencies. Set up the genuine local Google
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EmbeddingGemma 2 runtime and model, and the media helpers available for my
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platform. Use supported hardware acceleration with CPU fallback. Explain any
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large downloads or platform limitations before proceeding with those steps.
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Launch searchi and check that it actually opens and its local search model is
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ready. Create a normal launcher or shortcut so I can open it again. If a prerequisite, platform component
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or permission prevents setup, explain precisely what is missing; don't report
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a working installation until it is verified. Ask for my help only when a
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password, system approval or other manual action is required.
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Let me choose which folders to index. Keep search local and optional cloud
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summaries disabled. Finish by showing me how to add a folder and try a filename
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search followed by a search in my own words.
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```
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Your agent needs internet access and permission to install software locally.
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Windows x64 setup can use the published installer; other platforms currently
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build from source. The local search model downloads approximately **865 MB**
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once, and cached assets are reused. Your agent should report any platform
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limitation it encounters.
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Prefer to set it up yourself? See the
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[build and launch instructions](docs/BUILDING.md).
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### Your first search
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Once searchi is running:
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1. Choose **Add folder**, browse to the folder you want to search, then choose
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**Index folder**.
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2. Start with a filename or words you remember. These searches become
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available as files are indexed.
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3. Let the local search model prepare in the background. First setup downloads
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approximately **865 MB** and needs an internet connection. Document and code
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search by meaning can begin once the smaller text model and text index are
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ready, while the larger media model continues downloading. The app shows
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progress and keeps text search available if media setup needs a retry.
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4. Describe what you're looking for, select a result and inspect the preview.
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Press **Enter** to open the selected file in its usual application.
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How quickly a folder becomes searchable depends on its size and contents.
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The desktop keeps its search model warm for subsequent searches.
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searchi watches your chosen folders and updates search in the background as
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files change. You can also use **Reindex** to check a folder again, for example
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after reconnecting an external drive.
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searchi automatically chooses supported graphics acceleration when available
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and falls back to CPU when it cannot use it. You do not need a graphics
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development toolkit. Hardware and release validation are still in progress.
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## Private by design
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You choose the folders to index. By default, file contents, previews and search
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processing stay local. Ordinary searches aren't sent to a cloud AI service.
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If you enable optional AI answers, an explicit **Summarize** or **Ask** action
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sends the previewed document excerpt to the endpoint you choose. Ordinary
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searches continue to run locally.
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The model download happens during setup. Once it's ready, semantic inference
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runs on your device. The local search index contains information from your
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files, so protect it as you would the files themselves.
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## Documents and media
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| Files | Current support |
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| --- | --- |
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| Documents | PDF, DOCX, plain text, Markdown and source code |
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| Photos | JPEG, PNG, WebP and BMP |
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| Music and audio | MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A, OGG, Opus, AAC and AIFF |
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| Movies and video | MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WebM, M4V and MPEG |
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**Media search is experimental.** Image, audio and video search are implemented,
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but relevance still needs improvement. Spoken topics can be missed, music
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matches can be too broad, and video sampling can miss a brief scene. Media
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timestamps identify approximate segments, rather than an exact spoken word.
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Playback also depends on the formats your system supports; you can open a
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file in its usual player if the preview cannot play it.
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## Fast should feel fast
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Each search shows a compact result count and timing summary. Want to look
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closer? Enable **Performance details** in settings for a breakdown of where
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the time went. Copied timing reports exclude your search text and file paths.
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<details>
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<summary>See the optional performance view</summary>
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</details>
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## Your agent can search, too
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Connect a local AI agent to searchi's read-only **MCP server**. It can search
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your chosen index and return snippets, source locations and search timings
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using the same engine as the desktop. A reusable skill also helps agents use
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searchi through the command line. [Connect an agent](docs/AGENT-INTEGRATION.md).
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Your agent receives the returned excerpts; cloud agents handle them according
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to that client's configuration.
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## Optional answers, your choice
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Want a short summary or an answer about a passage? Connect your preferred
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**OpenAI-compatible endpoint**, including a local model server. Preview exactly
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which excerpt will be sent, then choose **Summarize** or **Ask**. The feature is
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off by default; search works without it. [Set up optional answers](docs/AI-ANSWERS.md).
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## Help shape searchi
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Found a problem, or searched for something that should have been easy to find?
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[Report it or suggest an improvement](https://tea.karlcom.de/karl/searchi/issues).
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Describe what you expected and what happened; use made-up examples if your
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files contain private information.
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For contributors: [building searchi and the headless Linux CLI](docs/BUILDING.md)
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· [roadmap](docs/ROADMAP.md) · [search-quality evaluation](docs/MEDIA-QUALITY.md).
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The screenshots show the working interface searching real example files with
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the local Google model. They are browser captures of the app interface;
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operating-system window borders are omitted. [Photo credits](fixtures/media/README.md).
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Made by Karl. Open source under the [MIT license](LICENSE).
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