Roue documentation

Roue is a drag-and-drop file converter for the Linux desktop. Drop a file on a slice of the wheel, get the file you wanted next to the original. Everything runs on your computer, with tools you already trust: FFmpeg, libvips, Ghostscript, Pandoc and LibreOffice.

Start here#

• Getting started: install, then your first conversion in under a minute.
• Install: packages, from source, and what each tool is for.

Use it#

• Presets: every built-in preset, what it takes and what it gives.
• Custom presets: write your own in a few lines of YAML.
• Command line: roue convert, roue list, roue doctor and friends.
• Desktop integration: the wheel, the hotkey, the Files menu, Shift-drag on X11, and D-Bus.

Good to know#

• Privacy: what Roue does (and never does) with your files.
• FAQ: Wayland vs X11, where files go, undo, HEIC, PDF engines.

Hack on it#

• Architecture: one engine, three front doors.
• Contributing: set up a dev environment, run the tests, add a preset.

The rules Roue lives by#

1. Never overwrite. Results get a new name, like photo (2).jpg. Originals are never touched.
2. Never upload. No network, no accounts, no telemetry.
3. No dialogs. Every preset does one thing with good defaults.
4. Plain words. Errors say what happened, like "This video has no audio track to extract", not a stack trace.