U-13 icon
U-13 Command & Control v1.0.0 · STABLE / FROZEN
U-13 · Hardened Local Launcher · Go / Fyne v2 · Linux (X11 / Wayland)

U-13 Command & Control Center

Silent, Precise, Operational
A single authoritative interface for launching local utilities with explicit intent, visible output, and controlled privilege boundaries.

Design pledge
No background services. No network access. No telemetry. No persistent state. No automation without operator action.
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Overview

Operator-focused

U-13 Command & Control Center is a hardened Linux GUI launcher designed to be a single, authoritative panel for executing local utilities, research tools, and system binaries. It favors clarity and restraint: every launch is the result of an explicit operator action.

U-13 is not a general purpose launcher, not a shell replacement, not an automation framework, and not a daemon. It is intentionally boring: predictable inputs, visible outputs, and a clean privilege boundary.

Execution Model

argv-only
  • U-13 runs as a single foreground GUI process.
  • Applications are launched as child processes.
  • No shell is invoked during execution.
  • Arguments are passed directly (argv-style), then captured output is displayed.
  • Process lifetime is owned by the OS (U-13 does not babysit).
U-13 goal: explicit execution + visible intent - operator chooses an entry - argv constructed (preset args + operator args) - process launched (optionally via pkexec) - stdout/stderr captured and displayed verbatim

Application Discovery

Manifest-first

U-13 supports two mutually exclusive discovery modes. The intent is to keep the operator in control: stable environments should use an explicit manifest, while scanning exists only as a fallback.

1) Manifest Mode (Preferred)
If app_list.txt exists in the working directory, U-13 loads applications exclusively from it. This is the authoritative mode for stable, curated toolsets.
2) Scan Mode (Fallback)
If no manifest exists, U-13 recursively scans the working directory for executable ELF binaries. Intended for development or exploratory use only.
# app_list.txt format: # Title | Path | NeedsRoot(true/false) | OptionalArgs Termite (WordFence Extractor) | ./termite | false | SysMon | ./sysmon | false | --help Disk Probe | /usr/bin/lsblk | true | -f

Privilege & Security Posture

pkexec boundary

U-13 itself never requires root privileges. When elevation is required, U-13 uses pkexec (polkit) so authentication is handled by the system dialog. U-13 does not capture, store, or log credentials.

  • Local-only execution (no sockets, no listeners, no telemetry).
  • No persistent state (no history database, no hidden queues).
  • No environment dumping (no “helpful” leakage).
  • No shell-based sudo invocation (clean argv boundary).
Documented limitation
GUI apps that rely on X11/Wayland toolkits (Tkinter, Qt, GTK) generally cannot be launched as root via pkexec without explicit display forwarding, because pkexec strips DISPLAY and XAUTHORITY by design. Prefer unprivileged GUI tools and delegate privileged actions inside the tool where appropriate.

Build & Run

Linux

U-13 is written in Go and uses Fyne v2 for the GUI. Typical workflow: clean modules, tidy dependencies, and build the binary from the project directory.

# from the project root: go clean -cache go mod tidy go build . # run: ./u13

For curated deployments, place the launcher binary and an app_list.txt manifest together in the same folder. For exploratory builds, omit the manifest and let scan mode enumerate executables.

What U-13 Is Not

scope locked

U-13 deliberately refuses to become a convenience monster. Its job is to be a trustworthy panel, not a second operating system.

  • Not a general-purpose app launcher
  • Not a shell replacement
  • Not an automation framework
  • Not a background service / daemon
  • Not a network-enabled orchestration layer

Release Status

Frozen baseline

Version 1.0.0 is a clean, stable baseline and is considered FROZEN. Future changes should increment the version number and preserve the core posture: explicit execution, visible intent, and a controlled privilege boundary.

U-13 v1.0.0 STABLE / FROZEN Silent, Precise, Operational