Quick start¶

1. Download wudict for your OS from https://github.com/wuweidict/wudict/releases/latest

Goal: Get wuDict running in your browser at localhost:6888.

You need: a working wudict command, and a folder holding dictionary files.

1. Start the server¶

wudict

WuWeiDict prints the address it listens on, the dictionary folder it scans, and the config file in effect. Then it opens your browser.

To start a copy you built in the current folder, run ./wudict.

2. Set the folders with dictionaries¶

wuDict looks for dictionaries under ~/Dictionaries by default, including subfolders.

If the default folder is missing or empty, the browser opens the setup page at localhost:6888/setup where you can set the custom folders with your dictionaries. Paste the folder path to your dictionaries folder (can contain ~). The page validates the path while you type and counts displays the number of total dictionaries found.

The setup page writes your choice to ~/.wudict/wudict.toml. No restart is needed. To open the setup page from the browser click the hamburger icon and then under the cogwheel icon ⚙️ pick ✏️ Edit folders....

To set the folder yourself, pick one of these three ways.

DICT_DIR = ["~/Dictionaries", "/Volumes/Data/Dicts"]

wudict --dict-dir ~/Dictionaries --dict-dir /Volumes/Data/Dicts

DICT_DIR="~/Dictionaries:/Volumes/Data/Dicts" wudict

A command-line flag overrides the env var, which in turn overrides the value in wudict.toml. If you edit the file while a flag sets the same value, the setup page will indicate that an override is active.

All 17 settings

3. Verify¶

The page lists one section per dictionary. Type a word you know is in one of them and press Enter.

From the terminal, check the same thing without a browser:

wudict list ~/Dictionaries

Each line is one dictionary that WuWeiDict can read.

What happens next, on its own¶

The first search opens each dictionary through its own format. Exact and prefix lookups work at once.

In the background, WuWeiDict then prepares each dictionary: it builds a headword index of a few megabytes and stores it in the library folder. Prepared dictionaries search faster and use far less memory.

Preparation runs one dictionary at a time by default, so it never takes the machine away from you. Search keeps working the whole time.

What preparation does

If something went wrong¶

Next¶

Search: the four modes and the shortcuts