Architecture

PulseDesktop follows the MVI (Model-View-Intent) pattern. It adds three coordination primitives: Broadcast, Unicast, and View Refresh.

Data Flow

Broadcast Flow

When multiple ViewModels need to react to the same event, use PulseContainer.broadcast():

Unicast Flow

When a child ViewModel needs to notify its parent Container, use PulseViewModel.unicast():

View Refresh Flow

Container.refresh() forces the Compose view tree to reconstruct. ViewModel states are preserved; only the Composables are re-created:

Component Responsibilities

Component	Responsibility
PulseState	Immutable snapshot of UI data
PulseAction	User intent — what the user wants to do
PulseEvent	One-time side effect — navigation, dialog, snackbar
PulseBroadcast	Cross-ViewModel notification from Container
PulseUnicast	Child-to-parent notification from ViewModel
PulseViewModel	Owns state; handles actions and broadcasts; can emit unicasts
PulseContainer	Coordinates ViewModels; enables broadcast, unicast handling, and refresh
PulseHost	Compose wrapper that propagates container key
PulseContent	Compose wrapper that observes a ViewModel

Lifecycle

TIP

onSetup() runs once, when PulseContent first observes the ViewModel. The ViewModel stays active for as long as its ViewModelStoreOwner lives. A composition restart never repeats setup. Neither does refresh().

Which owner that is decides the ViewModel's lifetime.

• Created under the host owner, it stays alive for the whole screen
• Created inside a Navigation 3 destination, it is scoped to that back stack entry: covered by another destination it is kept, and popping the route cancels it

The demo builds every destination the second way. See Navigation 3.