wewi 🌐

wewi is a native macOS app that pins live web pages to your desktop as widgets.

Use it for dashboards, charts, docs, notes, and any URL you want to keep visible while working.

✨ Features

• Pin any URL as a desktop widget (WKWebView)
• Multiple widgets at once
• Widgets visible across Spaces
• Move and resize widgets directly on desktop
• Resize handle with concentric-circle indicator (hover to show, auto-hide delay)
• Widget body background fill behind web content (prevents transparent gaps on overscroll)
• System appearance sync signal to widget pages (data-wewi-color-scheme + change event)
• Per-widget settings:
  • Name, URL, position, size
  • Opacity
  • Auto-refresh interval
  • Enable/disable
  • Screen Lock mode (blocks web interaction)
• Widget top bar actions:
  • Save scroll position
  • Reload
  • Screen Lock toggle (ON = blocked, OFF = interactive)
  • Disable widget
• Menu bar controls:
  • Open Settings
  • Check for Updates
  • Manage Widgets opens the native Features page for enable/disable, reload and delete
• Auto-save widget settings (UserDefaults JSON)
• Restore each widget browser's saved scroll position after app relaunch
• Launch at login toggle in Settings

🧭 Usage

1. Launch wewi.app
2. Open Settings from menu bar
3. Select Features and click Add Widget:
   • Enter Name + URL
   • Select size preset
   • Click Add Widget
4. Search and show/hide widgets from the list. Click a widget to edit it, then choose Save Changes.
5. Use the widget menu for reload and delete. Canceling the editor leaves the widget unchanged.

🚀 Build

Prerequisites

• macOS 13+
• Xcode with the macOS 26 or newer SDK (deployment target remains macOS 13)
• MacAppEssentials checked out at ../tools/library, including its Integrations directory

Run (debug)

make app
open dist/wewi.app

Build app bundle

make app

Built app path:

dist/wewi.app

App icon

wewi.icon/ is the app icon source, edited with Apple's Icon Composer. The build uses Xcode's actool to produce Assets.car with the current Icon Composer appearance variants and merges CFBundleIconName into Info.plist. The compiler's legacy .icns output is discarded; no separate PNG or legacy app icon is bundled.

The shared ../tools/app-icon/generate_app_icon.sh supports flat image inputs; it does not compile Icon Composer documents. Do not pass only the foreground image from wewi.icon/Assets/ to that script: doing so would lose the background and layers. The README preview at docs/AppIcon.png is exported directly from wewi.icon using Icon Composer's ictool; it is documentation only and is not bundled.

Build DMG for distribution

# Optional: set Developer ID identity for trusted distribution
# export SIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)"
#
# arm64
make dmg-arm64

# x86_64
make dmg-x86_64

# universal (arm64 + x86_64)
make dmg-universal

# both
make dmg-all

Generated DMG filenames:

dist/wewi-1.2.0-arm64.dmg
dist/wewi-1.2.0-x86_64.dmg
dist/wewi-1.2.0-universal.dmg

Note:

• Default build uses ad-hoc signing (SIGN_IDENTITY=-) for local testing.
• For public distribution, use a valid Developer ID Application certificate and notarize the DMG/app. Without this, Gatekeeper may show "app is damaged" or block launch on other Macs.
• With ad-hoc distribution, users may need to remove quarantine manually:
  • xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/wewi.app
  • open /Applications/wewi.app

Sparkle Updates

wewi uses Sparkle 2 for automatic update checks.

The appcast URL embedded in the app bundle is:

https://github.com/elixirevo/wewi/releases/latest/download/appcast.xml

Generate the Sparkle EdDSA key pair once:

make sparkle-keys

This stores the private key in your macOS Keychain and writes the public key to:

sparkle-public-key.txt

Create a DMG and Sparkle appcast for a GitHub Release:

APP_VERSION=1.2.0 APP_BUILD=10 make appcast

For public distribution, sign and notarize the final DMG before generating the appcast signature. If you notarize/staple the DMG separately, reuse that final DMG:

APP_VERSION=1.2.0 APP_BUILD=10 SIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" make dmg-universal
# notarize and staple dist/wewi-1.2.0-universal.dmg
APP_VERSION=1.2.0 SKIP_DMG_BUILD=1 make appcast

Upload both generated files to the matching GitHub Release tag, e.g. v1.2.0:

dist/wewi-1.2.0-universal.dmg
dist/appcast/appcast.xml

Useful overrides:

SPARKLE_FEED_URL=https://example.com/appcast.xml make app
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=elixirevo/wewi RELEASE_TAG=v1.2.0 make appcast
SIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" make appcast

🍺 Homebrew Install

Published casks are distributed via the shared tap repository:

• Tap repo: https://github.com/elixirevo/homebrew-tap
• Cask token: wewi

Install:

brew tap elixirevo/tap
brew install --cask elixirevo/tap/wewi

The cask in this repository is a release template. The shared pipeline generates final hashes and updates the tap. To test the generated cask:

brew install --cask ./dist/deploy/1.2.0/wewi.rb

For maintainers:

1. Create/update release assets on elixirevo/wewi.
2. Copy Casks/wewi.rb into elixirevo/homebrew-tap (Casks/wewi.rb).
3. Commit and push the tap update.

Shared app essentials

Settings, login items, app/status menus, accessory lifecycle, onboarding and versioned Terms acceptance use the local MacAppEssentials package. Widget configuration and WebKit panels remain app-owned. The original wewi.widgets.v1 data is preserved. The menu's Manage Widgets… command opens the Features page. General includes language, appearance, login startup and optional diagnostics. Help & Support includes onboarding replay, bundled legal documents, licenses and manual diagnostic export.

The first run explains creation, positioning, resizing, scroll restoration, refresh and interaction locking, followed by privacy information, explicit Terms agreement and optional crash reporting. Incomplete setup can be reopened. Updated Terms use an independent agreement window. No widget networking or service startup occurs before required acceptance. Restoring defaults only resets appearance.

Privacy and crash reporting

Widget settings remain local; chosen websites receive browser requests and may persist shared WebKit cookies. Sparkle contacts GitHub Releases for updates. Sentry Cocoa 9.30.0 is connected through MacAppDiagnosticsSentry to project wewi. Crash reporting defaults OFF, requires a separate choice and applies on the next launch. The public DSN is bundled; management credentials are never bundled. The current Sentry organization is on Trial with 90-day error retention (verified 2026-10-05); recheck before the trial ends or the plan changes. The integration disables usage/session/performance tracking and replay, removes user/request fields, and enables project IP/sensitive-data scrubbing.

Read the complete English/Korean Terms and Privacy Policy in Sources/wewi/Resources/{en,ko}.lproj/. Operator/contact: elixirevo / elixirevo@gmail.com. These documents adapt the library templates to this app; no public legal-document URL is invented. Release owners must confirm applicable operator disclosures and actual service retention/transfer obligations before publishing.

Verification and screenshots

DEVELOPER_DIR=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer swift test
make app
open -n dist/wewi.app --args --preview --page features -AppleLanguages '(ko)'
open -n dist/wewi.app --args --preview -AppleLanguages '(en)'

--preview isolates preferences in a disposable domain and never starts live widgets, login registration, update requests or Sentry. Quit preview instances after testing. Use --page general, features, updates, support or about to inspect settings. The onboarding images are actual captures of the app's Features page, with sample URLs and no personal data. The packaged executable includes all module resources and Sentry's privacy manifest. dSYM output is retained beside the app in dist/; release CI must upload the matching symbols to Sentry with credentials supplied outside the app. Project provisioning/build success does not verify real crash delivery; an authorized crash-and-relaunch test and symbolication check are still separate release validation.

🛠 Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first for larger changes.

📄 License

Original wewi source: MIT, see LICENSE. MacAppEssentials and its integration adapters: GPL-3.0-only. The combined distribution must satisfy GPL-3.0-only, including provision of corresponding source for wewi and the exact library version used. Sparkle and Sentry retain their own licenses. Bundled notices are in Sources/wewi/Resources/ThirdPartyNotices.txt. This integration was verified against MacAppEssentials 0.5.1, revision b3e36a462ea6da4ba3d3272c08526765d9aca3c0.

Widget placement

Drag a widget's header to see its destination, then release to place it. In Settings → Features, enable Snap to grid to align the top-left corner to a 24-point grid on the target display. Screen edges take priority when the widget would extend beyond the usable area. The setting defaults to off; leaving it off preserves free placement. Changing it does not rearrange existing widgets. Press Esc during a drag to restore the starting position. Resizing stays free-form.

For an offline drag check with disposable settings, launch dist/wewi.app --preview --page features --placement-demo (or pass those arguments with open -n ... --args). The fixture uses local HTML and does not start website networking, updates, or crash reporting.

Website mode and cookies

Each widget has Automatic / Mobile / Tablet / Desktop website modes in its editor. Automatic selects a Safari user agent using the widget content width: mobile below 600 pt, tablet from 600 to below 1024 pt, and desktop at 1024 pt or above. This requests a different site presentation; it does not emulate touch hardware or guarantee every site supports every mode. Existing widgets keep Desktop; new widgets use Automatic.

Reload when the device mode changes after resizing is off by default. When off, the UA stays unchanged until the next manual or timed reload. When on, a size-range change after resizing triggers one reload. Saving a different mode reloads if its effective device changes. Reloading may interrupt media playback or unsaved form input.

Use a widget's … → Clear Website Cookies… to review and delete cookies for its configured host and currently open host. Parent-domain cookies also apply and may sign out other wewi widgets. Cookies for unrelated hosts, cache, and local storage are kept. The result reports the deletion count, and you can manually reload when ready. The preview uses a separate nonpersistent cookie store.

Signed release pipeline

ReleaseInfo.plist is the version source. Version 1.2.0 uses Intel build 9 and Apple Silicon build 10; both exceed the previous release's builds 7/8. deploy.json connects the existing builder to ../tools/deploy. The shared notary profile menubox belongs to the same Developer ID account; override it with NOTARY_PROFILE when needed. SPARKLE_KEY_ACCOUNT must resolve to the key matching sparkle-public-key.txt. Version 1.2.0 starts a new key stored in the wewi account because the previous private key is unavailable. Users of 1.1.2 and earlier must install 1.2.0 manually; subsequent updates use the new key. Preserve this key for future releases.

export SIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)"
# Set NOTARY_PROFILE / SPARKLE_KEY_ACCOUNT to existing Keychain entries if needed.
../tools/deploy/deploy.sh . doctor
../tools/deploy/deploy.sh . prepare
# Commit reviewed source and release notes before publishing.
../tools/deploy/deploy.sh . publish

The pipeline signs and notarizes separate Apple Silicon and Intel apps/DMGs, verifies Sparkle signatures, uploads matching dSYMs to Sentry, publishes the GitHub release, and updates the Homebrew tap. Release artifacts are in dist/deploy/1.2.0/. dSYMs stay outside the public release assets.