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Changelog

0.8.0

  • Breaking: The pi companion extension is no longer auto-registered. It's moved to examples/companion/ — add it manually to your pi extensions config if you want it.
  • Fix: Swift strict concurrency error in startStdinReader — thanks @jfanals! (#13)

0.7.0

  • Feature: --no-dock flag / noDock option — hide the dock icon and app switcher entry on macOS. The window still works normally (focus, keyboard input, etc.) but the app stays invisible in the dock. Useful for embedded/subprocess usage where no dock presence is desired.

0.6.2

  • Fix: Include chromium-backend.mjs in npm files array — the Chromium CDP backend was missing from published packages, breaking the Linux fallback. Thanks @fredheir! (#9)

0.6.1

  • Change: Companion is now hidden by default — enable it with /companion. Previously it was shown by default. Existing preferences in ~/.pi/companion.json are respected.

0.6.0

Two community contributions expanding Linux support — thank you @Whamp and @hjanuschka! 🎉

Chromium CDP Backend for Linux — @hjanuschka (#8)

A zero-compile alternative to the native WebKitGTK backend. When the Rust binary isn't built, Glimpse automatically falls back to spawning system Chromium via --remote-debugging-pipe and speaking CDP over FDs 3/4. A ~1k line Node module (src/chromium-backend.mjs) translates between the Glimpse JSON Lines protocol and CDP — callers see no difference.

GLIMPSE_BACKEND=chromium node my-app.mjs  # force Chromium
GLIMPSE_BACKEND=native node my-app.mjs    # force native
# or just don't build the Rust binary and it kicks in automatically

No Rust toolchain, no GTK dev packages — just a Chromium-based browser installed on the system. This also unlocks capabilities the native Linux backend couldn't provide:

  • Follow cursor on X11 — polls via xdotool (plus native Hyprland IPC on Wayland)
  • Status item / system tray — lightweight inline Python GTK helper, click toggles the window
  • Open links externally — intercepts navigations via CDP Fetch, hands off to xdg-open
  • Full window mode support: frameless, transparent, floating, click-through

Linux CLI Fixes — @Whamp (#7)

Two bugs that prevented the Linux native binary from launching correctly:

  • Fix: negative number CLI args — --cursor-offset-y -20 was parsed by clap as a flag instead of a value. Switched to = syntax (--cursor-offset-y=-20) for negative numbers.
  • Fix: platform-gated options — --open-links and --open-links-app were passed on Linux but only implemented for macOS, causing "unexpected argument" errors. These flags are now skipped on non-macOS platforms.

0.5.1

Windows Fixes

Three bugs that made the Windows WebView2 host unreliable in practice:

  • Fix: window.glimpse.send() silently failed for non-object values — Sending a plain string, number, or boolean (e.g. send('hello world')) was silently swallowed. The JS bridge used JSON.stringify(data) + postMessage(string), but WebView2's TryGetWebMessageAsString stripped the JSON encoding, making the C# side unable to parse it. The bridge now wraps all payloads in an envelope object ({ __glimpse_msg: true, data }) so postMessage always sends an object regardless of the user's data type.

  • Fix: prompt() pipe race with autoClose — CloseOnce() called Environment.Exit(0) immediately after writing the "closed" message, which could kill the process before Node read the pipe. Now uses Application.Exit() for graceful form shutdown with a 100ms delayed Environment.Exit(0) fallback (needed because the stdin reader thread blocks process termination).

  • Fix: .NET version compatibility — Added <RollForward>LatestMajor</RollForward> to the csproj so the binary runs on .NET 9+ without requiring .NET 8 to be installed.

Skill

  • Updated SKILL.md to reflect cross-platform support (was macOS-only language)
  • Added Windows-specific tips: file:/// ESM imports, addEventListener over inline handlers, floating: true for sequential prompts

0.5.0

Cross-Platform Support

Glimpse now runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. The core protocol and Node.js API remain identical across platforms — write once, render everywhere.

Linux — Rust + GTK4 + WebKitGTK

Native Linux binary using Rust with GTK4 and WebKitGTK (webkit6). Supports the full Glimpse protocol including follow-cursor on Hyprland via its IPC socket. Other Wayland compositors and X11 do not yet support cursor tracking.

Inspired by @thomaspeklak's Linux PR (#4).

Requirements: Rust toolchain, GTK4, WebKitGTK 6.0, gtk4-layer-shell dev packages.

Windows — .NET 8 + WebView2

Native Windows host using .NET 8 and Microsoft Edge WebView2. Supports the full Glimpse protocol including follow-cursor with spring physics, transparent/frameless windows, and click-through.

Inspired by @Dwsy's Windows PR (#3).

Requirements: .NET 8 SDK, Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.

Platform Infrastructure

  • Unified build system — scripts/build.mjs handles macOS (swiftc), Linux (cargo), and Windows (dotnet publish). Platform-aware postinstall gracefully skips when toolchains are missing.
  • Platform detection — resolveNativeHost() in glimpse.mjs resolves the correct binary per platform. GLIMPSE_BINARY_PATH / GLIMPSE_HOST_PATH env vars override.
  • Feature capability gating — supportsFollowCursor() and getFollowCursorSupport() detect runtime support. statusItem() throws on non-macOS. openLinks is macOS-only. The companion extension gracefully disables on unsupported platforms.
  • Cross-platform companion IPC — Unix domain sockets on macOS/Linux, named pipes on Windows.
  • Build commands — npm run build:macos, npm run build:linux, npm run build:windows
  • Platform test — npm run test:platform validates host resolution and socket paths

0.4.0

Two community contributions land in this release — thank you! 🎉

Menu Bar Mode — @vtemian (#5)

Glimpse can now live in your menu bar. The new statusItem() API creates a menu bar icon with a popover WebView — click the icon to show/hide your HTML content. Comes with setTitle() to update the menu bar label and resize() to change the popover dimensions on the fly.

import { statusItem } from 'glimpseui';

const item = statusItem('<h1>Hello from the menu bar</h1>', {
  title: '👁', width: 300, height: 200
});
item.on('click', () => console.log('popover toggled'));

CLI: glimpse --status-item --title "👁" --width 300 --height 200

Open Links Externally — @joemccann (#6)

Links clicked inside Glimpse can now open in your system browser (or a specific app) instead of navigating within the WebView. Useful for dashboards, documentation viewers, or any UI where outbound links should escape the window.

const win = open(html, { openLinks: true });
// or with a specific browser:
const win = open(html, { openLinks: true, openLinksApp: '/Applications/Firefox.app' });

CLI: glimpse --open-links or glimpse --open-links-app "/Applications/Google Chrome.app"

Also adds GLIMPSE_BINARY_PATH env var to override the compiled binary location.

0.3.7

Companion remembers your preference — disable it once and it stays off across sessions.

  • Feature: Persist companion enabled/disabled state to ~/.pi/companion.json
  • Improvement: /companion toggle now saves immediately; new sessions respect the saved preference

0.3.6

Broken release — settings path used ~/.config/glimpse/ which doesn't exist when installed from git.

0.3.5

Hidden window prewarm mode — open a window invisibly, let the WebView load content in the background, then reveal it instantly with the show command. Useful for eliminating perceived latency in agents and tools that know they'll need a window soon.

  • Feature: hidden option / --hidden CLI flag — starts the window off-screen with accessory activation policy
  • Feature: show protocol command — reveals a hidden window, optionally setting the title, and activates the app
  • Feature: win.show(options?) method on the Node wrapper

0.3.4

  • Chore: Update repository URL and author in package.json

0.3.3

  • Docs: Add pi install npm:glimpseui instructions and /companion command to README

0.3.2

Housekeeping release — better docs, organized tests, and a demo video.

  • Docs: Add performance benchmarks to README (warm start ~310ms, cold start ~2s on Apple Silicon)
  • Docs: Embed demo video at the top of README for GitHub and pi package registry
  • Chore: Move tests from root test.mjs to test/ directory
  • Fix: Update publish script to use npm test instead of hardcoded test.mjs path
  • Skill: Use resolved absolute import paths instead of bare 'glimpseui' specifier (fixes imports from /tmp)

0.3.1

Fix pi package skill discovery errors when installing via pi install npm:glimpseui.

  • Fix: Move SKILL.md to skills/glimpse/ so parent directory matches skill name
  • Fix: Change pi.skills path from "." to "./skills" — prevents CHANGELOG.md and README.md from being picked up as skills

0.3.0

Ship as a unified pi package — npm install glimpseui works standalone, pi install npm:glimpseui installs the companion extension and skill automatically. No separate extension setup needed.

  • Unified package: Extension and skill bundled in the main npm package via pi manifest in package.json
  • Removed: Separate pi-extension/package.json — no more nested install step

0.2.0

System info API. The ready event now includes screen geometry, display info, cursor position, and dark/light mode — everything you need to adapt UI to the user's environment.

  • System info on ready: screen, appearance (dark mode, accent color, tint color), cursor position, and screens array
  • Runtime info: get-info protocol command to re-query system state at any time
  • Node wrapper: win.info getter caches the latest system info

0.1.1

Minor polish to the demo window.

  • Demo fix: Close demo window on Escape, Enter, or button click

0.1.0

Initial release. Two source files, zero dependencies — a native macOS WKWebView that speaks JSON Lines.

Core:

  • Native Swift binary (~420 lines) — single-file compilation with swiftc, no Xcode required
  • Node.js ESM wrapper (~175 lines) — EventEmitter API over stdin/stdout
  • Bidirectional JSON Lines protocol: send HTML/JS in, get messages/events out
  • Sub-50ms window open time

Window modes:

  • Standard, frameless, floating, transparent, click-through — combine freely
  • Cursor-following with configurable offset
  • Keyboard support in all modes including frameless

API:

  • open() — open a window with HTML string or options
  • prompt() — open a window and await a single response (ideal for dialogs/forms)
  • loadFile() — load HTML from a file path
  • autoClose — close window automatically when the first message is received
  • npx glimpseui CLI with built-in demo

Post-0.1.0 (unreleased at the time, shipped in 0.2.0+):

Pi companion extension — a floating status pill that follows your cursor and shows what your pi agents are doing in real time.

  • Companion extension: /companion command toggles a cursor-following overlay
  • Multi-agent support: Shared window via Unix socket IPC — multiple pi sessions report to one pill
  • Spring physics: Smooth cursor following with --follow-mode spring
  • Cursor anchoring: Snap window to cursor corners (top-right, bottom-left, etc.) with safe-zone awareness
  • Live status: Dot color, activity label (Reading, Editing, Running...), file/command detail, elapsed time, context window usage %
  • Dark/light mode: Adapts text stroke and colors to system appearance