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michael c37575f662 Merge pull request 'Module rules: a native helper ships prebuilt, for Apple silicon and Windows' (#35) from claude/module-helper-rules into main 2026-09-29 16:45:35 -04:00
Waters ChurchandClaude Fable 5.1 07e4c78417 Module rules: a native helper ships prebuilt, for Apple silicon and Windows
The machine running ProdDash is a packaged app or the Windows bundle plus
modules from the admin page's catalog. It has no compiler, and the catalog
delivers exactly the folder that is in the repo — so a module's native
program (audio capture, a decoder) ships already built, inside the module
folder, one file per platform: bin/<name>-macos-arm64 and
bin/<name>-win-x64.exe are required, Intel macOS optional, source and the
script that rebuilds every binary under native/.

The guide's rule 3 now says so, "The shape of a module" shows the layout,
and a new "Native helpers" section gives the contract: pick the binary by
platform at runtime, report the feature off when there is none — never
build, never search the machine, never ask the operator to install
anything — one command-line contract in any language per platform, bump
the version when a binary changes, keep them lean, sign the macOS one.
CLAUDE.md carries the one-line version. Rules only: no module changes here.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-29 16:34:34 -04:00
michael 9ca301b4be Merge pull request 'PCO Plan 1.9.0: a Song Key tile, keys as notes, and AbleSet-shaped section chips' (#32) from claude/pco-song-key into main 2026-09-29 14:58:47 -04:00
2 changed files with 74 additions and 2 deletions
+6 -1
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@@ -28,7 +28,12 @@ title-bar controls). The rules that matter most:
ship inside the module folder** (zero deps is the norm). **Everything the
module does runs inside its server entry** — no helper scripts, companion
programs or daemons the operator starts by hand; a listener or decoder is
started in `init()` and stopped in `stop()`. Declare `"proddash": ">=x.y.z"`
started in `init()` and stopped in `stop()`. **A native helper ships
prebuilt inside the module folder for Apple silicon macOS and 64-bit
Windows** (`bin/<name>-macos-arm64`, `bin/<name>-win-x64.exe`, source and
build script under `native/`); nothing is ever compiled on the machine
running ProdDash, and a missing binary means the feature reports itself
off, not a broken module. Declare `"proddash": ">=x.y.z"`
and bump the module's `version` on every change.
- Browsers never call upstream services directly; the module's server routes
proxy everything (no CORS, secrets stay server-side).
+68 -1
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@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ people running the booth depend on them.
ProdDash. If your feature needs a listener, a decoder or a worker, your
server entry owns it: start it in `init()`, stop it in `stop()`, report
it in `health()`. A child process the module itself spawns and supervises
is fine; a program someone launches by hand is not.
is fine; a program someone launches by hand is not. **A native helper —
anything that is not JavaScript — ships prebuilt inside the module folder,
for Apple silicon macOS and 64-bit Windows; nothing is ever compiled on
the machine running ProdDash** (see "Native helpers" below).
4. **Declare the ProdDash version you need** (`"proddash": ">=1.1.0"` in the
manifest) and **bump your own `version`** whenever you change the module.
The admin page refuses to install a module whose requirement the running
@@ -83,6 +86,10 @@ modules/<id>/
├── module.json manifest (required)
├── client.js ES module, client entry (required)
├── server.js server entry (optional — only if you need server code)
├── bin/ native helpers, prebuilt per platform (only if you need one)
│ ├── <name>-macos-arm64
│ └── <name>-win-x64.exe
├── native/ their source and the script that builds every bin/ file
└── ... assets (css, images…) served statically at /modules/<id>/
```
@@ -97,6 +104,66 @@ the newer version runs. **Uninstall** in the admin page removes an installed
module's files (a bundled one is hidden instead, since its folder belongs to
the app); its settings are kept for a later reinstall.
### Native helpers
Some features need a program JavaScript cannot be: reading an audio input,
decoding timecode, measuring sound. Rule 3 says the module owns that program;
this section says how it ships: **already built, for every platform it runs
on, inside the module folder.** The machine running ProdDash is a packaged
app or the Windows bundle plus modules from the admin page's catalog. It has
no compiler and never will — the catalog delivers exactly the folder that is
in the repo, so the binaries live in git next to the code.
- **Platforms.** Apple silicon macOS and 64-bit Windows are required. Intel
macOS is welcome but optional. One file per platform in `bin/`, named for
what it is:
| Platform | File |
| --- | --- |
| macOS, Apple silicon | `bin/<name>-macos-arm64` |
| Windows, 64-bit | `bin/<name>-win-x64.exe` |
| macOS, Intel (optional) | `bin/<name>-macos-x86_64` |
- **Pick it at runtime, and cope without it.** Choose by `process.platform`
and `process.arch`; when there is no file for this machine, the feature
says so — in `health()` and in the tile's `setStatus` — and everything else
in the module keeps working. Never try to build it, never look for a copy
elsewhere on the machine, never tell the operator to install anything.
```js
const HELPERS = {
darwin: { arm64: 'ltc-capture-macos-arm64', x64: 'ltc-capture-macos-x86_64' },
win32: { x64: 'ltc-capture-win-x64.exe' },
};
const name = HELPERS[process.platform]?.[process.arch];
const helper = name ? path.join(__dirname, 'bin', name) : '';
if (!helper || !fs.existsSync(helper)) {
// Timecode is off on this platform. Say it once, keep the clock running.
}
```
- **One contract, any language.** Every platform's binary speaks the same
command line and output format, so `server.js` has one code path. What is
behind it is your choice per platform — Swift against CoreAudio on macOS,
C#, C or Rust on Windows — the module does not care.
- **Source and build beside it.** Keep the source under `native/` with one
script that produces every `bin/` file from a checkout, so any binary can be
rebuilt from what is committed. A helper that cannot be rebuilt does not
ship.
- **Bump the module version whenever a binary changes**, like any other
file — that is how installs learn about it.
- **Keep them lean.** Optimised builds, no debug symbols, a few megabytes at
most: the catalog fetches the whole repo as one archive, capped at 80 MB.
- **Signing.** Apple silicon refuses unsigned code, so sign the macOS binary
— Developer ID when you have it, ad-hoc at least. Windows needs nothing:
files the app writes carry no download mark, so SmartScreen never sees
them. Permissions come from the launcher (see "Permissions macOS has to
grant"), not from the binary.
A helper that ends up existing for one platform only is an exception made
on purpose, not a default: say so in the module's README and in the health
line, so a Windows booth knows why the feature is off.
## module.json
```json