hzhang
e8670ac590
The dashboard finally has live content. `runtime.ts` now imports
`defineWidget` from `@dashward/widget-sdk` (added as a workspace
dependency of the container), defines a tabular-numerals clock widget
inline, and mounts it onto the 12-column grid via a generic
`mountWidget` + `createContext` pair that produces the SDK's
config/system/lifecycle/shell APIs.
container/runtime/runtime.ts
- mountWidget(def, parent, instanceId, size): creates a grid card,
applies grid-column/row span, builds the widget context, calls
def.mount; wraps in try/catch so a mount failure visibly degrades
the card (red border + error label) instead of breaking the page.
- createContext: localStorage-backed config (persists per
instanceId), theme reads dataset.theme and subscribes to the
dashward:ThemeChanged CustomEvent (DBus signal forwarded from
shell), shell.call delegates to window.__dashShell__. onMount
fires via microtask; onUnmount handlers stored; visibility is a
no-op until P7 (edit mode / workspace tracking).
- clockDef: defineWidget<ClockConfig>; shadow DOM root, large
tabular-numerals time string, re-renders on tick + config.onChange.
container/runtime/styles.css
- Real card style: half-transparent backdrop-filter blur with a
light/dark variant, rounded 18px corners, subtle border and shadow.
- .widget-error fallback for failed mount.
- grid-auto-rows: minmax(120px, auto) so widgets have a sensible
minimum row height.
container/package.json
- `@dashward/widget-sdk` is now a runtime dependency. esbuild
bundles it into runtime.js.
Verified on ubuntu2504-test VM: clock card renders top-left at 4-wide
× 2-tall, ticks every second, follows system theme live via the P4
bridge (light → glass-white card, dark → glass-black card).
Layout persistence, edit mode, dynamic disk loading of widget bundles,
and iframe crash isolation per design §11 / §14 land in P6+.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Dashward
A dedicated rightmost workspace for custom widgets on Ubuntu/GNOME, in the spirit of macOS Dashboard.
- GNOME Shell extension (GJS) creates the dashboard workspace, defends it from regular window incursions, and supervises the container.
- WebKitGTK container (separate process) renders an HTML page on that workspace.
- Widget SDK (TypeScript) lets you write widgets as web components.
Status: P0 skeleton. Design lives in
UBUNTU-DASHBOARD-SPACE.md
(see also ~/arch/UBUNTU-DASHBOARD-SPACE.md locally).
Target
- Ubuntu 25.04 / GNOME Shell 48 / Wayland.
- Other distros & versions: post-v1.
Repo layout
sdk/ TS widget SDK, published as @dashward/widget-sdk
extension/ GNOME Shell extension (GJS, TS-authored)
src/ Extension source
widgets-builtin/ Builtin widgets shipped with the extension
container/ WebKit kiosk process
src/ GJS bootstrap
runtime/ Page-side runtime (host grid, edit mode, widget loader)
widgets/ Example / 3rd-party widget dev tree
proto/ Shared DBus XML + TS types
scripts/ Build & dev helpers
Dev setup
Requires Node ≥ 20 and pnpm ≥ 9. To install pnpm:
npm install -g pnpm
Then:
pnpm install
pnpm build
Testing discipline
All Shell-side iteration happens inside the
ubuntu2504-test libvirt VM, never on the host GNOME session — a
buggy extension can lock you out of the Wayland session. See the design
doc §17 for the dev loop.
License
TBD.