One-click build: each script first builds a wheel via scripts/wheel_build.sh (includes the console frontend), then uses a temporary conda environment and conda-pack (no current dev env). Dependencies follow pyproject.toml.

• Windows: wheel → conda-pack → unpack → NSIS installer (.exe)
• macOS: wheel → conda-pack → unpack into .app → optional zip

• Windows: Windows 10 or later
• macOS: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) recommended for MLX support

• conda (Miniconda/Anaconda) on PATH
• Node.js / npm (for the console frontend)
• (Windows only) NSIS: makensis on PATH
• Icons: Pre-generated icon.ico (Windows) and icon.icns (macOS) are included in scripts/pack/assets/

From the repo root:

macOS

bash ./scripts/pack/build_macos.sh
# Output: dist/CoPaw.app

CREATE_ZIP=1 bash ./scripts/pack/build_macos.sh   # also create .zip

Windows (PowerShell)

./scripts/pack/build_win.ps1
# Output: dist/CoPaw-Setup-<version>.exe
# Creates two launchers:
#   - CoPaw Desktop.vbs (silent, no console window)
#   - CoPaw Desktop (Debug).bat (shows console for troubleshooting)
# Note: Pre-compiles all Python files to .pyc for faster startup

If the .app crashes on double-click, run it from Terminal to see the full error and logs:

# From repo root; force packed env only (no system conda / PYTHONPATH). Adjust path if needed.
APP_ENV="$(pwd)/dist/CoPaw.app/Contents/Resources/env"
PYTHONPATH= PYTHONHOME="$APP_ENV" "$APP_ENV/bin/python" -m copaw desktop

All stdout/stderr (including Python tracebacks) will appear in the terminal. Use this to debug startup errors or to run with --log-level debug.

When you double-click the .app and nothing appears, the launcher writes stderr/stdout to ~/.copaw/desktop.log. Inspect that file for errors.

On first launch macOS may ask for “Desktop” or “Files and Folders” access: click Allow so the app can run properly; if you click Don’t Allow, the window may close.

When users download the CoPaw macOS app (e.g. from Releases) as a .app (in a zip), macOS may show: "Apple cannot verify that 'CoPaw' contains no malicious software". The app is not notarized. They can still open it as follows:

• Right-click to open (recommended) Right-click (or Control+click) the CoPaw app → Open → in the dialog click Open again. Gatekeeper will allow it; after that double-click works as usual.

• Allow in System Settings If still blocked, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, find the message like "CoPaw was blocked because it is from an unidentified developer", and click Open Anyway or Allow.

• Remove quarantine attribute (not recommended for most users) In Terminal: xattr -cr /Applications/CoPaw.app (or the path to the .app after unzipping). This clears the download quarantine flag; less safe than right-click → Open.

.github/workflows/desktop-release.yml:

• Triggers: Release publish or manual workflow_dispatch
• Windows: Build console → temporary conda env + conda-pack → NSIS → upload artifact
• macOS: Build console → temporary conda env + conda-pack → .app → zip → upload artifact
• Release: When triggered by a release, uploads the Windows installer and macOS zip as release assets