appi - Your favorite DIY desktop app creator!

In a nutshell this creates the source code for a python app that can be installed on any linux flavor

Supported platforms:

[x] Linux [ ] Mac OS X

Requirements

1. python3.9
2. make
3. PDM

Features

• PDM managed
• Uses PySide6 for rendering
• Persistent cookiejar
• Support for app icon
• Installable .desktop file

Only linux is supported as of now, can be expanded to support macOS

Quickstart

Dependencies

1. Install make

sudo apt-get install make

2. Install Python dependencies

• pdm
• cookiecutter

Install dependencies via make

make install-deps

3. download the app icon

curl -o /tmp/app.png https://example.com/image.png

4. Create the app

cookiecutter gh:atumm-ra/appi

You'll be asked to fill in the parameters, most defaults would do, but you need to fill in the following (&examples):

I'm using formaviva as an example, this app is an independent creation that has nothing to do with formaviva

webapp_url: https://formaviva.com
app_name: Formaviva Desktop

Optional but recommended

icon_path: /tmp/app.png

Now after following the interactive console, you'll end up with a project that uses PySide6 to embed the web application you want

5. Install the app

cd formaviva-desktop
make system

What happens here is that it initializes a virtual environment, installs the dependencies (PySide and pyinstaller) compile a binary of the application, and assembles the .desktop file and copies it to the ~/.local/bin and ~ /.local/share/applications/app.desktop

6. Rebuild GTK Icon Cache (optional)

• Resolves when the app icon is shown as unknown/question mark

sudo gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/hicolor

To Do

Feel free to open a PR with any of the following, if there isn't one already.

• Support flatpak
• host a flatpak repository for all apps created with appi
• Support Mac OS X

Cheers!