openchamber/packages/mobile/README.md

OpenChamber Mobile

Capacitor shell for the dedicated OpenChamber mobile web surface.

The mobile package reuses the web build, then rewrites mobile.html to index.html in packages/mobile/dist so native iOS/Android always launch MobileApp instead of the hosted surface selector.

Runtime Model

• The native app bundles the mobile UI only; it does not embed the OpenChamber web server or OpenCode server.
• On first launch in Capacitor, the app shows a connection screen for an existing OpenChamber server.
• Connections are saved locally in the app and can be managed from Instances in the sessions drawer footer (a persistent left sidebar on tablets).
• The connection screen and the Instances entry are Capacitor-only. Hosted mobile.html in a normal browser keeps the regular web behavior.
• Phones and tablets share one navigation model: a sessions drawer/sidebar on the left, the workspace drawer (Changes / Files / Terminal / Notes / MCP) on the right, and no overflow menu. Tablets differ only in that the sessions list is a resizable persistent sidebar and the header dropdowns are anchored popovers.
• The tablet layout is a live size class (useTabletLayout), not a device check: any surface whose short side is at least 600px gets it, and the workspace only becomes a side panel where the width can host the sidebar, the panel and a readable chat at once. Book foldables therefore pick it up when unfolded, keep the portrait layout in both orientations (their long side is barely wider than a tablet's short one), and drop back to the phone layout when folded shut. The Android activity declares the matching configChanges, so folding resizes the WebView instead of recreating it.
• Password-protected OpenChamber servers can be unlocked from the mobile app. The app stores the issued client token with the saved connection.
• The Terminal workspace surface runs its PTY on the active OpenChamber server over the shared authenticated runtime transport; it never opens a local shell on the phone or tablet. Closing the surface detaches the renderer while the server session remains available for reattachment. On touch devices, dragging scrolls the buffer while long-pressing and dragging selects terminal text.
• The Changes workspace has a top-level Changes / Branch / Commit selector. Checkout, Sync, staging, and commit controls appear only under Changes; Branch and Commit show a read-only file list that opens one diff at a time. Their shared source pickers use bottom sheets on phones and anchored popovers on tablets. Commit lists the latest 50 commits of the checked-out branch. Closing the workspace preserves the current detail and suspends comparison reads; changing repository or instance resets navigation, and a new file link from chat opens the working-tree diff.

Commands

Run these from packages/mobile, or use the root mobile:* aliases.

• bun run build: builds packages/web and prepares mobile web assets.
• bun run build:assets: prepares mobile assets from an existing packages/web/dist build; the root workspace build uses this to avoid rebuilding web.
• bun run sync: prepares assets and runs cap sync.
• bun run add:ios: creates the native iOS project.
• bun run add:android: creates the native Android project.
• bun run build:android:debug: builds a debug Android APK without launching an emulator.
• bun run build:ios:simulator: builds an iOS Simulator app without launching Xcode or Simulator.
• bun run sim:run: boots a simulator if needed, installs the built iOS app, and launches it.
• bun run sim:dev: one-command dev loop — builds the simulator app, installs + launches it, starts the serve-sim stream, and prints the preview URL; Ctrl+C stops the stream. Pass --no-build to skip the build step.
• bun run sim:serve: starts serve-sim in detached JSON mode and prints the browser preview URL.
• bun run sim:list: lists running serve-sim streams.
• bun run sim:kill: stops running serve-sim streams.
• bun run open:ios: opens the iOS project.
• bun run open:android: opens the Android project.

Headless Quickstart

bun run build
bun run sync
bun run build:ios:simulator
bun run build:android:debug

These commands build and sync the native projects without launching Xcode, Android Studio, Simulator, or an emulator.

Local Tooling

The default scripts assume the local Homebrew/Xcode paths prepared for this workspace:

• Xcode: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• JDK 21: /opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk@21
• Android SDK: /opt/homebrew/share/android-commandlinetools

Override DEVELOPER_DIR, JAVA_HOME, ANDROID_HOME, or ANDROID_SDK_ROOT when using a different local setup.

Required local tools:

• Xcode with iOS Simulator support.
• CocoaPods for iOS dependency installation.
• JDK 21 for Android Gradle builds.
• Android SDK command-line tools with platform/build-tools 35.

Troubleshooting

• If xcodebuild reports that the active developer directory is Command Line Tools, keep using the provided scripts or set DEVELOPER_DIR=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer.
• If Android builds fail with Unable to locate a Java Runtime or source release: 21, install/use JDK 21 and set JAVA_HOME accordingly.
• If Android SDK packages are missing, install platform-tools, platforms;android-35, and build-tools;35.0.0, then accept SDK licenses.
• If CocoaPods cannot find Capacitor pods after reinstalling dependencies, run bun install from the workspace root, then rerun bun run sync.
• If connecting to a remote OpenChamber server fails from the app while /health works in curl, check that the server build includes the packaged-client CORS allowlist for capacitor://localhost and local dev origins.
• If serve-sim preview says the stream is not producing frames, check the raw MJPEG stream before assuming the simulator stopped. In prior testing the raw stream worked while the browser preview UI stayed stale.

Generated Assets

The native projects currently use Capacitor-generated launcher and splash assets. Replace them before release branding work.