ghostMode/docs/development.md

Development

Writing your own plugin

1. Run python3 tools/bundle.py --check once. It enables the git hooks that auto-bump the version on commit (see Git hooks and versioning).
2. Edit plugin.json (id, name, description, etc.).
3. Write your plugin under src/, with src/main.py as the entry module (absolute imports only — it's executed at plugin-module top level, not inside a package).
4. python3 tools/bundle.py --release && python3 tools/verify_bundle.py dist/<id>.plugin (substitute your id from plugin.json).
5. bash scripts/deploy.sh --enable with a device connected.

Repo layout

plugin.json         single source of truth for plugin metadata
src/                the plugin, written as an ordinary Python package
  main.py           entry module — exactly one BasePlugin subclass, absolute imports only
  features.py       the ghost mode options and their defaults
  prefs.py          storage and resolution: chat -> account -> global
  network.py        request hooks: reads, stories, typing, online status, read on interact
  sending.py        scheduled and silent sending, forward hook, scheduled-screen guard
  menus.py          chat/profile/message/drawer menu items, the chat and account dialogs
  drawer.py         the drawer row for drawer layouts without a Plugins entry
  settings_page.py  the plugin settings screen and the per-account pages
  peers.py          accounts, dialog ids and names
  hooking.py        Xposed and UI-thread helpers
tools/
  bundle.py         compiles plugin.json + src/ into dist/<id>.plugin
  devclient.py      speaks the on-device dev-server protocol (127.0.0.1:42690)
  verify_bundle.py  offline harness that proves a built bundle behaves correctly, no phone needed
  release.py        publishes a built bundle to a Gitea release (used by CI)
  icon_png.py       renders images/icon.svg to a square PNG
images/icon.svg     the plugin icon, source of truth for any PNG export
.gitea/workflows/   CI that builds, verifies and publishes the .plugin to Releases
scripts/            ADB debug-loop automation and the git hooks
docs/               these notes + sdk-notes.md, the condensed SDK API surface

The three commands that matter

python3 tools/bundle.py --release          # compile src/ -> dist/<id>.plugin
python3 tools/verify_bundle.py dist/<id>.plugin   # offline proof the bundle works, no device needed
bash scripts/deploy.sh --enable            # build (--dev) + push to a connected device + enable + reload

bundle.py walks src/ recursively, embeds every .py file's source and dotted module name into a compressed, base64-encoded payload, and appends a small runtime preamble that installs a private import hook (scoped to a per-module __builtins__ dict, never touching sys.modules) so cross-module and cross-package imports resolve exactly as they would if the files were still on disk. --dev (the default) embeds absolute local paths so a debugger resolves breakpoints against your real source files; --release embeds repo-relative paths for distribution. Both modes produce byte-reproducible output for a given src/ + plugin.json. Its first run in a clone also enables the repo's git hooks (see Git hooks and versioning).

Exporting the icon as PNG

tools/icon_png.py renders images/icon.svg to images/icon.png, 512x512 by default. --resolution sets the size of both sides, so --resolution 1024 gives 1024x1024:

python3 tools/icon_png.py                    # images/icon.png, 512x512
python3 tools/icon_png.py --resolution 1024  # images/icon.png, 1024x1024
python3 tools/icon_png.py some.svg -o out.png

The output is always PNG; any other -o extension is rejected. The script itself is stdlib only and hands the rendering to the first renderer it finds: the cairosvg Python package, rsvg-convert (librsvg), ImageMagick or Inkscape. Install any one of them.