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Building from Source

You only need this if you're modifying the bridge / plugin / wallpaper HTML / Configurator / Builder, or producing your own release artefacts. End users grab pre-built files from the Releases page.

Prerequisites

  • Windows 10/11
  • Python 3.11+ with pip on PATH. Get it from python.org or winget install Python.Python.3.13.
  • PowerShell 7 (pwsh) — the build script uses pipeline chain operators and &&. Windows-built-in 5.1 doesn't work. winget install Microsoft.PowerShell.
  • Inno Setup 6 for the installer — winget install JRSoftware.InnoSetup.
  • Optional: the GitHub CLI (winget install GitHub.cli) if you plan to push releases.

Initial setup

git clone https://github.com/Delido/signalrgb-wallpaper.git
cd signalrgb-wallpaper

# Python deps for the bridge + build tooling
python -m pip install --user pystray Pillow psutil pyinstaller

tkinter is part of the Python Windows installer; no separate install needed. Everything else (asyncio, json, threading, hashlib, struct, mimetypes, webbrowser) is in the stdlib.

One-shot build (preferred)

pwsh installer\build.ps1

Stages:

  1. Generate icon.ico, thumbnail.png, banner.png, workshop_preview.png via the four installer/generate_*.py scripts.
  2. Rebuild SignalRGBBridge.exe with PyInstaller.
  3. Stage three per-screen Lively folders (wallpaper_bridge/lively_bundles/signalrgb-glow-screen-{1,2,3}/) and the matching SignalRGB_Glow_Screen{1,2,3}.zip files.
  4. Stage the single combined Wallpaper Engine bundle (we_bundles_single/signalrgb-glow/, with the screenIndex user property).
  5. Stage three per-screen Wallpaper Engine bundles (we_bundles/SignalRGB_Glow_Screen{1,2,3}/).
  6. Package the Lively pause-tester (SignalRGB_LivelyPauseTester.zip).
  7. Compile installer_out\SignalRGBWallpaperSetup-<version>.exe via Inno Setup.

Version is read from APP_VERSION in wallpaper_bridge/bridge.py. To override: pwsh installer\build.ps1 -Version 0.7.2.

Building SignalRGBBridge.exe by hand

If you only need the bridge exe (no installer, no wallpaper bundles):

cd wallpaper_bridge

python -m PyInstaller `
  --onefile `
  --noconsole `
  --name SignalRGBBridge `
  --hidden-import pystray._win32 `
  --collect-all pystray `
  --collect-submodules PIL `
  --collect-all psutil `
  --add-data "builder.html;." `
  --add-data "configurator.html;." `
  --add-data "help.html;." `
  --distpath dist_bridge `
  --workpath build_bridge `
  bridge.py

# Output: wallpaper_bridge\dist_bridge\SignalRGBBridge.exe  (~20 MB)

Flags explained:

  • --onefile — single self-contained exe; users don't need Python.
  • --noconsole — no console window when launched (we're a tray app). To debug, temporarily drop this flag and rebuild — stdout will be visible in cmd.
  • --hidden-import pystray._win32 + --collect-all pystray — PyInstaller's static analyser misses pystray's Win32 backend.
  • --collect-submodules PIL — Pillow's image loaders are lazy-loaded; this pulls them all in so the tray icon + About-dialog avatar work.
  • --collect-all psutil — psutil ships native .pyd extensions for the OS-specific syscalls behind the CPU / RAM / Network widgets.
  • --add-data "builder.html;." + "configurator.html;." + "help.html;." — bundles the two in-browser UIs served at /builder and /configurator.

Quick rebuild loop during development

When iterating on bridge.py, save the full PyInstaller cycle by running the Python source directly:

cd wallpaper_bridge
python bridge.py

You get a real console with stdout — ideal for debugging. The tray icon, Configurator, legacy Settings dialog, WS server etc. all work identically.

Smoke-testing the bridge

wallpaper_bridge/smoke_test.py opens two WS subscribers (?screen=0 and ?screen=1) and verifies that a fake UDP datagram tagged for one screen reaches only that screen's clients.

# Start the bridge first
.\wallpaper_bridge\dist_bridge\SignalRGBBridge.exe
# In another shell
python .\wallpaper_bridge\smoke_test.py

The smoke test will misreport FAIL if SignalRGB is actively streaming frames through the bridge at the same time (its WS clients pick up real plugin traffic mixed with the test payload). Stop SignalRGB or unpair the plugin before running it.

Publishing a release (maintainer notes)

  1. Bump APP_VERSION in wallpaper_bridge/bridge.py and the Version() export in SignalRGB_Desktop_Wallpaper.js. Add an entry to CHANGELOG.md.
  2. pwsh installer\build.ps1 — produces the installer + all release artefacts.
  3. Commit, tag, push:
git add -A
git commit -m "vX.Y.Z: <one-line summary>"
git tag vX.Y.Z
git push origin main --tags
  1. Create the release with artefacts:
gh release create vX.Y.Z `
  --title "vX.Y.Z" `
  --notes-file CHANGELOG.md `
  installer_out\SignalRGBWallpaperSetup-X.Y.Z.exe `
  wallpaper_bridge\dist_bridge\SignalRGBBridge.exe `
  wallpaper_bridge\SignalRGB_Glow_Screen1.zip `
  wallpaper_bridge\SignalRGB_Glow_Screen2.zip `
  wallpaper_bridge\SignalRGB_Glow_Screen3.zip `
  wallpaper_bridge\SignalRGB_Glow_WallpaperEngine.zip `
  wallpaper_bridge\SignalRGB_Glow_WE_Single.zip `
  SignalRGB_Desktop_Wallpaper.js `
  SignalRGB_Desktop_Wallpaper.qml

Add --prerelease for beta tags (e.g. 0.7.2-beta); the in-app update checker honours the Allow beta versions checkbox to decide whether to surface them.

  1. Verify on the Releases page.
  2. If you also want the Wallpaper Engine Workshop items updated, see workshop-publishing.md — that part is manual (no headless Steam API for it).