FIT WebView Bridge

Description

FIT WebView Bridge currently provides a native macOS Qt widget (WKWebView) with PySide6 bindings.

Goal:

• use the OS-native web engine and system codecs (no custom QtWebEngine codec builds)
• expose a Python-usable widget API for navigation, downloads, JS evaluation, and capture

Current implementation scope:

• macOS backend only (src/macos, bindings/pyside6/macos)

Roadmap:

• planned backend expansion to Windows (WebView2) and Linux (WebKitGTK)

Why this project

QtWebEngine (Chromium) does not enable proprietary codecs by default. This module uses native web engines to keep codec compatibility and retain application control through a Qt/PySide API.

Repository layout (current)

fit-webview-bridge/
├─ CMakeLists.txt
├─ src/
│  └─ macos/                # WKWebView backend (Objective-C++)
├─ bindings/pyside6/
│  └─ macos/                # Shiboken typesystem and binding build
├─ fit_webview_bridge/      # Python package entrypoint
├─ examples/macos/          # Demo app
├─ scripts/macos/           # Local bootstrap/build scripts
└─ tests/                   # Pytest suites

API (SystemWebViewWidget)

Methods / invokables

• url()
• setUrl(QUrl)
• back()
• forward()
• stop()
• reload()
• clearWebsiteData()
• clearCacheData()
• setProxy(QString host, int port) -> bool (macOS 14+ WKWebView explicit HTTP CONNECT proxy)
• clearProxy()
• hasExplicitProxySupport() -> bool
• evaluateJavaScript(QString)
• evaluateJavaScriptWithResult(QString) -> token
• setDownloadDirectory(QString)
• downloadDirectory()
• setUserAgent(QString)
• userAgent()
• resetUserAgent()
• setApplicationNameForUserAgent(QString)
• captureVisiblePage(QString) -> token

setProxy() uses WKWebsiteDataStore.proxyConfigurations on macOS 14+ and should be called immediately after creating SystemWebViewWidget, before the first setUrl(). clearProxy() only removes the explicit proxy configuration; it does not clear cookies, storage, or cache.

Signals

• urlChanged(QUrl)
• navigationDisplayUrlChanged(QUrl)
• titleChanged(QString)
• loadProgress(int)
• loadFinished(bool)
• canGoBackChanged(bool)
• canGoForwardChanged(bool)
• downloadStarted(QString, QString)
• downloadProgress(qint64, qint64)
• downloadFinished(DownloadInfo*)
• downloadFailed(QString, QString)
• javaScriptResult(QVariant, quint64, QString)
• captureFinished(quint64, bool, QString, QString)

Prerequisites (macOS)

• CMake >= 3.24
• Ninja (generator)
• Python >= 3.11,<3.14
• Xcode + Command Line Tools
• PySide6 / Shiboken6 compatible with your target Python
• Qt 6.9.x SDK (installed locally, e.g. via aqtinstall)

Build (macOS)

git clone https://github.com/fit-project/fit-webview-bridge.git
cd fit-webview-bridge
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DBUILD_BINDINGS=ON \
  -DQt6_DIR="$PWD/Qt/6.9.0/macos/lib/cmake/Qt6" \
  -DPython3_EXECUTABLE="$(python3 -c 'import sys; print(sys.executable)')"
cmake --build build

# smoke import
PYTHONPATH="$PWD/build:$PYTHONPATH" python3 -c "import systemwebview; print('systemwebview import OK')"

Local checks (same as CI)

Run these commands before opening a PR, so failures are caught locally first.

What each tool does

• cmake + ninja: configures and builds the native module and PySide6 binding.
• pytest: runs automated tests (unit, contract, integration and e2e suites).
• clang-format: checks code formatting/style consistency for C++/Objective-C++ sources.
• clang-tidy: performs static analysis for bug-prone patterns and quality issues.
• CodeQL (optional): performs deeper security/quality static analysis and produces a SARIF report.

1) Bootstrap local toolchain (macOS)

This prepares Python virtualenvs (3.11, 3.12, 3.13) and installs Qt via aqtinstall.

./scripts/macos/bootstrap_macos.sh

2) Build + smoke import (all supported Python versions)

This compiles the module for each configured Python version and validates import of systemwebview.

./scripts/macos/build_smoke_macos.sh

By default, the script performs a clean build per Python version (CLEAN_BUILD=1) to avoid stale CMake cache/toolchain mismatches. To reuse existing build directories:

CLEAN_BUILD=0 ./scripts/macos/build_smoke_macos.sh

Single entrypoint (bootstrap + build/smoke):

./scripts/macos/ci_local_macos.sh

3) Test suite

After a successful build, run:

#Base setup
source .venv311/bin/activate
python -m pip install -U pip
pip install pytest

# unit tests
pytest -m unit -q tests/macos

# contract tests
pytest -m contract -q tests/macos

# integration tests
FIT_WV_RUN_GUI_TESTS=1 pytest -m integration -q tests/macos

# end-to-end smoke tests
FIT_WV_RUN_GUI_TESTS=1 pytest -m e2e -q tests/macos

Note: integration and e2e require a GUI-capable macOS session and are gated by FIT_WV_RUN_GUI_TESTS=1.

4) Native quality and security checks (macOS)

Install native analysis tools (one-time):

brew install llvm
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH"

Formatting rules are pinned in the repository via .clang-format.

Run all native checks:

./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

Note: native quality checks run with BUILD_BINDINGS=OFF to avoid coupling static analysis to Shiboken generation.

If clang-format reports many violations, auto-format first:

./scripts/macos/format_macos.sh

format_macos.sh runs only the formatting stage (clang-format) and skips clang-tidy.

Equivalent one-liner:

FORMAT_FIX=1 SKIP_TIDY=1 ./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

Use a custom clang-tidy check subset:

CLANG_TIDY_CHECKS='-*,clang-analyzer-*,bugprone-*' ./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

If your shell exports LLVM paths globally and clang-tidy configure fails due toolchain mismatch, run with a clean include env:

env -u CPATH -u CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH -u C_INCLUDE_PATH -u OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH \
  ./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

If clang-tidy cannot find macOS framework headers (for example Cocoa/Cocoa.h), set the SDK root explicitly:

MACOS_SDKROOT="$(xcrun --sdk macosx --show-sdk-path)" ./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

If build_smoke_macos.sh fails during Shiboken generation with errors like Libc++ only supports Clang 19 and later or missing __builtin_ctzg/__builtin_clzg, you are hitting a mixed toolchain environment (typically Homebrew LLVM headers with AppleClang). Use the default clean run and venv toolchain selection:

CLEAN_BUILD=1 ./scripts/macos/build_smoke_macos.sh

Enable local CodeQL scan (optional):

ENABLE_CODEQL=1 ./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

By default, the CodeQL build runs with BUILD_BINDINGS=OFF (native backend only) to avoid Shiboken/toolchain coupling. If you explicitly want bindings in the CodeQL build, override:

ENABLE_CODEQL=1 CODEQL_BUILD_BINDINGS=ON ./scripts/macos/check_quality.sh

Note: with Homebrew CodeQL, query packs may be downloaded on first run (--download), so network access is required.

If codeql is not installed/in PATH, the script reports:

CodeQL CLI not found in PATH but ENABLE_CODEQL=1 was requested.

Install CodeQL CLI on macOS (Homebrew):

brew install codeql
codeql version

Examples

PySide6 samples in examples/ demonstrate URL loading, JS injection, and signal handling.

Codec & licensing notes

The project does not redistribute proprietary codecs: it leverages codecs already provided by the OS. End‑user usage must comply with the relevant licenses/formats.

Project status

Active development. Current public scope in this repository is macOS.

Fit Web — Project rationale and options for proprietary codecs

Fit Web is the FIT project's scraper module designed to forensically acquire and preserve web content: https://github.com/fit-project/fit-web.

Like the other modules, Fit Web is based on PySide (Qt for Python). It currently uses QtWebEngine, which is a Chromium wrapper.

The problem

By default, Chromium does not enable proprietary audio/video codecs, notably H.264 and AAC.

Options considered

1) Build QtWebEngine with proprietary codecs

Enable the -webengine-proprietary-codecs option.
Documentation: https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qtwebengine-overview.html

Drawbacks

• Must be done for all supported operating systems.
• The build requires very powerful machines (e.g., difficulties on a MacBook Air M2 with 16 GB RAM).
• Licensing: distributing H.264 and AAC requires a license.

2) Use QtWebView

QtWebView relies on the OS’s native web APIs; for proprietary‑codec content it uses the system’s codecs.
Pros: no custom builds, no direct license handling.
Cons: the UI layer is QML, geared toward lightweight (often mobile) UIs, so it doesn’t provide full browser control compared to QtWebEngine.

Documentation: https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qtwebview-index.html

3) Implement a native Qt widget (C/C++) per OS

Develop a Qt widget (usable from PySide6) that embeds the system’s web engine:

• Windows → Edge WebView2
• macOS → WKWebView
• Linux → WebKitGTK (with GStreamer for codecs)

Advantages

• No redistribution licensing: leverage the codecs already provided by the OS.
• A common API can be exposed to PySide6.
• More control than QtWebView, without QML’s limitations.

Disadvantages

• Medium‑to‑high complexity to implement.
• Requires C++ and, on macOS, Objective‑C++.
• Requires custom CMake to include libraries and linking.