Python binding

Status: ✅ verified — the mediaway package in mediaway/ is real (pure-Python ctypes over the C ABI) and the examples in examples/ run against the native libraries: mux/demux roundtrip, real H.264 encode, real camera + mic capture. This README is the DX contract the package implements: context managers, exceptions, Rational-second timestamps, bytes for buffers.

See the C binding README for the underlying C ABI contract (status enums, ownership, thread confinement) — the Python package translates that ABI into idiomatic Python.

What Mediaway is (the capabilities)

A streaming-first media stack. The C ABI currently covers three capabilities (full detail in ../c/README.md and docs/spec/c-ffi.md):

1. Container — mux + demux: sans-io fragmented-MP4 muxer (register video/audio tracks, begin() → live, push packets, flush, poll_bytes(); the muxer never touches files — the caller owns byte I/O) and demuxer (push_bytes, streams(), poll_packet(), optional ClearKey key). Fully real.
2. Pipeline — auto video encode → fMP4: one call picks the best available OS/GPU encoder for a config, wires it into an internal MP4 muxer; finish() returns complete MP4 bytes. Video only — the audio encoder is separate (ABI v2, adr/0003): AudioEncoder.open() streams AAC packets for the caller's own muxer.
3. Device — capture: camera (CPU frames), microphone/loopback (PCM), hotplug. Screen capture is UNSUPPORTED from C today (needs a GPU device handle with no C representation yet) — an honest gap, not a bug.

The real ABI beneath (what the wrapper wraps)

DLLs: mediaway_ffi, mediaway_ffi, mediaway_ffi (built for x86_64-pc-windows-gnu, see the C README's build recipe). Headers crates/mediaway-*-ffi/include/mediaway/{container,pipeline,device}.h are the authoritative layout.

• Opaque handles, all thread-confined (no concurrent calls on one handle).
• Every status is a per-crate enum, OK = 0; a caught Rust panic poisons the handle. NO_BACKEND / UNSUPPORTED are expected outcomes, not errors.
• Ownership: borrowed inputs valid for the call only (the wrapper must copy in); owned outputs (poll_bytes buffers, demuxed packets/stream info, encode finish buffers, polled device frames) must be released via the matching _free — the wrapper's job is to make this automatic (context managers / finalizers).
• Handle-consumption traps the wrapper MUST hide: mediaway_encode_session_open consumes the encoder unconditionally; mediaway_encode_session_finish consumes the session. Python can hide this by folding open into EncodeSession construction and making finish terminal.

Ideal API — the DX contract

A single mediaway package, pure-Python ctypes glue + idiomatic wrappers. snake_case everywhere (Python convention beats the C names): Rational, VideoStreamInfo, AudioStreamInfo, Packet, Codec (enum), VideoFrame; classes Muxer, Demuxer, EncodeSession, AutoVideoEncoder, VideoCapture, AudioCapture.

• Context managers: with Muxer() as m:, with Demuxer() as d:, with EncodeSession(...) as s: — __exit__ closes the underlying handle (and, for capture sessions, joins the backend worker thread). This is the primary lifecycle shape; explicit .close() exists for non-with users.
• Exceptions: a MediawayError base carrying the raw status code, with subclasses for the expected outcomes (EncoderUnavailableError, DeviceUnavailableError, CaptureUnsupportedError) so examples can catch-and-continue rather than crash on missing hardware. No status-code checking in example bodies.
• Typestate as two classes (mirrors C++): Muxer (Open: add_video_track / add_audio_track) → .begin() returns LiveMuxer (push_packet / flush / poll_bytes). Calling track registration on a LiveMuxer is impossible, matching the ABI's INVALID_STATE.
• bytes for byte buffers: poll_bytes() -> bytes; push_bytes(bytes); packet.payload -> bytes; frame.data -> bytes (NV12/BGRA8). The wrapper copies out of borrowed/owned native buffers — no memoryview leaking into the API.
• Rational(num, den) as a small dataclass(frozen=True); info structs as dataclasses.
• EncodeSession(encoder) takes ownership of the encoder object; finish() -> bytes is terminal (no close() after it).

Example scenarios

examples/ mirrors the Rust examples/ layout — sector subfolders, one file per scenario (English comments only; each file's header comment states real vs. aspirational):

Rules

• English comments only.
• Map existing Rust surfaces; do not invent capabilities the Rust side doesn't have.
• Wrap the ABI fully: no ctypes types or raw handles visible in examples.
• Not part of the Cargo workspace; durable API changes require an ADR (ADR-0004).