docs: lock screen-share integration design (peerspeak <-> pixelpass)
Approach B: peerspeak spawns pixelpass --host --output json, scrapes the ticket from its JSON stdout, and distributes it over the existing gossip plane as a ScreenShareOffer; peers get a one-click pixelpass viewer. Mutually optional, runtime-only coupling -- neither tool is a Cargo dependency of the other; the contract is pixelpass's CLI + JSON protocol. Video-only, separate viewer window, PATH binary discovery. Not yet built. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# Screen-share integration (peerspeak ↔ pixelpass)
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Design decisions for surfacing pixelpass screen-sharing from inside a peerspeak
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room. Locked 2026-06-06; **not yet implemented.** peerspeak owns voice,
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pixelpass owns pixels — this doc is the seam between them.
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## Core principle: mutually optional, runtime-only coupling
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**Neither tool is a Cargo dependency of the other, in either direction.**
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- peerspeak works fully without pixelpass installed; the screen-share control
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just degrades (greyed / "needs pixelpass — install it").
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- pixelpass works fully without peerspeak; nothing here makes it require voice.
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- The integration is **runtime subprocess + a stable contract**, never a crate
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import. The contract peerspeak depends on is pixelpass's **CLI flags + JSON
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event stream**, treated as a public API.
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- Keep the contract **symmetric** so the reverse direction (pixelpass launching
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peerspeak for a "call these viewers" button) stays possible later. No
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master/slave assumption.
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## Chosen approach: B — auto ticket-exchange over peerspeak's gossip plane
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1. User clicks **Share screen** in a peerspeak room.
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2. peerspeak spawns `pixelpass --host --output json` as a child process (video
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only — see audio decision below).
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3. peerspeak scrapes the `{"event":"ticket","value":"..."}` line from the
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child's **stdout** (emitted once at host startup).
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4. peerspeak broadcasts a **new typed gossip message**,
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`ScreenShareOffer { from, ticket }`, over the same gossip plane that already
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carries chat + presence.
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5. Each peer's peerspeak shows "**<name> is sharing — [View]**".
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6. Clicking **View** spawns `pixelpass <ticket> --output json` as a viewer; it
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opens in **its own pixelpass window** (not embedded in iced).
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7. When the sharer stops, peerspeak kills the host child and broadcasts a
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`ScreenShareEnded { from }` (or equivalent) so viewers' indicators clear.
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Rejected: **A** (manual ticket via chat — barely integrated) and **C** (deep
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embed / shared iroh identity — large, fights pixelpass's window model and the
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two-tools philosophy).
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## Why this is cheap
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pixelpass was built to be driven as a child process:
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- `--output json` exists explicitly for a front-end (its own `--gui` re-execs
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`pixelpass --host --output json` and parses the stream). See
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`pixelpass/src/common/output.rs`.
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- Host emits: `ticket`, `host_info`, `viewer_joined`, `viewer_left`, `capture`,
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`viewer_refused`. Viewer emits: `connected { url }`. Host reads a `kick`
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command on **stdin**.
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- **The ticket is the capability.** The data-plane host (`serve.rs`) gates
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viewers only by `max_viewers` — there is **no friends-list ACL** on the
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stream (friends is a separate control-plane/presence concept the headless CLI
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ignores). So distributing the ticket over gossip = granting room access, with
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no ACL to fight.
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- pixelpass is **1 host → N viewers** (asymmetric), which maps cleanly onto
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"I share, the room watches."
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## Locked sub-decisions
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- **Audio: video only** on the room-launch path. Do not pass pixelpass's audio
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capture, so screen-share audio can't echo/double with peerspeak's voice mix.
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- **Separate window** for the viewer (pixelpass's own), not embedded in iced.
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- **Binary discovery:** look up `pixelpass` on `$PATH`; allow a config override
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for a non-standard location. Absence is a normal, handled state, not an error.
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## Open questions for implementation
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- **Concurrency / who can share:** one sharer at a time, or multiple
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simultaneous shares (N independent host processes + N offers + a list UI)?
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- **Subprocess supervision:** how peerspeak tracks child lifetime, surfaces
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`viewer_refused` / capture failures, and cleans up on room-leave or crash
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(pixelpass has `--repair` for orphaned PipeWire state).
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- **Offer lifecycle on the gossip plane:** late joiners — do we re-announce
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active shares to someone who joins mid-share?
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- **UI placement:** where the Share button + incoming-offer indicators live
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across the three room layouts (3-Column / Bottom Dock / Drawer).
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## Build sketch (peerspeak side, for next session)
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1. New gossip message variant(s): `ScreenShareOffer`/`ScreenShareEnded` in the
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gossip wire type; bump/relax parsing compatibly.
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2. A `screenshare` subprocess supervisor module (spawn host, parse JSON stdout,
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track child, kill on stop) — keep the JSON-parsing a pure testable seam.
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3. `AppMessage` + state: `StartScreenShare`, `StopScreenShare`,
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`ViewShare(EndpointId)`, active-share map, "pixelpass present?" probe.
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4. UI: Share button + per-peer "View" affordance; graceful disabled state when
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the binary is absent.
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