James Routley

True protocol portability: Cocoa-Way rendering Linux apps from OrbStack via Unix sockets.

Feature	Description
🍎 Native macOS	Metal/OpenGL rendering, seamless desktop integration
🚀 Zero VM Overhead	Direct Wayland protocol via socket, no virtualization
📺 HiDPI Ready	Optimized for Retina displays with proper scaling
🎨 Polished UI	Server-side decorations with shadows and focus indicators
⚡ Hardware Accelerated	Efficient OpenGL rendering pipeline

brew tap J-x-Z/tap
brew install cocoa-way waypipe-darwin

Download the latest .dmg or .zip from Releases.

# Install dependencies
brew install libxkbcommon pixman pkg-config

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/J-x-Z/cocoa-way.git
cd cocoa-way
cargo build --release

⚠️ Required: You must install waypipe-darwin to connect Linux apps.
brew tap J-x-Z/tap && brew install waypipe-darwin

Start the compositor:

Connect Linux apps via SSH:

./run_waypipe.sh ssh user@linux-host firefox

graph LR
    subgraph macOS
        CW[Cocoa-Way<br/>Compositor]
        WP1[waypipe<br/>client]
    end
    
    subgraph Linux VM/Container
        WP2[waypipe<br/>server]
        APP[Linux App<br/>Firefox, etc]
    end
    
    APP -->|Wayland Protocol| WP2
    WP2 <-->|SSH/Socket| WP1
    WP1 -->|Wayland Protocol| CW
    CW -->|Metal/OpenGL| Display[macOS Display]

Solution	Latency	HiDPI	Native Integration	Setup Complexity
Cocoa-Way	⚡ Low	✅	✅ Native windows	🟢 Easy
XQuartz	🐢 High	⚠️ Partial	⚠️ X11 quirks	🟡 Medium
VNC	🐢 High	❌	❌ Full screen	🟡 Medium
VM GUI	🐢 High	⚠️ Partial	❌ Separate window	🔴 Complex

macOS backend (Metal/OpenGL)
Waypipe integration
HiDPI scaling
🚧 Windows backend (win-way)
📱 Android NDK backend (planned)
Multi-monitor support
Clipboard sync

This project is part of the "Turbo-Charged Protocol Virtualization" research initiative exploring zero-cost cross-platform Wayland via Rust trait monomorphization + SIMD-accelerated pixel conversion.

SSH: "remote port forwarding failed"

A stale socket file exists on the remote host. Our run_waypipe.sh script handles this automatically with -o StreamLocalBindUnlink=yes.

If running manually:

waypipe ssh -o StreamLocalBindUnlink=yes user@host ...

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss major changes.

Cocoa-Way – Native macOS Wayland compositor for running Linux apps seamlessly