MultiProcessShell

English · 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어

C++/Qt multi-process shell: Host chrome + Client native-window embed + Protobuf IPC.

Phase-1 platform: Windows (form A); the macOS / Linux directories are placeholders.

Features

• Multi-process UI shell: the Host owns tabs and lifecycle; Clients embed as native HWNDs (SetParent)
• Detachable tabs: tear-out / merge, MRU tab closing, empty-shell rules (pure rule modules with tests)
• Protobuf IPC: the authoritative IDL is proto/shell/ipc/v1/ipc.proto
• wid stays behind the embed seam: the tab model knows only tabId; platform handles live in EmbedContainer / TabEmbedMap
• One-click demo deploy: windeployqt runs automatically on Windows, so build-shared/demos/mps_demo_host.exe just works

Requirements

Item	Notes
Qt	6.8+ to build the demo / Host (protocol-only tests can skip Qt)
Toolchain	CMake, Ninja, Python 3; MSVC x64 (vcvars) on Windows
Deps	Protobuf v35.1 (FetchContent); the recommended AbseilPin 20260107.1 (-DMPS_ABSEIL_PIN_PREFIX=, detected in a sibling directory)
Optional	clang-format 20 for local format checks

Quick start (Windows)

1. Open an x64 Native Tools / vcvars environment.
2. Point QTDIR at a Qt 6.8+ prefix and add %QTDIR%\bin to PATH.
3. Recommended: install QThemeEngine (QTE) → QFluentRibbon (QFR) → MPS into a local prefix (shared libraries, build tree build-shared):

:: QTDIR = Qt 6.8+ prefix; PREFIX = install root (optional: sibling prefix/ of the three repos)
set QTDIR=<Qt-6.8+-prefix>
set PREFIX=<install-prefix>
python scripts\install_stack.py --prefix %PREFIX%

4. Run it (no extra console window):

build-shared\demos\mps_demo_host.exe

This repo only (also defaults to build-shared; Windows runs deploy_demo.py / windeployqt):

python scripts\build_repo.py

Protocol / tab-strip tests only (Qt optional):

python scripts\build_repo.py --no-demos --test

Finer build options: build.md; CI: ci.md.

Layout

cmake/            Qt / Protobuf helpers
proto/            shell.ipc.v1 IDL
src/              Host / Client / common / ipc_qt
demos/            mps_demo_host / mps_demo_client
tests/            protocol + tab-strip unit tests
scripts/          install_stack / build_repo / build_qt / deploy_demo
clients/python/   M4b Python Hello smoke
docs/zh|en/       Chinese + English docs

Documentation

Topic	English	简体中文
Product spec	multiprocess-shell-spec.md	multiprocess-shell-spec.md
Dev plan	dev-plan.md	dev-plan.md
Demo morphology	demo-morphology.md	demo-morphology.md
Demo acceptance	demo-acceptance.md	demo-acceptance.md
Demo IPC	demo-ipc.md	demo-ipc.md
IPC alternatives	ipc-alternatives.md	ipc-alternatives.md
Build	build.md	build.md
CI	ci.md	ci.md

Long-form design notes are maintained in English and Simplified Chinese only; this README is the document kept in sync across all four languages.

Policy: when the long-form product sketch disagrees with .proto, the .proto and the demo IPC win.

Status

Capability	Status
Framing + shell.ipc.v1 + mps_ipc_tests (M0)	Done
Detachable tab-strip rule tests	Done
Windows demo (Home / Create Client / tear-out / embed)	Done (M5 closable)
wid behind the embed seam	Done
M4b Python Hello	Done
M6 heartbeat / unresponsive UI	Done
Multi-backend / optional M7	See spec + dev-plan

License

Released under the MIT License.