Webbed

A cross-platform, iCloud-synced browser for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS. Built on WKWebView. Zero third-party dependencies.

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What it is

Webbed treats a browsing session as a record — every tab is a syncable object (URL, title, scroll, pin, frame, theme, group) that lives in iCloud Drive and can be opened on any of your devices.

On macOS each tab is its own borderless, tear-out window with custom chrome that auto-tints to match the page. On iPadOS / iOS the same tab library renders in a SwiftUI NavigationSplitView with Safari-style glass chrome.

Highlights

• Per-tab tear-out windows (macOS) — every tab is an independent borderless window with custom chrome, pin-on-top, and a resize handle.
• Auto-tinted chrome — the page's dominant color drives the window chrome and toolbar palette; the iOS top bar adopts the page theme via toolbarBackground while glass surfaces keep system foreground for legibility.
• Library window (master/detail) on macOS for browsing, archiving, and trashing tabs without opening them.
• iCloud sync — tab records and the pinned-sessions list sync across devices via the iCloud.com.arjun.Webbed ubiquity container, watched by NSMetadataQuery.
• Live Mode — per-window auto-refresh on a configurable interval, exposed from a popover in the chrome.
• Open in Browser — hand any tab off to Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Arc, or any other installed browser via a picker that enumerates registered HTTP handlers.
• Per-origin permission controls — camera, microphone, location, and notifications are gated per-origin with a privacy popover.
• Favicon + snapshot cache — favicons render in list rows; a disk cache backs thumbnails with stats and Clear / Regenerate controls in Settings.
• App Intents & Shortcuts — open a URL, start a new tab, or trigger Live Mode from Spotlight, Shortcuts, or Siri.
• Search providers — DuckDuckGo, Google, Kagi, and others selectable in Settings; the address field auto-detects URL vs query.
• Responsive macOS layout — the window collapses to a compact "mobile" layout below a width breakpoint.
• iOS feature parity — settings, snapshots, per-tab theme, sync status, and a bottom glass URL pill that reserves space so cookie banners remain reachable.

Architecture

AppCoordinator (singleton)
├── TabStore                  active / archived / trash buckets
├── WindowManager             one TabWindowController per open tab (macOS)
├── PersistenceService        JSON + PNG sidecar per UUID → iCloud Drive
├── ThemeRegistry             chrome accent palettes
├── FaviconCache              in-memory + on-disk LRU
└── iCloudChangeObserver      NSMetadataQuery

• macOS: AppKit shell (main.swift → NSApplication.shared.run()) with SwiftUI for utility panes (Settings, popovers).
• iOS / iPadOS: SwiftUI App lifecycle with NavigationSplitView (regular) / NavigationStack (compact).
• Shared: WebbedKit Swift package — models, persistence, settings, sync observer, favicon cache, search providers, permission store.

See plan.md for the full engineering spec.

Build

brew install xcodegen          # one-time
xcodegen generate              # regenerates Webbed.xcodeproj from project.yml
open Webbed.xcodeproj

Or from the command line:

xcodebuild -scheme Webbed     -configuration Debug -destination 'platform=macOS'                       build
xcodebuild -scheme WebbediOS  -configuration Debug -destination 'generic/platform=iOS Simulator'       build

The default checkout uses ad-hoc signing (- identity) so the project builds without any developer account configuration. Copy Configs/Signing.local.xcconfig.example to Signing.local.xcconfig and set DEVELOPMENT_TEAM for a real signing identity.

iCloud Sync

iCloud-backed sync is enabled by default. Both targets ship with the com.apple.developer.icloud-container-identifiers, com.apple.developer.icloud-services (CloudDocuments), and com.apple.developer.ubiquity-container-identifiers entitlements pointing at iCloud.com.arjun.Webbed, and the matching NSUbiquitousContainers block in each Info.plist so the container surfaces as "Webbed" in iCloud Drive / the Files app.

Requirements for sync to actually flow:

1. A real DEVELOPMENT_TEAM in Configs/Signing.local.xcconfig.
2. The iCloud.com.arjun.Webbed container registered against that team (Xcode → Signing & Capabilities → iCloud, or developer.apple.com → Identifiers → iCloud Containers).
3. Both devices signed into the same iCloud account with iCloud Drive enabled.

When StorageLocationResolver.iCloudAvailable is true, AppSettings.syncWithICloud defaults to true and effectiveSaveDirectory resolves to the ubiquity container's Documents/ folder. The iCloudChangeObserver in WebbedKit picks up external <uuid>.json updates via NSMetadataQuery and patches them into the in-memory TabStore.

If you need to build a fresh clone with no Apple Developer account, re-comment the com.apple.developer.icloud-* keys in both *.entitlements files (and the NSUbiquitousContainers blocks in the Info.plists) and re-run xcodegen generate — the app will fall back to the local sandbox container automatically.