dcamp — iOS & Mac Catalyst app

A native iOS / iPadOS / Mac Catalyst wrapper around the dcamp single-page app (the Decent Diaspora forum). It hosts the existing dcamp SPA in a WKWebView and adds the native capabilities Apple expects from an App Store app, so the web frontend stays the single source of truth while the app feels native.

What's native (and why it's not "just a website")

App Store guideline 4.2 rejects apps that are only a website in a shell. This wrapper adds real native value:

• Push notifications — APNs registration + device-token forwarding, tap-to-route deep links into the SPA (#/message/123, #/pings/…, etc.).
• Photo / camera attachments — WKWebView file inputs use the native picker and camera (Info.plist usage strings included).
• Native share sheet — the SPA can call dcampNative.share(url, title).
• Pull-to-refresh on the web content.
• Offline detection — a native "You're offline / Try again" screen via NWPathMonitor.
• External links open in SFSafariViewController; dcamp links stay in-app.
• Keychain login — remembers the /support login and offers best-effort autofill.
• Haptics and app icon badge controllable from the SPA.
• Edge-swipe back/forward navigation.

Project layout

project.yml                 XcodeGen spec (regenerate the .xcodeproj from this)
Sources/
  DcampApp.swift            SwiftUI @main + AppDelegate adaptor
  AppDelegate.swift         APNs registration + notification taps
  RootView.swift            SwiftUI → UIKit bridge
  WebViewController.swift    Core: WKWebView, refresh, offline, JS bridge, links
  OfflineView.swift         Native offline panel
  PushManager.swift         Push permission, token forwarding, payload routing
  Reachability.swift        NWPathMonitor wrapper
  KeychainStore.swift       /support credential storage
  AppConfig.swift           Base URL, allowed hosts, bridge names
Resources/
  Info.plist                Usage strings, background modes, orientations
  Dcamp.entitlements        aps-environment
  Assets.xcassets           AppIcon (placeholder), AccentColor, LaunchBackground

Build & run

Requires Xcode 26+, XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen).

xcodegen generate                       # (re)create Dcamp.xcodeproj from project.yml
open Dcamp.xcodeproj                     # then run, or:

# iOS simulator
xcodebuild -scheme Dcamp -sdk iphonesimulator \
  -destination 'generic/platform=iOS Simulator' build

# Mac Catalyst
xcodebuild -scheme Dcamp \
  -destination 'platform=macOS,variant=Mac Catalyst' build

Set DEVELOPMENT_TEAM in project.yml (or in Xcode → Signing) before building for a device or App Store submission.

JS bridge for the dcamp SPA

When running inside the app, window.dcampNative is available and document.documentElement gets the classes dcamp-native dcamp-ios. The SPA can feature-detect and progressively enhance:

if (window.dcampNative) {
  dcampNative.requestPush();                  // prompt for notifications
  dcampNative.share(location.href, title);    // native share sheet
  dcampNative.setBadge(unreadCount);          // app icon badge
  dcampNative.haptic('success');              // light|medium|heavy|success|warning|error
  dcampNative.saveLogin(email, password);     // remember in Keychain
  dcampNative.clearLogin();
  const creds = await dcampNative.getLogin();  // {email, password} | null
}

Backend (push) — implemented in dcamp

The dcamp backend half is built (in /d/lib/dcamp_push.tcl + schema.sql + dcamp_app.tcl). The app registers its APNs token by calling, through the web view (so the /support cookie authenticates it):

POST /support/dcamp/api.adp?action=push_register
     platform=apns&token=<hex>

which upserts into dcamp_push_tokens (person_id, platform, token, …), keyed on the person resolved from the cookie. Registration fires on every page load and when the token arrives; it's idempotent, and no-ops cleanly until the user is logged in.

Outbound delivery is a transport-neutral seam: the dcamp notification event model (built separately) calls dcamp_notify <person_id> <title> <body> <route>, which fans out to APNs (this app), Web Push (browsers), and the in-app inbox. APNs uses token-based JWT (ES256, signed via openssl) over HTTP/2 (curl --http2), with a route key in the payload that this app turns into a deep link.

Still required before push actually fires: Apple credentials, set on the server via Adminland → Settings (apns_team_id, apns_key_id, apns_topic = com.decentespresso.dcamp), plus the .p8 auth key dropped at /d/admin/apns/AuthKey.p8. Until those exist, sends are a silent no-op. There's an admin smoke-test action push_test once configured.