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Emacs Application Framework

Emacs Application Framework (EAF) is a GUI application framework that revolutionizes Emacs graphical capabilities to ultimately Live in Emacs.

EAF Application Overview

EAF is an extensible framework, one can develop any Qt5 application and integrate it into Emacs.

Browser	Markdown Previewer (support Mermaid and PlantUML)

Image Viewer	Video Player

PDF Viewer	Camera

File Sender	File Receiver

Air Share	Org Previewer

Terminal Emulator	RSS Reader (Integrated with Elfeed)

Aria2 Download Manager	Mind Map

Jupyter	EAF Interleave

EmacsConf2020 - Extend Emacs to Modern GUI Applications with EAF

EAF talk & demo at EmacsConf2020, presented to you by MatthewZMD
Homepage (Q&A included): https://emacsconf.org/2020/talks/34/
Youtube link:

Install

Download EAF

git clone --depth=1 -b master https://github.com/manateelazycat/emacs-application-framework.git ~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/emacs-application-framework/

Alternatively, you can use a Quelpa recipe

(quelpa '(eaf (:fetcher github
               :repo  "manateelazycat/emacs-application-framework"
               :files ("*"))))

Install EAF dependencies using M-x eaf-install-dependencies.

If you prefer to manually call the installation script in the terminal,

If you use GNU/Linux,

cd emacs-application-framework
chmod +x ./install-eaf.sh
./install-eaf.sh

If you use Windows,

cd emacs-application-framework
node ./install-eaf-win32.js

Feel free to inspect the install script yourself. An explanation of each dependency can be found at Dependency List.

Install Elisp packages:

From here on, you can either add the full path to the EAF installation directory to your Emacs load-path, then add the following to init.el:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/emacs-application-framework/")
(require 'eaf)

or, if you use use-package, you can use the following sample configuration for your convenience.

(use-package eaf
  :load-path "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/emacs-application-framework" ; Set to "/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/eaf" if installed from AUR
  :init
  (use-package epc :defer t)
  (use-package ctable :defer t)
  (use-package deferred :defer t)
  (use-package s :defer t :ensure t)
  :custom
  (eaf-browser-continue-where-left-off t)
  :config
  (eaf-setq eaf-browser-enable-adblocker "true")
  (eaf-bind-key scroll_up "C-n" eaf-pdf-viewer-keybinding)
  (eaf-bind-key scroll_down "C-p" eaf-pdf-viewer-keybinding)
  (eaf-bind-key take_photo "p" eaf-camera-keybinding)
  (eaf-bind-key nil "M-q" eaf-browser-keybinding)) ;; unbind, see more in the Wiki

Dependency List

Packages listed as Core are mandatory for EAF to work, whereas other packages are optional - install if you want to use corresponding EAF Application.

Package	Dependent	Description
python-epc	Core	EPC for Python
python-pyqt5, python-pyqt5-sip	Core	Essential GUI library
python-pyqtwebengine	Core	Chromium based web rendering engine
wmctrl, xdotool	Core	Activate Emacs window input focus
pygetwindow	Core	Activate Emacs window input focus on WSL from Windows
nodejs	Core	Installs dependencies, and for app communications
python-pymupdf	PDF Viewer	PDF rendering engine
python-qrcode	File Sender, File Receiver, Airshare	Render QR code pointing to local files
aria2	Browser	Download files from the web
libreoffice	Doc Viewer	Convert doc file to pdf
filebrowser-bin	File Browser	Share files between computer and smartphone
python-qtconsole	Jupyter	Provide RichJupyterWidget
python-retrying	Markdown Previewer	Provide @retry

Launch EAF Applications

Application Name	Launch
Browser	`M-x eaf-open-browser` Search or Goto URL
	`M-x eaf-open-browser-with-history` Search or Goto URL or Goto History
HTML Email Renderer	`M-x eaf-open-mail-as-html` in `gnus`, `mu4e`, `notmuch` HTMl Mail
PDF Viewer	`M-x eaf-open` PDF File
Video Player	`M-x eaf-open` Video File
Image Viewer	`M-x eaf-open` Image File
Markdown Previewer	`M-x eaf-open` Markdown File
Org Previewer	`M-x eaf-open` Org File
Camera	`M-x eaf-open-camera`
Terminal	`M-x eaf-open-terminal`
File Sender	`M-x eaf-file-sender-qrcode` or `eaf-file-sender-qrcode-in-dired`
File Browser	`M-x eaf-file-browser-qrcode`
Airshare	`M-x eaf-open-airshare`
Mindmap	`M-x eaf-create-mindmap` or `M-x eaf-open-mindmap`
MS Office Viewer	`M-x eaf-open-office`
Jupyter	`M-x eaf-open-jupyter`
Music	`M-x eaf-open-music`
Demo	`M-x eaf-open-demo` to verify basic functionality

EAF Browser and PDF Viewer support Emacs built-in bookmark operation, with M-x bookmark-set (defaulted to C-x r m) and M-x bookmark-bmenu-list (defaulted to C-x r l).

Wiki

It is highly suggested to read the Wiki first before using EAF.

Wiki consists of documentations on:

Keybindings
Customization
Design
TODOLIST

There also are some helpful tips to make EAF work with Docker, Helm, etc.

FAQ

How does EAF work?

EAF implements three major functionalities:

Integrate PyQt program window into Emacs frame using QWindow Reparent technology.
Listen to EAF buffer's keyboard event flow and control the keyboard input of PyQt program via Python EPC.
Create a window compositer to make a PyQt program window adapt Emacs's Window/Buffer design.

Learn more from the Wiki!

EAF vs EXWM?

EAF and EXWM share a common goal: enhance collaboration between the standard GNU Emacs with other GUI tools.
EXWM is an X11 Window Manager, it manages and controls other software using a keyboard, but it cannot modify, customize and extend the behavior of other software.
EAF is not a Window Manager, it utilizes the windows managing capabilities of Emacs to display its applications.
The intention of EAF is to provide a framework to write PyQt5 applications that extends the multimedia experience of Emacs. From the perspective of Emacs' buffer/mode design, EAF is not different from any other package, with the former uses Qt for drawing contents while the latter uses Emacs' built-in text libraries instead.
Through EAF's design, one can use Elisp to control Python and vice versa, and even able to use Elisp to control JavaScript in EAF Browser. EAF enables Emacs to the world of multi-language scripting.

Both projects are similar in terms of interface, but they are two completely different projects with different goals in mind. Sometimes one may find EAF is more suitable than EXWM, sometimes it's the other way around. Please do not meaninglessly compare them.

EAF can't works on MacOS. Why?

Qt5's QGraphicsScene technology does not work on MacOS.
QWindow Reparent technology need use the original API of Mac platform for replacement.

If you've figure them out, PRs are always welcome!

EAF js-video-player can't play some video on Windows. Why?

js-video-player requires that qtwebengine built against ffmpeg to support proprietary codecs like h264/aac.

Why doesn't EAF receive input events on WM?

EAF confirms that the desktop environment or window manager you can work includes: KDE, GNOME2, GNOME3, Mate, Xfce, LXDE, I3, QTILE, Xpra.

We suspect there are some issues with how all the Window Managers implement their x11 protocols.

One workaround is to name of command wmctrl -m to the elisp list eaf-wm-focus-fix-wms. Fill an issue if it still doesn't work.

Proxy

If you need to use proxy to access internet, one can configure the proxy settings.

(setq eaf-proxy-type "http")
(setq eaf-proxy-host "127.0.0.1")
(setq eaf-proxy-port "1080")

If you use Socks5 as local proxy, one can set proxy type with:

(setq eaf-proxy-type "socks5")

EAF in the community

A list of other community packages that use EAF to enhance their graphical experiences!

If we missed your package, please make a PR to add it to the list.

obr-viz: visualizing org-brain relationships using EAF

Report bug

For any installation and configuration assistance, please read the Wiki first!

If you encounter a problem with EAF, and it occured after pulling the latest commit, please check the Discussions page first.

For any other problems, please use emacs -q and load a minimal setup with only EAF to verify that the bug is reproducible. If emacs -q works fine, probably something is wrong with your Emacs config.

If the problem persists, please report it here with *eaf* buffer content, it contains many clues that can help us locate the problem faster.

If you got segfault error, please use the following way to collect crash information:

Install gdb and turn on option eaf-enable-debug
Use command eaf-stop-process stop current process
Restart eaf, send issue with *eaf* buffer content when next crash

Join Us

Do you want to make Emacs a real "operating system"?

Do you want to live in Emacs more comfortably?

Do you want to revolutionize the capabilities of Emacs?

Let's hack together!

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aspiwack/emacs-application-framework