Ci

Ci is a macOS menu bar app that generates classical Chinese poetry wallpapers from 唐詩三百首.

Features

• Menu bar control for generating a new wallpaper.
• Generative shanshui-style scenes with Ink and Scroll modes.
• Right-to-left vertical poem layout inspired by classical scroll reading.
• Pause and resume scheduling.
• Interval choices: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or daily.
• Current poem title and text shown in the menu.
• Finder shortcut for the generated wallpaper file.
• Optional start-at-login support.
• Preferences and generated wallpaper stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Ci.

Font Requirement

Ci uses 齊伋體 qiji-font. The recommended file is qiji-combo.ttf.

For local use, install qiji-combo.ttf with Font Book. For release builds, place qiji-combo.ttf next to Ci.spec before running PyInstaller. The build will bundle it when present. If the app cannot find the font, it shows a menu bar error alert instead of failing silently.

Installation

Download the latest DMG from the GitHub releases page, open it, and drag Ci.app to Applications.

Because unsigned local builds are not notarized, macOS may require opening the app from Finder with Control-click, then Open.

Usage

After launch, Ci appears as 词 in the menu bar.

• New Wallpaper immediately renders and applies a new wallpaper.
• Pause stops scheduled changes.
• Current Poem shows the title, author, and poem text from the last generated wallpaper.
• Reveal Wallpaper opens the generated wallpaper in Finder.
• Style switches between Random, Ink, and Scroll render modes.
• Interval controls the automatic refresh cadence.
• Start at Login creates or removes ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yankihue.ci.plist.

Development

Install dependencies:

poetry env use python3.10
poetry install

Run from source:

poetry run python ci.py

Build the app:

PYINSTALLER_CONFIG_DIR=.pyinstaller-cache poetry run pyinstaller -y --clean Ci.spec

Create a DMG:

brew install create-dmg
./builddmg.sh

The DMG is written to dist/Ci.dmg.

Release Notes

Minimum credible local release:

PYINSTALLER_CONFIG_DIR=.pyinstaller-cache poetry run pyinstaller -y --clean Ci.spec
codesign --force --deep --sign - dist/Ci.app
./builddmg.sh
codesign --force --sign - dist/Ci.dmg

Public distribution should use a paid Apple Developer certificate and notarization. Do not treat the ad-hoc signing command above as a notarized release.

Troubleshooting

If wallpaper generation fails with a missing font message, install qiji-combo.ttf or rebuild with the font beside Ci.spec.

If start-at-login does not work, remove ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yankihue.ci.plist, launch Ci manually, and enable Start at Login again.

If the app launches but no wallpaper changes, check that macOS allowed the AppleScript desktop update. Running from Terminal with poetry run python ci.py will print the generated poem and output path.

Architecture

See ARCHITECTURE.md for the current Python/PyInstaller decision and the future Swift-shell upgrade path.