Installation¶

Requirements¶

Python 3.10 or higher
macOS, Linux, or Windows

Install from PyPI¶

pip install window-art

Install from Source¶

git clone https://github.com/willmeyers/window-art.git
cd window-art
pip install -e .

Development Installation¶

For development with testing and type checking:

pip install -e ".[dev]"

This installs additional dependencies:

pytest - Testing framework
mypy - Static type checker

Dependencies¶

window-art automatically installs these dependencies:

Package	Purpose
`pysdl2`	Core window management via SDL2
`pysdl2-dll`	Pre-built SDL2 binaries
`pillow`	Image and GIF support
`opencv-python`	Video playback support

Verify Installation¶

import window_art as wa

with wa.run():
    win = wa.window(100, 100, 200, 200, color="green")
    wa.wait(1)

If a green window appears for 1 second, the installation is successful.

Platform-Specific Notes¶

macOS¶

On macOS, window-art uses Cocoa integration for:

Window shadows (shadow=True/False)
Proper event handling
Multiple monitor support

Linux¶

Ensure SDL2 development libraries are available. On most distributions, pysdl2-dll handles this automatically.

Windows¶

Works out of the box with pysdl2-dll providing the necessary binaries.

Troubleshooting¶

"No module named 'sdl2'"¶

Ensure pysdl2 is installed:

pip install pysdl2 pysdl2-dll

Windows Don't Appear¶

Check that your display server is running (X11 on Linux, Quartz on macOS). On headless servers, a display is required.

Permission Issues (macOS)¶

If windows appear but don't respond, grant "Accessibility" permissions to your terminal in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility.