WinInspect

WinInspect is a WinSpy++-like window inspection tool designed as a core + broker + clients system:

• Core (libwininspect_core) is deterministic, concurrency-safe, and idempotent.
• Broker/Daemon (wininspectd.exe) exposes a local IPC API (Windows Named Pipes).
• Clients: CLI, Win32 native GUI, and API clients can run concurrently without interfering.

This repository is scaffolded to follow the WineBotAppBuilder (WBAB) lifecycle:

• wbab lint
• wbab build
• wbab test
• wbab package
• wbab sign
• wbab smoke
• wbab discover

Download

Pre-built releases are available on the GitHub Releases page.

Package	Description
WinInspect-Installer-*.exe	NSIS installer for Windows 10/11 and Wine 10.x/11.x
WinInspectPortable-*.zip	Portable edition — extract anywhere, no installation
wi-portable-*-win-x64.exe	Go portable CLI (Windows)
wi-portable-*-linux-x64	Go portable CLI (Linux)

Release builds are code-signed through the SignPath Foundation. Checksums (SHA256) are provided for all artifacts.

Quick start (developer)

Prerequisites

Install the toolchain via winget (Windows 10/11 built-in):

# One-time setup
winget install Kitware.CMake
winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools `
  --override "--wait --quiet --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --includeRecommended"
winget install GoLang.Go              # for portable CLI
winget install NSIS.NSIS              # for installer packaging

Verify the toolchain:

cmake --version          # >= 3.22
where cl                 # MSVC compiler
go version               # >= 1.21 (optional)
makensis /VERSION        # NSIS (optional)

Build + test

cmake -S . -B build -DWININSPECT_BUILD_TESTS=ON
cmake --build build --config Release
ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure

Run daemon + CLI (Windows)

build\Release\wininspectd.exe
build\Release\wininspect.exe top
build\Release\wininspect.exe capabilities
build\Release\wininspect.exe check-update

Package installer (optional)

cmake --build build --config Release
makensis -DVERSION=dev -DBUILD_SRC=build\Release -DDIST_DIR=dist tools\wininspect.nsi

Linux / WSL (cross-compile for Wine)

sudo apt install cmake mingw-w64 wine
cmake -S . -B build \
  -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Windows \
  -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc \
  -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ \
  -DCMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR=/usr/bin/wine \
  -DWININSPECT_BUILD_TESTS=ON
cmake --build build

Submodule Policy

This project follows a Submodule Co-Evolution Policy.

• Submodules may be modified locally for development and testing.
• Pushes to upstream submodule repositories are strictly forbidden.
• Upstream synchronization happens via issues and patches.

For full details, see docs/SUBMODULE_POLICY.md.

To ensure your local guardrails are active, run:

./scripts/submodules/enforce-policy.sh

Architecture

See:

• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
• docs/PROTOCOL.md
• docs/CONTRACTS.md
• formal/tla/

Privacy

WinInspect does not collect, transmit, or store personal data. See PRIVACY.md for the full privacy policy.

License

Apache 2.0 (see LICENSE).