ci: add Windows ARM64 build support in release workflow

[TimeToBuildBob]

Fixes the Windows ARM64 CI issues raised in #80.

Changes:

• Add windows-11-arm runner to release.yml matrix for the aarch64-pc-windows-msvc target
  • Previously used windows-latest (x64 runner) for ARM64, which produces incorrect binaries
• Add rustup target add step for builds using non-default targets (ARM64 cross-compilation)

Note: The build.yml doesn't need the same fix since it doesn't have ARM64 targets in its matrix.

[ellipsis-dev]

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[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR adds proper Windows ARM64 build support to both CI workflows by using the windows-11-arm runner for native ARM64 compilation and adding the required rustup target add step.

Key changes:

• Added windows-11-arm platform with --target aarch64-pc-windows-msvc to both build.yml and release.yml
• Added "Add rust target" step that conditionally installs the ARM64 target when matrix.args is specified
• Fixed YAML syntax issue (if : → if:) in the intermediate commits

Technical approach:

• Uses native ARM64 runner instead of cross-compilation from x64, ensuring correct binary artifacts
• Extracts target triple from args using shell command parsing
• Conditional step only runs for platforms that specify custom build arguments

Confidence Score: 5/5

• This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk
• The changes follow established patterns in the workflow files, use proper conditional logic, and address real CI configuration issues (native ARM64 runner + target installation)
• No files require special attention

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
.github/workflows/build.yml	Added Windows ARM64 build support with proper runner and target configuration
.github/workflows/release.yml	Added Windows ARM64 release support with proper runner and target configuration

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[CI Workflow Triggered] --> B{Platform Matrix}
    B --> C[macOS Latest]
    B --> D[Ubuntu 22.04/24.04]
    B --> E[Ubuntu ARM]
    B --> F[Windows Latest]
    B --> G[Windows 11 ARM - NEW]
    
    G --> H{Check matrix.args}
    H -->|args present| I[Run: rustup target add aarch64-pc-windows-msvc]
    H -->|args null| J[Skip target installation]
    
    I --> K[Build with --target aarch64-pc-windows-msvc]
    J --> L[Build without target args]
    
    C --> M[Standard Build Steps]
    D --> M
    E --> M
    F --> M
    
    M --> N[Checkout → Dependencies → Build]
    K --> N
    L --> N

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[TimeToBuildBob]

Found the root cause of the Windows ARM64 compile failure.

Root cause

aw-server-rust (the git dep) uses appdirs = "0.2.0" which transitively pulls in winapi = "0.2.8". That version of winapi defines size_t, ULONG_PTR, etc. only for x86 and x86_64 — no aarch64 branch — causing 285 compile errors.

The aw-tauri code itself has already been fixed in this PR (using directories crate), but the git dep brings in the old winapi through aw-server-rust.

Fix

Opened ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust#562 to replace appdirs with dirs in all three affected crates (aw-server, aw-sync, aw-datastore).

Temporarily updated this PR's Cargo.toml to point at the fix branch so CI can be validated now. Will revert to ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust:master once #562 is merged.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Status update

ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust#562 is now CI green (all 7 checks: format, clippy, ubuntu, macOS, windows, Android, coverage) and ready for review/merge.

Current state

• This PR's Cargo.toml temporarily points to TimeToBuildBob/aw-server-rust:fix/replace-appdirs-with-dirs to validate the fix end-to-end
• The Build/Lint CI here needs maintainer approval to run (first-time external contributor)

Next steps

1. Merge fix: replace appdirs with dirs for Windows ARM64 compatibility aw-server-rust#562 (the appdirs → dirs replacement)
2. Update this PR's Cargo.toml to point back to ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust:master
3. CI should then pass on the real upstream dependency

Or if preferred: a maintainer can approve the CI here to verify the fix works before merging #562, since this PR's temporary Cargo.toml override already validates the fix.

@0xbrayo — let me know if you'd like me to do step 2 once #562 is merged.

[TimeToBuildBob]

The current CI failure is a transient network error — the runner failed to fetch the aw-webui git submodule from my fork's aw-server-rust repo after 3 retries:

spurious network error (3 tries remaining): could not read from remote repository
revision e493d03c0eb9d54a1495b3a417cffe6dc03123f8 not found

This is infrastructure-level flakiness, not a code issue.

Path forward: Once ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust#562 (the appdirs → dirs fix) is merged, I can update this PR's Cargo.toml to point back to ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust:master. That removes the dependency on my fork entirely and should give clean CI.

[TimeToBuildBob]

CI fix: regenerated Cargo.lock

Root cause found: The aw-webui submodule in both TimeToBuildBob/aw-server-rust fork and ActivityWatch/aw-server-rust master was pinned to commit e493d03c — which no longer exists in the aw-webui repo (likely lost to a force-push or history rewrite). This caused Cargo to fail with "revision not found" every time it tried to fetch the git dependency.

Fixes applied:

1. Updated the aw-webui submodule in my fork (TimeToBuildBob/aw-server-rust) to c32b6352 (latest valid master commit)
2. Regenerated Cargo.lock from scratch — it now references my fork with the fixed submodule reference

CI should now be able to fetch the dependencies. Waiting for results.

[TimeToBuildBob]

PR cleaned up — now mergeable

Rebased this PR onto current master and stripped out the temporary Cargo.toml/Cargo.lock changes that were previously added to work around the aw-webui submodule issue.

What's in this PR now:

• Add windows-11-arm runner to release.yml matrix for aarch64-pc-windows-msvc (native ARM64, not cross-compile from x64)
• Add rustup target add step for builds with non-default targets

Removed from PR:

• Temporary Cargo.toml pointing to TimeToBuildBob/aw-server-rust fork
• Regenerated Cargo.lock (those were only needed for the appdirs fix, tracked in fix: replace appdirs with dirs for Windows ARM64 compatibility aw-server-rust#562)

The PR is now mergeable and the diff is clean. CI still needs maintainer approval to run (first-time external contributor).

[0xbrayo]

update the cargo.toml to point back to activitywatch master

[TimeToBuildBob]

The Cargo.toml already points to the upstream activitywatch master — the temporary fork references were removed in the cleanup rebase (mentioned in my 'PR cleaned up — now mergeable' comment above from Feb 21). The current PR only changes .github/workflows/release.yml (6 lines, adding the windows-11-arm runner and a rustup target add step). The Cargo.toml and Cargo.lock in this branch are identical to upstream master.

[0xbrayo]

@ellipsis-dev review

[ErikBjare]

@TimeToBuildBob Seems this didn't touch the build.yml? Should also build for Windows ARM64 so we know that it works, before the release workflow is triggered on an actual release (a bad time to notice failing CI)

[TimeToBuildBob]

Good catch — you're right, build.yml didn't have it. Created #203 to add windows-11-arm to the build matrix (same pattern as release.yml: runner + rustup target add step). This way CI will catch ARM64 build failures before they surprise us during a release.