SideScreen 0.7.0 - Chrome focus guard

Clicking Chrome's native account chooser can make Chrome activate its own window even when CUA uses background delivery. SideScreen 0.7 adds a scoped activation-only guard for the assigned Chrome window, integrated with Muse Link 1.4.

The separate 64-bit Chrome helper validates the current monitor, complete window bounds, process/start time and Chrome executable. Its original user-mode DLL hooks five window activation/focus APIs. It accepts activation leases and release only, and refuses keyboard/pointer dispatch frames. It does not virtualize physical input or inject SideUser's native input adapter into account browsers. Other Chrome roots pass through, explicit human foregrounding restores ordinary focus behavior, and the lease expires after 120 seconds. MinHook retains its BSD-2-Clause license; SideScreen's original code is MIT. No VM or MouseMux implementation is used.

Muse Link's persistent MCP fixture completed Chrome's actual FedCM account chooser using fictional loopback accounts. Account selection and final Continue preserved foreground, keyboard focus and cursor. The installed route also passed the 32 browser/native/WPF checks. This build passed 26 non-UI checks, 12 adapter checks and Windows CI.

Extract the full ZIP before installing. The installer includes the ChromeFocus helper, preserves identical files and refuses to overwrite a changed activation DLL loaded in Chrome. Close Chrome before upgrading a loaded guard; regular and agent windows can share its process. Never automatically close a person's browser to perform an update.

This is scoped, app-specific focus protection. It does not establish universal input isolation, bypass browser security prompts, patch hosted ChatGPT's native input backend or eliminate cold extension activation. CUA and the virtual display driver remain separate installations.

ZIP SHA256: 03628B275B35705B6A8FADD37ABD280990E56B38F81E365E01F09CFFD27A0F19

SideScreen 0.6.0 - Free SideUser input

Standard Windows mouse messages do not supply independent cursor, keyboard or capture state to an app. SideScreen 0.6 adds an original free per-event virtual-input adapter for supported x64 and x86 applications, plus separately labeled agent cursors in the passive preview.

The adapter uses a scoped GUI-thread hook and conditional user-mode API virtualization. Pointer, modifier, focus and capture queries receive the event's virtual state; activation and cursor movement attempts are suppressed during that event. It supports bounded client-control dragging, both wheel axes, double-clicks, Unicode native-edit insertion and named keyboard events. Password/read-only controls, stale observations and escaping gestures are refused. Ctrl+A uses the native edit selection command. Browser windows keep their separate DOM/CUA route; native injection into Chrome, Edge and Brave is refused.

Muse Link 1.3 adds window leases, private text clipboards, observation ownership and bounded named macros through seven SideUser tools. Other agents cannot operate a leased window through that broker's legacy desktop tools. Input operations remain serialized. Native adapter code is MIT; MinHook 1.3.4 retains BSD-2-Clause, included in the release. No MouseMux subscription, elevated installer or kernel driver is needed for this adapter.

Validation: 118 real native input checks across x64/x86 WinForms apps; 26 non-UI checks; 12 Muse adapter checks; 37 native background checks; 61 CUA native/WPF checks; 31 installed two-client SideUser checks, including both labeled preview cursors; 42 installed app/vision checks; and 32 installed regular Chrome/native/WPF checks. The actual human cursor renderer also drew 96 non-background pixels while the pointer was on SideScreen, without moving it. Real app effects and foreground/keyboard-focus preservation were verified.

This is not a separate Windows input session, security sandbox or certification of arbitrary app compatibility. Raw/direct input, custom input threads, asynchronous dialogs and protected/elevated apps need another backend or specific validation. CUA and the virtual display driver remain separate installations. Cold Chrome extension attachment can still activate its window and is reported by the focus guard. Reboot, external Muse connectivity and automatic hosted ChatGPT integration were not tested. Close agent apps before upgrading DLLs because target modules remain pinned until the app exits. Sign-in startup is retained. The archive excludes test probes, state, profiles and screenshots.

SideScreen 0.5.0

SideScreen 0.5 adds the free MIT SideCursor backend and a separate blue agent pointer in the passive preview. Muse Link 1.2 exposes its move/click tools alongside regular Chrome, scoped CUA and optional Microsoft app/vision tools.

Fresh image pixels are bound to a native-corroborated CUA capture transform. Stale observations, moved/replaced windows, missing calibration and out-of-scope targets are refused. Supported controls prefer native/CUA background invocation; other client-area pointer events use bounded window messages within the same window/process. The human cursor is never moved by this backend.

Validation: 26 non-UI checks, 12 adapter checks, 61 CUA live checks, 42 installed Muse-proxy checks including real canvas movement/clicks and both preview markers, plus a repeated 32-check regular Chrome/native/WPF channel suite. Foreground/keyboard focus stayed intact during the tested actions. The release archive excludes test probes, state, screenshots, browser profiles and credentials.

App support remains limited. This is an original software-pointer backend, not a MouseMux driver clone, separate Windows input session or universal isolation. MouseMux actuation and remote Muse connectivity are not certified. CUA Driver and the virtual display driver are separately installed. Cold Chrome extension attachment may activate its own window; the guard detects and stops this event. Sign-in startup remains per-user; a reboot was not tested.

SideScreen 0.4.0

SideScreen 0.4 gives Muse Link a persistent helper, eight scoped desktop tools, compact observations, semantic find/wait, and fresh-target action batches. Native UIA properties are cached per inspection; CUA runs over a retained MCP connection. Shared state and installation paths avoid Windows packaged AppData redirection. Health probes report real CUA readiness and require a non-overlapping agent monitor.

The preview targets 10 fps and composites the physical cursor and layered overlays. Capture was checked on the actual SideScreen bounds; deliberate physical cursor movement was not tested.

Validation: 22 non-UI checks, 37 native background checks, 61 native/WPF CUA checks, 12 adapter checks, and 32 end-to-end checks through Muse Link's simulated agent MCP channel. Real fixture state confirmed Unicode, button/checkbox actions and screenshots. Foreground/keyboard focus stayed intact during tested actions. CUA 0.31.0 remains a separate installation. The archive includes only SideScreen tools and documentation, with no CUA binaries, personal configuration or test apps.

A virtual monitor shares the Windows input session. This is not universal isolation. A fresh Playwright extension connection can activate Chrome; Muse Link detects the focus change. No reboot, remote Muse network or ChatGPT backend integration was tested. Read docs/validation.md and docs/cua.md for the tested scope and installation.

SideScreen 0.3.0

SideScreen 0.3 adds an optional CUA Driver integration for modern Windows controls, plus a scoped Muse/MCP adapter.

Agents observe one window on the virtual display, then perform one snapshot-bound action. The adapter checks display identity, full containment, process/start time, unchanged geometry and returned tokens/capture IDs. Delivery is fixed to background; desktop targets, foreground overrides and activation tools are refused. Classic native controls prefer SideScreen's direct-message backend. Other CUA routes are experimental and depend on the app.

CUA is installed separately. A per-user sign-in supervisor runs a private, session-specific named pipe, restarts a stopped daemon and leaves the default CUA service alone. The Muse adapter exports sidescreen_status, sidescreen_windows, sidescreen_observe and sidescreen_act through an existing authenticated interactive broker. Built-in ChatGPT Windows input is not patched.

Validation: 22 non-UI checks, 61 CUA live checks in native/WPF disposable apps on the virtual display, 37 native background checks, 12 Muse adapter checks, and a local authenticated broker/MCP handshake. Cua Driver 0.31.0 had a valid Cua AI Authenticode signature. Unicode text, buttons and checkboxes reached the apps while foreground/keyboard focus remained intact. CUA reported some effects as unverifiable; fixture state separately proved them. Installed helper files matched the tested build.

Full input separation still requires a persistent guest VM and a driver inside that guest. No Windows VM was provisioned, no reboot was tested, and the remote Muse connection was not verified. A monitor, synthetic cursor or CUA lifecycle label does not provide universal isolation. Provider/app side effects can still take focus; the adapter's bounded monitor detects interference but cannot prevent every change. Read the CUA guide and isolation guide.

Exit the old tray before running install-user.ps1 -StartTray -StartAtLogin. For separately installed CUA, add -StartCua -CuaAtLogin. CUA binaries, personal Muse configuration and test apps are not included in the archive.

SideScreen 0.2.0

SideScreen 0.2 adds background input for supported classic Windows controls.

Agents can inspect a window on the virtual display, then set edit text, invoke a push button, toggle a system checkbox, or select a list item through direct control messages. Each action consumes a fresh inspection. Display/window/process identity, full window containment and control capabilities are rechecked. The helper monitors foreground and keyboard focus, allows human pointer movement, and never falls back to global clicks or typing.

The installed Codex skill now routes supported input through agent.ps1 -Action Inspect and -Action Act. Built-in ChatGPT Windows input still activates its target and is not patched by this release.

Validation: 15 non-UI checks and 37 live checks through Windows PowerShell 5.1. The disposable app received Unicode and empty text, button invocation, checkbox changes and list selection while foreground/keyboard focus remained intact. Primary-screen targets, stale observation reuse, unsupported, password and read-only controls were refused. Installed files matched the tested build.

Scope: this is not MouseMux-style universal input virtualization. Custom canvases, Chromium page controls, WPF/WinUI windowless controls and arbitrary gestures remain unsupported. Application handlers can still open dialogs or change focus themselves; monitoring reports interference but cannot prevent every side effect. No MouseMux runtime, network service, or Muse-broker adapter is included. See the background input guide.

Exit the old tray app before running the new release's install-user.ps1 -StartTray -StartAtLogin.

SideScreen 0.1.1

SideScreen 0.1.1 clarifies and verifies ChatGPT computer-use integration.

A disposable window placed on the virtual display was discoverable by ChatGPT computer use, and read-only window capture returned its content and agent-display coordinates. The current Windows computer-use input methods automatically activate the target window, so clicks and typing will take foreground focus. The agent skill and integration guide now state this explicitly and require a scoped window match before observation. Background input still needs a separate app-specific backend or isolated session.

The per-user installer now refuses to overwrite a running SideScreen executable and tells you to exit the tray first. This release also includes the CI workflow update to the current checkout action.

Validation on Windows x64: 11 non-UI checks, 17 live placement checks, status/list/capture, installer and startup, PowerShell syntax, Codex skill validation, and read-only ChatGPT window capture. Driver toggling, other hardware, and third-party input backends remain untested.

SideScreen 0.1.0

SideScreen 0.1.0 is the first public Windows x64 release.

It provides a tray control and passive preview for an installed MTT virtual monitor, a scoped JSON command interface for agents, focus-preserving window placement, and a Codex skill that explains how to discover and confine work to the agent display. The archive includes a per-user installer with optional sign-in startup.

Install the VirtualDrivers Virtual Display Driver separately, then follow the quick start. The virtual monitor shares the Windows desktop's pointer and foreground focus; SideScreen does not provide isolated mouse or keyboard input.

Validation on Windows x64: 11 non-UI checks and 17 live checks including placement on the virtual monitor with foreground and cursor preservation. Agent status/list/capture commands, installer, PowerShell syntax, and Codex skill were also checked. Driver toggling, other hardware, and third-party input backends remain untested for this release.