☀️ WidgetLegacy Proxy

Resurrect the OS X El Capitan Dashboard Weather & Stocks widgets
Local proxy server that intercepts legacy Yahoo API calls and serves live data from modern free APIs.

---

flowchart TB
    subgraph "El Capitan Dashboard"
        W["Weather Widget"]
        S["Stocks Widget"]
    end

    subgraph "127.0.0.1:80"
        P["WidgetLegacy Proxy (Go ~8 MB)"]
    end

    subgraph "Modern APIs"
        OM["Open-Meteo Weather"]
        YF["Yahoo Finance v8"]
    end

    W -->|weather.yahooapis.com| P
    S -->|download.finance.yahoo.com| P
    P -->|"HTTPS"| OM
    P -->|"HTTPS"| YF

    style W fill:#1e3a5f,color:#fff
    style S fill:#1e3a5f,color:#fff
    style P fill:#2d5a27,color:#fff
    style OM fill:#ff6b35,color:#fff
    style YF fill:#6001d2,color:#fff

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flowchart TB
    subgraph "Setup Flow"
        A["sudo ./setup.sh"] --> B["/etc/hosts: 127.0.0.1 -> yahoo domains"]
        B --> C["LaunchDaemon com.legacywidget.proxy"]
        C --> D["Proxy listens on port 80"]
        D --> E["DNS cache flushed"]
    end

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🎯 What It Does

Two Dashboard widgets ship broken on El Capitan because Apple hardcoded dead Yahoo API endpoints into parser.js. Instead of patching widget bundles (which breaks code signatures), this project:

1. Redirects DNS for the legacy Yahoo domains to 127.0.0.1 via /etc/hosts
2. Intercepts the HTTP requests with a local Go proxy
3. Fetches live data from free modern APIs (Open-Meteo, Yahoo Finance v8)
4. Transforms the responses back into the exact XML/CSV schemas the widgets expect

All transparently — no widget files are modified.

✨ Features

Feature	Details
Weather	Open-Meteo (free, no API key, 10k req/day) → Yahoo Weather RSS
Stocks	Yahoo Finance v8 chart API → CSV (supports any f= format)
Day/Night	WMO codes mapped to correct Yahoo day/night icons
2–5 day forecast	Fully populated <yweather:forecast> elements
Backward mapping	75+ cities built-in WOEID→lat/lon, extendable via mapping.json
Zero config	One-command install: sudo ./setup.sh
Auto-start	LaunchDaemon com.legacywidget.proxy on boot
pf(4) support	Optional packet-filter redirect for non-root ports
In-memory cache	Configurable TTL, periodic GC, zero external deps
Tiny footprint	~8 MB compiled Go binary, ~0% CPU idle

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

• OS X El Capitan (10.11) or later
• A compiled binary (see Build or use a release)

Quick Install

# 1. Build (or download a prebuilt binary)
make build

# 2. Run the installer (requires root for port 80 and /etc/hosts)
sudo ./setup.sh

That's it. The proxy starts on port 80, /etc/hosts is updated, and the DNS cache is flushed. Restart Dashboard (killall Dock) and the widgets should show live data.

Options

sudo ./setup.sh --port 8080 --pf   # use port 8080 with pf redirect from 80
sudo ./setup.sh --uninstall         # remove everything

🔧 Build

# Native (current arch)
make build

# Intel Mac (El Capitan host)
make build-amd64

# Apple Silicon
make build-arm64

# All targets + dist archive
make dist

Build requirements: Go 1.21+ (last version supporting macOS 10.11 as deployment target).

🧪 Smoke Test

# Start the proxy
./proxy/proxy --port 8080 &

# Weather
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:8080/forecastrss?w=2502265" \
  -H "Host: weather.yahooapis.com" | head -30

# Stocks
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:8080/d/quotes.csv?s=AAPL,MSFT,GOOG" \
  -H "Host: download.finance.yahoo.com"

🔄 Architecture Deep-Dive

Weather Data Flow

Widget (parser.js)
  ↓  GET /forecastrss?w=2502265&u=f
  ↓  Host: weather.yahooapis.com
  ↓  (DNS → /etc/hosts → 127.0.0.1)
  ↓
WidgetLegacy Proxy
  ↓  WOEID 2502265 → lat 37.77, lon -122.42 (San Francisco)
  ↓  GET api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=37.77&longitude=-122.42
  ↓    &current=temperature_2m,relativehumidity_2m,weathercode,windspeed_10m,winddirection_10m,surface_pressure
  ↓    &daily=temperature_2m_max,temperature_2m_min,weathercode,sunrise,sunset
  ↓    &temperature_unit=fahrenheit&wind_speed_unit=mph&timezone=auto
  ↓
  Open-Meteo JSON response
  ↓
  Transform: WMO weather codes → Yahoo codes (32=Sunny, 26=Cloudy, 4=T-storms…)
  ↓            day/night detection via sunrise/sunset
  ↓            build RSS with yweather:namespace elements
  ↓
Widget receives Yahoo Weather RSS XML → renders normally

WMO→Yahoo Code Mapping (key entries):

WMO	Meaning	Yahoo Code	Day Text
0	Clear	32	Sunny
2	Partly cloudy	30	Partly Cloudy
3	Overcast	26	Cloudy
45	Fog	20	Foggy
61	Rain slight	11	Showers
71	Snow slight	14	Light Snow
95	T-storm	4	Thunderstorms

Stocks Data Flow

Widget (localized.js or Stocks.js)
  ↓  GET /d/quotes.csv?s=AAPL,MSFT&f=sl1d1t1c1ohgv&e=.csv
  ↓  Host: download.finance.yahoo.com
  ↓  (DNS → /etc/hosts → 127.0.0.1)
  ↓
WidgetLegacy Proxy
  ↓  Parse format string: s l1 d1 t1 c1 o h g v
  ↓  GET query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/AAPL?interval=1d&range=5d
  ↓  GET query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/MSFT?interval=1d&range=5d
  ↓  (concurrent goroutines)
  ↓
  Yahoo Finance v8 JSON response
  ↓  Extract: meta.regularMarketPrice, indicators.quote[0].close[]
  ↓  Fallback chain: meta field → indicators array → zero
  ↓  Format: "AAPL",317.31,"7/14/2026","4:00pm",+1.99,317.02,323.45,315.78,41376714
  ↓
Widget receives CSV → renders normally

🗺️ WOEID Mapping

The proxy ships with 75+ built-in WOEID→lat/lon entries covering all US state capitals, major cities, and world capitals. Add your own:

{
  "woeid_map": {
    "1234567": { "city": "My City", "region": "ST", "country": "US", "lat": 40.71, "lon": -74.01 }
  }
}

Find your WOEID at woeid.rosselliot.co.nz or extract it from the widget's preferences (~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dashboard.weather.plist).

🗑️ Uninstall

sudo ./setup.sh --uninstall

This stops the daemon, removes the binary/plist, and clears pf rules. Your /etc/hosts backup is preserved at /etc/hosts.widgetlegacy.bak.

🧰 File Layout

WidgetLegacy/
├── proxy/
│   └── main.go              # Go proxy (1000 lines, stdlib only)
├── setup.sh                 # Installer script
├── com.legacywidget.proxy.plist  # LaunchDaemon template
├── mapping.json             # WOEID→lat/lon database
├── Makefile                 # Build targets
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

📜 License

MIT — do whatever you want.

---

_{Built for a mid-2000s Mac. Works on a Core 2 Duo.}