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PyLocket Documentation

Protect Briefcase

How To: Protect a BeeWare Briefcase Application¶

BeeWare's Briefcase packages Python apps as native platform applications (.app on macOS, .msi on Windows, AppImage on Linux). PyLocket supports Briefcase output on all platforms.

Prerequisites¶

PyLocket CLI installed and authenticated
An app registered with PyLocket
Briefcase installed (pip install briefcase)

Build with Briefcase¶

briefcase create
briefcase build

The built application is in platform-specific directories:

Platform	Output Path
macOS	`macOS/app/MyApp/MyApp.app`
Windows	`windows/app/MyApp/`
Linux	`linux/appimage/MyApp/`

Package for Upload¶

Compress the built application into a ZIP:

# macOS
cd macOS/app/MyApp
zip -r myapp-briefcase.zip MyApp.app/

# Windows
cd windows/app
zip -r myapp-briefcase.zip MyApp/

# Linux
cd linux/appimage
zip -r myapp-briefcase.zip MyApp/

Protect¶

pylocket protect \
  --app <APP_ID> \
  --artifact myapp-briefcase.zip \
  --platform mac-arm64 \
  --python 3.12

Download¶

pylocket fetch --build <BUILD_ID> --out dist/protected/

Notes¶

Briefcase apps may include multiple Python files across packages. All are protected.
Native UI resources (.nib, .xib, icons) are not modified.
The Briefcase-generated stub executable is preserved; only the Python bytecode layer is encrypted.

See Also¶