fix: copy libsteam_api to build output and improve installation docs

README.md

@@ -24,12 +24,6 @@ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unhappychoice/steamfetch/main/insta
 brew install unhappychoice/tap/steamfetch
 ```
 
-### From crates.io
-
-```bash
-cargo install steamfetch
-```
-
 ### Download Binary
 
 Download the latest release from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/unhappychoice/steamfetch/releases).
@@ -40,6 +34,7 @@ Download the latest release from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/unhappycho
 git clone https://github.com/unhappychoice/steamfetch.git
 cd steamfetch
 cargo build --release
+# libsteam_api.so is automatically copied to target/release/
 ./target/release/steamfetch
 ```
 
@@ -182,6 +177,12 @@ steamfetch makes two API calls per game (player achievements + global percentage
 
 Install and run Steam inside WSL with a GUI-enabled setup ([WSLg](https://github.com/microsoft/wslg)). Once Steam is running inside WSL, steamfetch will automatically detect it via the Native SDK. Note that Steam running on the Windows host side is not accessible from WSL.
 
+### "libsteam_api.so: cannot open shared object file" error
+
+The `steamfetch` binary requires `libsteam_api.so` (Linux) / `libsteam_api.dylib` (macOS) to be in the same directory as the binary. This is automatically handled by the install script, Homebrew, and GitHub Releases.
+
+If you built from source, `cargo build` copies the library to `target/release/` automatically. If the library is missing, copy it manually next to the binary from the build output.
+
 ### How to debug issues?
 
 Run with `steamfetch --verbose` to see detailed output including: Steam client detection status, API request URLs, HTTP status codes, retry attempts, and failure reasons. You can also try `steamfetch --demo` to verify your terminal setup without needing an API key.

build.rs

@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 fn main() {
-    // Set rpath so the binary looks for Steam API library in the same directory
-    // and in ../lib/steamfetch/ (for Homebrew: bin/ -> lib/steamfetch/)
+    set_rpath();
+    copy_steam_api_library();
+}
+
+/// Set rpath so the binary looks for Steam API library in the same directory
+/// and in ../lib/steamfetch/ (for Homebrew: bin/ -> lib/steamfetch/)
+fn set_rpath() {
     #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
     {
         println!("cargo:rustc-link-arg=-Wl,-rpath,$ORIGIN");
@@ -13,3 +20,69 @@ fn main() {
         println!("cargo:rustc-link-arg=-Wl,-rpath,@executable_path/../lib/steamfetch");
     }
 }
+
+/// Copy libsteam_api shared library next to the output binary so it can be found at runtime.
+/// This handles `cargo build` and `cargo install` cases where the library would otherwise
+/// only exist deep inside the build directory.
+fn copy_steam_api_library() {
+    let out_dir = std::env::var("OUT_DIR").expect("OUT_DIR not set");
+    let out_path = PathBuf::from(&out_dir);
+
+    let lib_name = steam_api_lib_name();
+
+    // OUT_DIR is typically: target/<profile>/build/<pkg>-<hash>/out
+    //   nth(0) = .../out
+    //   nth(1) = .../steamfetch-<hash>
+    //   nth(2) = .../build
+    //   nth(3) = .../<profile>  (e.g., target/release or target/debug)
+    let profile_dir = match out_path.ancestors().nth(3) {
+        Some(dir) => dir.to_path_buf(),
+        None => return,
+    };
+
+    let build_dir = profile_dir.join("build");
+    let lib_src = find_steam_api_lib(&build_dir, lib_name);
+    let lib_src = match lib_src {
+        Some(path) => path,
+        None => return,
+    };
+
+    let lib_dst = profile_dir.join(lib_name);
+    if lib_src != lib_dst {
+        let _ = std::fs::copy(&lib_src, &lib_dst);
+    }
+}
+
+fn find_steam_api_lib(build_dir: &PathBuf, lib_name: &str) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    std::fs::read_dir(build_dir)
+        .ok()?
+        .filter_map(|e| e.ok())
+        .find_map(|entry| {
+            let name = entry.file_name();
+            let name_str = name.to_string_lossy();
+            if !name_str.starts_with("steamworks-sys-") {
+                return None;
+            }
+            let candidate = entry.path().join("out").join(lib_name);
+            candidate.exists().then_some(candidate)
+        })
+}
+
+fn steam_api_lib_name() -> &'static str {
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    {
+        "libsteam_api.so"
+    }
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        "libsteam_api.dylib"
+    }
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    {
+        "steam_api64.dll"
+    }
+    #[cfg(not(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "macos", target_os = "windows")))]
+    {
+        "libsteam_api.so"
+    }
+}

install.sh

@@ -115,6 +115,18 @@ main() {
         chmod +x "$INSTALL_DIR/$BINARY_NAME"
     fi
 
+    # Verify Steam API library was installed
+    if [[ "$PLATFORM" == *"linux"* ]] && [ ! -f "$INSTALL_DIR/libsteam_api.so" ]; then
+        echo "WARNING: libsteam_api.so was not found in the archive."
+        echo "steamfetch may fail with 'cannot open shared object file' error."
+        echo ""
+    fi
+    if [[ "$PLATFORM" == *"apple"* ]] && [ ! -f "$INSTALL_DIR/libsteam_api.dylib" ]; then
+        echo "WARNING: libsteam_api.dylib was not found in the archive."
+        echo "steamfetch may fail with a shared library error."
+        echo ""
+    fi
+
     echo "Successfully installed $BINARY_NAME to $INSTALL_DIR/"
     echo ""
     if [[ "$PLATFORM" == *"windows"* ]]; then