Guide · Chapter 2

Install Core

Build Lumbridge Core from source on Ubuntu, then run, list, read, attach to and type into a terminal that stays alive.

Chapter 2 of 83 min read17 commands

You need

Rust, Zig 0.16.0, just, git and a C toolchain (chapter 1)
Access to the lumbridge-core repository
~/.local/bin on your PATH

Core is the part everything else stands on. It runs programs in terminals that keep going after you close your viewer. It has no window of its own: you use it through one command, lbc, from a shell, from an agent, or from an app.

A terminal where lbc run starts a test watcher in the background as terminal t2, lbc send types a filter into it, lbc read prints its screen with three passing tests, and lbc ls lists both terminals — Start a program in the background, send it text, read its screen, list what is running.Open full size Open full size

Build and install

just install builds a release binary, copies it to ~/.local/bin, links lbc to it and restarts Core.

$ git clone https://github.com/lumbridge-corp/lumbridge-core
$ cd lumbridge-core
$ git submodule update --init --depth 1
$ just install
$ lbc --version
$ lbc server status

Start it

You do not start Core by hand. The first lbc command that needs it starts a background Core for your account, and it listens on a local socket that only your user can reach. lbc server status shows whether it is up, and lbc server stop and lbc server start are there when you want them. Each terminal is held by its own small process, so restarting Core does not end your programs.

FIG. 1What happens the first time you type an lbc command.Drawn figure

Run a program and come back to it

Start a web server and a shell in the background, look at them, then attach.

$ lbc run --bg --name web python3 -m http.server 8000
$ lbc run --bg --name scratch
$ lbc ls
$ lbc get web
$ lbc read web --lines 50
$ lbc attach web
# ctrl+\ detaches. The server keeps running.
$ lbc send scratch "ls -la"
$ lbc keys scratch ctrl+c
$ lbc read scratch
$ lbc kill web
$ lbc ls --all

lbc run without --bg behaves like your shell: it streams the output and waits. With --bg it starts the program and returns at once. With no program at all it starts your login shell. A name is optional; without one you use the address Core prints, such as t7.

lbc ls lists live terminals. Add --all to include finished ones, and lbc rm to remove a finished one.
lbc read prints the screen, and --lines adds history above it. It never attaches or resizes anything.
lbc attach puts your terminal on the program. Press ctrl+\ to detach. --observe watches without typing or resizing.
lbc send pastes text and presses Enter. lbc keys presses named keys such as enter, esc, up or ctrl+c.
lbc wait blocks until a terminal stops working or exits. With --output it returns when the program prints the text you name.

Output is plain text at a terminal and JSON when piped, so the same commands work in scripts. lbc <command> --help prints the exact arguments. The next chapter puts a workspace on top of this: the App on a desk, and the TUI in a terminal.

Parts in this chapter Lumbridge Core