Dev install

./dev-install.sh symlinks the working tree into $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/<appname> and drops a launcher in $HOME/.local/bin. Edits in the checkout are live on the next launch — no reinstall required.

It’s the only way to drive Blak end-to-end before pushing.

Source: dev-install.sh.

Quick start

./dev-install.sh          # symlinks repo → ~/.config/blak-dev
blak-dev                  # NVIM_APPNAME=blak-dev nvim

That’s it. Open a buffer, :BlakDoctor, exercise the change.

Flags

Flag	Default	What
--appname NAME	blak-dev	Use a custom NVIM_APPNAME (and matching launcher name).
--force, -f	off	Replace an existing symlink / launcher of the same name.
--uninstall, -u	—	Remove the symlink and launcher. Leaves runtime data dirs alone.
--status, -s	—	Print current install state without changing anything.
--help, -h	—	Show usage.

Environment variables

Var	Default	Same as
BLAK_APPNAME	blak-dev	--appname
BLAK_BIN_DIR	$HOME/.local/bin	(launcher location)
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	$HOME/.config	(config parent)

What it creates

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/<appname>            symlink → this checkout
$BLAK_BIN_DIR/<appname>               launcher script (NVIM_APPNAME=<appname> exec nvim)

That’s it on the install side. Runtime state lands under the per-appname XDG dirs as Neovim runs:

$XDG_DATA_HOME/<appname>/             plugins (lazy.nvim install root)
$XDG_STATE_HOME/<appname>/            extras.json + rollback snapshots
$XDG_CACHE_HOME/<appname>/            caches

So blak and blak-dev are fully isolated — flipping back and forth doesn’t poison either.

Why a symlink

The point of dev-install is the live edit loop. Editing lua/blak/extras/lang/zig.lua in your IDE means the next blak-dev launch picks it up — no git pull && reinstall && pray.

The launcher script carries a small marker comment so --status and --uninstall know it’s safe to operate on (vs. a manually-created launcher of the same name).

Multiple checkouts

Want to test two branches at once? Use different appnames:

cd ~/Developer/blak.nvim
./dev-install.sh --appname blak-main
git checkout feature/zig
./dev-install.sh --appname blak-zig
blak-main      # main branch
blak-zig       # feature branch

Each has its own plugin install, its own extras state, and its own rollback snapshots.

Uninstalling

./dev-install.sh --uninstall          # removes symlink + launcher

The runtime state dirs ($XDG_DATA_HOME/blak-dev, etc.) are intentionally not removed — they’re expensive to rebuild and might still be useful. Delete them manually if you want a clean slate:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/blak-dev ~/.local/state/blak-dev ~/.cache/blak-dev

Status

./dev-install.sh --status

Prints whether the symlink exists, where it points, whether the launcher exists, and whether it’s the one this script created.

When to use install.sh vs dev-install.sh

Use	Script
Trying Blak from the public repo	install.sh
Hacking on Blak locally	dev-install.sh
Running CI / smoke tests	make smoke (or no install at all, the script sets the runtime path)