07. Projects, Build, and Flash

The current public CLI name is froth, even though the product is Frothy.

The Small Command Set

The maintained first commands are:

froth doctor
froth connect
froth send src/main.froth
froth build
froth flash

Use them for different jobs:

  • froth doctor checks the toolchain and board visibility
  • froth connect opens the prompt directly
  • froth send evaluates source on the connected target
  • froth build assembles the selected project target
  • froth flash writes firmware to the connected board

Attendee Path Versus Maintainer Path

The attendee path is intentionally narrow:

  • installed CLI
  • VS Code extension
  • preflashed esp32-devkit-v1

The maintainer path is broader and lives in the repo:

make build
make run
make test
make test-all
make test-publishability

Those source-build commands are real, but they are not the public front door.

Whole-File Send And Honesty

The maintained editor story is explicit about control limitations. Selection send is additive eval. Whole-file send is conceptually reset + eval, and the tooling must not pretend a reset happened if the connected firmware cannot do it safely.

Flashing

Use flashing when you need to put sanctioned firmware or a new build on the board, not as a substitute for ordinary live iteration.

Live redefinition is still the center of the language.

Next: Hardware and the protoboard .