Local development

Run a plugin from source with the public CLI. Start in the plugins project that contains the plugin folder.

npx mndw dev hello-widget

The CLI starts a local mndwd daemon, the packaged host UI, and Vite serving your plugin source. Vite provides HMR (hot module replacement) while you edit the frontend. A plugin remount resets its in-memory state.

Without a device address, the host uses a stub device. To use a router, pass its IP address, host[:port], or HTTP(S) URL with --addr <device>. The address overrides MNDW_HOST_DEVICE from your environment.

npx mndw dev hello-widget --addr 192.168.1.1

The local daemon listens on port 9090 by default. Vite serves the local UI on port 5173. Set --port or --ui-port if either port is already in use. The local host proxies device RCI and authentication requests through the daemon, so use an address reachable from your computer.

Reload behavior

Vite watches plugin frontend files and refreshes the running page as you edit. The plugin may remount, so its in-memory state resets. The CLI also watches declared backend command files. It rebuilds Go backends when needed, restarts a service after a successful build, then reloads the host. A failed build does not trigger a reload; fix the error and save again.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
RCI requests use a stub response	Pass the router address with --addr, or set MNDW_HOST_DEVICE. Check that the address is reachable from your computer.
The local page does not load	Check the CLI output and try another --ui-port if port 5173 is busy.
The daemon does not start because its platform package is missing	Reinstall @mndw/cli with optional packages enabled. If npm reused a lockfile from another OS, follow the platform package fix.
A backend plugin fails on Windows	Run backend development in WSL. See the Windows guide.
A Go backend does not rebuild	Check the Go error in the terminal, fix it, and save the source again.

The daemon port defaults to 9090; set --port if another process is using it.

Working in a clone of mndw

From the repository root, run pnpm exec mndw dev plugins/examples/<name>. Use --out plugins/examples/<name> to scaffold a plugin there. Workspace dependencies use workspace:*. Go backend work uses Go, for example go run ./cmd/mndwd from daemon/mndwd. See the repository quick start.