BeatBax Development

BeatBax is developed in a single monorepo on GitHub. Clone the repository when you want to work on the engine, plugins, CLI, web app, or desktop app.

Prerequisites

Before cloning the repository, install:

• Node.js 20 or newer - BeatBax uses the npm workspace tooling that ships with Node.
• npm - installed with Node.js; use it for dependencies, builds, and workspace scripts.
• Git - required to clone the monorepo and work with branches.
• A code editor - Cursor, VS Code, or another TypeScript-friendly editor works well.

For desktop app development, also install the platform build tools required by Electron and native npm packages:

• Windows - Visual Studio Build Tools with the Desktop development with C++ workload.
• macOS - Xcode Command Line Tools via xcode-select --install.
• Linux - common build packages such as build-essential; on Debian/Ubuntu, install them with sudo apt install build-essential. See the Electron Linux build dependencies for additional distro packages.

Clone and Build

git clone https://github.com/kadraman/beatbax.git
cd beatbax
npm install
npm run build-all

Development Areas

• Engine - parser, resolver, playback model, chip backends, rendering, validation, and exporters.
• Plugins - extension points for new sound chip backends, export targets, and integrations.
• CLI - local development for the command-line tool and scripted workflows.
• Web App - browser client development for the hosted web-lite experience.
• Desktop App - Electron IDE development, packaging, and desktop-only features.