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QuickStart

From zero to your first call: launch, open a service, open a method, send

1 Install

go install github.com/rossedman/vlx/cmd/vlx@latest

Grab the archive for your platform from the latest release, then:

tar -xzf vlx_*_linux_amd64.tar.gz vlx
sudo install vlx /usr/local/bin/

sudo apt install ./vlx_*_linux_amd64.deb

sudo dnf install ./vlx_*_linux_amd64.rpm

Check it works:

vlx version

More options, including shell completion, are on the Installation page.

2 Open the demo

The demo service runs anywhere, so start there:

vlx demo

vlx starts a small sample service and opens the explorer on it. The explorer shows one page at a time, with a command line along the bottom.

vlx demo

Move with Up / Down, open things with Enter, and go back up with Esc. Each method shows its safety class and the first line of its documentation.

Lost? Press ?

The bottom line always shows the keys that work right now, and ? shows them all.

3 Call a method

  1. Select GetGreeting and press Enter.
  2. Type a name, press Down, and pick a language with Left / Right. The command line at the bottom spells out the same call.
  3. Press Ctrl+S to send.

A call and its reply

Or skip the clicking: type the whole call and press Enter.

demo GetGreeting name=Ada language=german

Try a few more:

Type this What it shows
demo WatchCountdown from=5 a stream: one reply per tick, live. Esc stops it.
demo GetItem id=42 a typed error, with its documentation from the IDL
demo GetSupplier id=1 a secret field shown as «redacted» (Shift+R reveals it)
demo SetDefaultLanguage language=german a WRITE method, which vlx refuses to send in read-only mode

Press Esc to go up a level, and Q on a list to quit.

4 Explore your system

On a Linux machine with systemd v257 or newer, just run:

vlx

The services are grouped and described in plain language; press Enter to browse one. Looking for something specific? Just type, for example, resolve host — or the whole call: resolve ResolveHostname name=example.com. Many system services only talk to root, so if a service shows ⊘ or permission denied:

sudo vlx

vlx stays read-only even as root. See Safety for how to enable writes when you mean to.

5 Script it

Everything you did in the TUI has a command — the same line you type in the explorer works after vlx call. Press Ctrl+Y on a method page to copy it, or write it yourself:

vlx list                                        # what is there?
vlx describe hostname                           # print the IDL
vlx call hostname io.systemd.Hostname.Describe  # call a method
vlx call resolve ResolveHostname name=example.com -o json | jq .

Next steps