Developer Guide

Developer Guide

This page covers building and running Zeus from source, the dev loop with hot-reload, the project layout, and the conventions to know before contributing.

End users don't need any of this — head to Installation for the binary installers and PWA path.

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK
• Node.js 20+ (npm ships with it)
• git
• A Hermes Lite 2 (or any supported HPSDR board) on the same LAN — optional. The synthetic DSP engine drives most of the UI without a radio.

WDSP native libraries for macOS (arm64, x64), Linux (x64, arm64), and Windows (x64, arm64) are pulled in as runtime assets. See native/README.md for build details if you need to rebuild them yourself.

First-time setup

git clone https://github.com/brianbruff/openhpsdr-zeus.git
cd openhpsdr-zeus

# Restore .NET dependencies and sanity-check the build
dotnet restore
dotnet build Zeus.slnx

# Install frontend dependencies
npm --prefix zeus-web install

Dev loop (two terminals)

The backend and frontend run as two independent processes during development. The Vite dev server proxies /api and the WebSocket hub through to the .NET host, so you get hot-reload on the React side without rebuilding the server.

# Terminal 1 — backend on :6060
dotnet run --project Zeus.Server

# Terminal 2 — Vite dev server on :5173 (proxies /api and /hub to :6060)
npm --prefix zeus-web run dev

Then open http://localhost:5173. Edits under zeus-web/src/ hot-reload; changes under Zeus.Server/, Zeus.Protocol1/, Zeus.Protocol2/, Zeus.Dsp/, or Zeus.Contracts/ require restarting the backend.

On the very first backend start, wait for wdsp.wisdom ready before clicking Discover — see Installation → First run.

Production-style single-port build

To run the same shape the installer ships, build the frontend into Zeus.Server/wwwroot/ and let ASP.NET Core serve everything — UI, API, WebSocket — on port 6060:

# Build the web UI (one-time, or whenever zeus-web changes)
cd zeus-web && npm install && npm run build && cd ..

# Run the server on :6060
dotnet run --project Zeus.Server

Open http://localhost:6060, hit Discover, and connect to your radio.

Tests

dotnet test Zeus.slnx

Please ensure tests pass before opening a PR.

Project layout

Path	What it is
Zeus.Server/	ASP.NET Core host, SignalR hub, radio service
Zeus.Protocol1/	OpenHPSDR Protocol-1 client, framing, discovery
Zeus.Protocol2/	OpenHPSDR Protocol-2 client (ANAN G2)
Zeus.Dsp/	DSP engine — WDSP via P/Invoke + synthetic fallback
Zeus.Contracts/	Wire-format DTOs shared backend ↔ web
zeus-web/	Vite + React + TypeScript + WebGL frontend
native/wdsp/	WDSP build scaffolding for the native DSP library
tests/Zeus.*.Tests/	xUnit tests
tools/zeus-dump/	Protocol-1 packet dump utility
tools/discovery-probe/	LAN discovery probe

Useful tools

• tools/zeus-dump/ — Protocol-1 packet dumper, handy for protocol debugging
• tools/discovery-probe/ — LAN discovery probe for Protocol-1 radios

Project conventions

• Backend port :6060, Vite dev port :5173 — don't change these casually
• Panadapter amber is #FFA028 (single-hue, alpha-varied, no rainbow gradients)
• Reference implementation is Thetis
• Deeper context for agents and contributors lives in CLAUDE.md, docs/lessons/, and docs/rca/ — worth a skim before touching DSP, protocol, or layout code

Distribution roadmap

Shipping surfaces are being added one at a time:

• PWA (installable web app) — available now. Precached shell, works offline for the static assets, installs from any browser that supports PWAs.
• Native installers (Windows .exe, macOS .dmg, Linux .tar.gz) — available now. Self-contained .NET 10 publish, WDSP native library, and a per-platform launcher. See Installation.
• Photino native-window shell — Phase 2, ETA TBD. Replaces the launcher-plus-browser pattern with a single double-click app (WebView2 / WKWebView / WebKitGTK from .NET, no console window). Deferred until radio / protocol functionality lands.
• Mobile apps (iOS / Android) via Capacitor — planned. Cadence: TBD.