CLI and App

App is a singleton instance of an AstalLua.Application.

Depending on gtk version require paths will differ

local Application = require('astal.application') -- Base class

local App = require('astal.gtk3.app')

local App = require('astal.gtk4.app')

Entry point

App:start is a wrapper function for App:run that will only run the application if there is no instance already running with the specified name.

init.lua

App:start {
    instance_name = 'my-instance', -- defaults to "astal"
    main = function()
        -- setup anything
        -- instantiate widgets
    end,
}

Messaging from CLI

If you want to interact with an instance from the CLI, you can do so by sending a request.

App:start {
    main = function() end,

    ---@param args string[]
    ---@param res fun(response: any)
    request_handler = function(args, res)
        for _, arg in ipairs(args) do
            if arg == 'ping' then return res('pong!') end
        end

        res('unknown command')
    end,
}

astal-lua request ping
# pong!

gdbus call --session \
    --dest io.Astal.lua \ 
    --object-path /io/Astal/Application \
    --method io.Astal.Application.Request "['ping']"
# pong!

Toggling Windows by their name

In order for Astal to know about your windows, you have to register them. You can do this by specifying a unique name and calling App:add_window.

local function Bar()
    return Widget.Window {
        name = 'Bar',
        setup = function(self) App:add_window(self) end,
        Widget.Box(),
    }
end

You can also invoke App:add_window by simply passing the App to the application prop.

local function Bar()
    return Widget.Window {
        name = 'Bar',
        application = App,
        Widget.Box(),
    }
end

astal-lua request -t Bar

# or

gdbus call --session \
    --dest io.Astal.lua \
    --object-path /io/Astal/Application \
    --method io.Astal.Application.ToggleWindow 'Bar'