Getting Started with Eldiron Source

Download

Open the latest Eldiron release and download the command-line tool for your platform.

For Windows, download:

• eldiron-source-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

For Linux, download:

• eldiron-source-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Extract the archive and place eldiron-source (or eldiron-source.exe) somewhere on your command path. You can also invoke it directly from the extracted folder.

Install via Cargo

If you have Rust installed, install the latest published version directly from crates.io:

cargo install eldiron-source

Build from source

To build the tool from the Eldiron repository instead, run:

cargo build --release -p eldiron-source

The executable is written to target/release/eldiron-source on Linux and macOS, or target/release/eldiron-source.exe on Windows.

Create a project

Create a scaffolded project folder:

eldiron-source new my-game
cd my-game

Use --name to choose a display name that differs from the folder name:

eldiron-source new my-game --name "My Game"

The command does not replace existing files. Scaffolding into a non-empty directory requires --force, and even then existing files are preserved.

Build

From the project folder, run:

eldiron-source build

You can also pass the project folder from elsewhere:

eldiron-source build path/to/my-game

The default scaffold writes the compiled project to build/game.eldiron. The [build] section of eldiron.toml can change that path.

Play

Build and start the configured client in one step:

eldiron-source play

The [game] client_mode setting selects a graphical or terminal client. When using standalone release binaries, keep the matching client executable beside eldiron-source or available through the Eldiron source checkout. You can always build first and start the desired Eldiron client with the generated .eldiron file yourself.

Watch for changes

To rebuild when source files or assets change:

eldiron-source watch

The default debounce delay is 250 milliseconds. It can be changed when an editor writes several files in quick succession:

eldiron-source watch --debounce-ms 500

The watcher ignores generated build/, dist/, and .git/ contents.

Command summary

Command	Purpose
eldiron-source new <folder>	Create a new Source project.
eldiron-source build [folder]	Compile the project into a .eldiron file.
eldiron-source play [folder]	Build and run the configured client.
eldiron-source watch [folder]	Build and continue rebuilding after changes.
eldiron-source help <command>	Show all options for a command.