Dev Mode

morph dev starts a development environment with live hot reload. The native window stays open while you edit — changes appear instantly without restarting.

What Happens

File save  →  File watcher  →  Pipeline  →  IR dict  →  Unix socket  →  morph_devrt
                                                  │
                              JS logic  →  logic.<hash>.so  →  dlopen + rewire

File watcher detects a change in your .mx, .css, or .ts files
Pipeline re-runs: parse, walk, build IR, layout, serialize
JS logic is translated to C++, compiled to logic.<hash>.so, and loaded via dlopen
IR dict is sent over a Unix socket to morph_devrt
Window swaps the node tree and re-wires signals — no restart needed

Starting Dev Mode

morph dev

This will:

Build the dev runtime binary (morph_devrt) via CMake if it doesn't exist
Start the Unix socket server
Launch the native window
Watch for file changes

Hot Reload

When you save a file:

The IR is re-sent to the running window
The node tree swaps instantly
Your JS logic .so is hot-reloaded — signals and effects are re-wired in place
DevTools state (open/closed, active tab) is preserved

The window never closes. Only the content inside it changes.

Dev Runtime Binary

morph_devrt is a pre-compiled C++ binary that:

Opens a GLFW window
Listens on a Unix socket (/tmp/morph_dev.sock)
Receives IR JSON and builds a node tree
Handles events, layout, and OpenGL rendering
Supports DevTools (F12)

The binary is auto-built via CMake when first needed. It rebuilds automatically when shared runtime sources change (tracked via a source hash).

Source Hash Tracking

The dev binary monitors these directories for changes:

runtime/dev/
runtime/core/
runtime/render/
runtime/ui/
runtime/style/
runtime/renderers/

If any file in these directories changes, morph_devrt is rebuilt before the next dev session.

DevTools

Press F12 to toggle the DevTools panel. It includes:

Elements — inspect element tree, box model overlay, element info
Rendering — frame stats, layout/paint diagnostics, live renderer switch
Network — fetch() request log
Logs — application log entries

See the Development Guide for details.

Tips

Wayland issues — If the window doesn't open, try: GDK_BACKEND=x11 morph dev
Slow reload — Check if your CSS files are large or if you have many Tailwind classes
Socket errors — Delete /tmp/morph_dev.sock and restart
Binary missing — Run morph doctor to verify cmake, g++, and make are installed

What Happens

File save → File watcher → Pipeline → IR dict → Unix socket → morph_devrt │ JS logic → logic.<hash>.so → dlopen + rewire

File watcher detects a change in your .mx, .css, or .ts files

Pipeline re-runs: parse, walk, build IR, layout, serialize

JS logic is translated to C++, compiled to logic.<hash>.so, and loaded via dlopen

IR dict is sent over a Unix socket to morph_devrt

Window swaps the node tree and re-wires signals — no restart needed

Dev Runtime Binary

morph_devrt is a pre-compiled C++ binary that:

Opens a GLFW window

Listens on a Unix socket (/tmp/morph_dev.sock)

Receives IR JSON and builds a node tree

Handles events, layout, and OpenGL rendering

Supports DevTools (F12)

The binary is auto-built via CMake when first needed. It rebuilds automatically when shared runtime sources change (tracked via a source hash).

Tips

Wayland issues — If the window doesn't open, try: GDK_BACKEND=x11 morph dev

Slow reload — Check if your CSS files are large or if you have many Tailwind classes

Socket errors — Delete /tmp/morph_dev.sock and restart

Binary missing — Run morph doctor to verify cmake, g++, and make are installed