dev-guide-setup

name	dev-guide-setup
description	Nested lingtai-dev-guide reference for local developer environment setup: cloning repos, building TUI/portal, dev-mode symlinks, editable kernel install, MCP addon setup, and verification.
version	1.0.0
last_changed_at	2026-07-18T00:00:00Z
maintenance	If you find stale or incorrect information here, use the lingtai-issue-report skill to assemble evidence and obtain per-issue human consent before filing an issue. Never include secrets, credentials, tokens, or private paths.

Development Environment Setup

Nested lingtai-dev-guide reference. Read this after the top-level router sends you here.

Prerequisites

Tool	Version	Purpose
Go	1.21+	Building TUI and portal binaries
Node.js	18+	Building the portal's React frontend
Python	3.10+	Running the kernel (installed automatically by the TUI, but needed for dev)
uv	latest	Python package management (the TUI's runtime venv is uv-managed)
Git	any	Version control
gh	latest	GitHub CLI (for releases)

Clone the repos

# The Go monorepo (TUI + portal)
git clone https://github.com/Lingtai-AI/lingtai.git ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai

# The Python kernel
git clone https://github.com/Lingtai-AI/lingtai-kernel.git ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-kernel

# MCP addon repos (optional, only if developing addons)
git clone https://github.com/Lingtai-AI/lingtai-imap.git ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-imap
git clone https://github.com/Lingtai-AI/lingtai-telegram.git ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-telegram
git clone https://github.com/Lingtai-AI/lingtai-feishu.git ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-feishu
git clone https://github.com/Lingtai-AI/lingtai-wechat.git ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-wechat

The sibling layout under ~/Documents/GitHub/ is expected by the TUI's auto-upgrader and the CLAUDE.md instructions. If you use a different location, update paths accordingly.

Build the Go binaries

# Build the TUI
cd ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/tui && make build
# Output: tui/bin/lingtai-tui

# Build the portal (builds embedded web frontend first)
cd ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/portal && make build
# Output: portal/bin/lingtai-portal

Cross-compilation (darwin/linux/windows × amd64/arm64):

cd tui && make cross-compile
cd portal && make cross-compile

Set up dev mode (symlinks)

Dev mode means /opt/homebrew/bin/lingtai-{tui,portal} are symlinks to the freshly-built binaries, so which lingtai-tui resolves to your local build. Every make build is immediately picked up by your shell — no brew reinstall cycle.

# One-time setup (only if symlinks don't already exist)
ln -sf ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/tui/bin/lingtai-tui /opt/homebrew/bin/lingtai-tui
ln -sf ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/portal/bin/lingtai-portal /opt/homebrew/bin/lingtai-portal

Verify dev mode is active:

readlink -f $(which lingtai-tui)   # → ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/tui/bin/lingtai-tui
lingtai-tui --version              # → vX.Y.Z-N-gSHORTSHA (git describe)

A clean vX.Y.Z version string means the brew-installed binary is in front. A -N-gSHORTSHA suffix means dev mode is live.

Set up the kernel (editable install)

The TUI's runtime venv lives at ~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv/. For kernel development, install the kernel in editable mode:

# The TUI creates the venv on first run. If it doesn't exist yet, run lingtai-tui once.

# Install kernel in editable mode
~/.local/bin/uv pip install -e ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-kernel \
    -p ~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv

Verify:

~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv/bin/python -c "import lingtai; print(lingtai.__file__)"
# Should resolve to the kernel source tree, not site-packages

Important: Use uv, not pip — the venv is uv-managed and has no pip symlink, only pip3.

Verify the runtime checkout a running agent actually uses

After merging or updating kernel code, do not assume a running agent is using the checkout you just edited. The TUI runtime venv may point at an editable checkout that is behind origin/main, or at a detached worktree left by an earlier test.

Use the TUI runtime venv unless the agent's init.json explicitly names a different Python executable. This probe prints the import origin, git root, branch, and HEAD for the kernel and each MCP/addon module at once:

RUNTIME_PY="$HOME/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv/bin/python"
$RUNTIME_PY - <<'PY'
import importlib, pathlib, subprocess
mods = [
    "lingtai",
    ("lingtai.kernel", "lingtai_kernel"),   # new canonical first, old fallback
    "lingtai.mcp_servers",
    ("lingtai.mcp_servers.telegram", "lingtai_telegram"),
]
for entry in mods:
    names = (entry,) if isinstance(entry, str) else entry
    mod = None
    err = None
    for name in names:
        try:
            mod = importlib.import_module(name)
            break
        except Exception as exc:
            err = exc
    if mod is None:
        print(f"{names[0]}: NOT IMPORTABLE ({type(err).__name__}: {err})")
        continue
    path = pathlib.Path(getattr(mod, "__file__", "")).resolve()
    print(f"{names[0]}: {path}")
    cur = path
    for parent in [cur, *cur.parents]:
        if (parent / ".git").exists() or (parent / ".git").is_file():
            try:
                head = subprocess.check_output(
                    ["git", "-C", str(parent), "rev-parse", "--short=12", "HEAD"],
                    text=True,
                ).strip()
                branch = subprocess.check_output(
                    ["git", "-C", str(parent), "branch", "--show-current"],
                    text=True,
                ).strip() or 
                (f)
            except Exception as exc:
                (f)
            
PY

If the probe resolves to the expected editable kernel checkout but the HEAD is behind, fast-forward that checkout first:

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-kernel   # or the path printed by the probe
git fetch origin main
git switch main                         # only if it is safe to leave a worktree branch
git pull --ff-only origin main

Then system(action="refresh", reason="pick up updated runtime checkout") and rerun the probe from the same interpreter. For addon/MCP work, verify both the curated package path (for example lingtai.mcp_servers.telegram) and any compatibility wrapper (lingtai_telegram) so stale external addon checkouts do not masquerade as the active implementation.

Order matters — update the imported source before refreshing, and confirm with a live probe afterward. reference/runtime-self-check/SKILL.md owns that discipline (the patch-to-self checklist and the live-object caveat); this section is only the setup-side command recipe.

Set up MCP addons (optional)

If developing MCP server addons (imap, telegram, feishu, wechat):

# Install in editable mode
~/.local/bin/uv pip install -e ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-imap \
    -p ~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv

Register the MCP server via the mcp-manual skill's workflow.

Verify the full stack

lingtai-tui --version          # 1. TUI builds and runs
lingtai-portal --version       # 2. portal builds and runs

# 3. Kernel is editable
~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv/bin/python -c "import lingtai; print(lingtai.__file__)"

# 4. Create a test project and launch an agent through the first-run wizard
mkdir /tmp/test-lingtai && cd /tmp/test-lingtai
lingtai-tui

IDE setup

Go (TUI + portal). The Go modules are github.com/anthropics/lingtai-tui and github.com/anthropics/lingtai-portal (historical naming — not moving to Lingtai-AI/). Standard Go tooling (gopls, golangci-lint) works out of the box.

Python (kernel). The kernel uses pyproject.toml for project metadata. Standard Python tooling (pyright, ruff) works. The editable install means kernel source changes are reflected immediately in the running agent — no rebuild needed.