Build and Run

Run these in the devenv environment: prefix each command with devenv shell --, or use direnv.

Run with live reload

devenv shell -- dev

dev builds a development build into bin/sona-dev, runs it, and rebuilds and restarts it when a Go file changes. The restart returns to the same page, scroll position and window.

• Press r to rebuild and q to quit.
• Run dev -background -- <app args> to start the app without taking focus.
• Design tokens (internal/ui/theme/tokens.json) and .po catalogues reload in the running app with no build.
• Set SONA_INSPECTOR=1 to open MyGo’s inspector (F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I toggles it).

A development build starts in private mode. A plain go build ./cmd/sona is not a development build; only -tags dev is.

Browse the component gallery

devenv shell -- gallery

The gallery shows every kit component in light and dark, with knobs, and restarts like dev. A kit change adds its own section in cmd/uigallery.

Build a release-style binary

devenv shell -- build

This writes bin/sona: no inspector, MyGo in production mode. A build that sets its own -tags must name sqlite_fts5 too, because -tags replaces devenv’s GOFLAGS.

Play without an account

SONA_PREVIEW=1 plays every song as its 30-second preview, with no account, no Widevine CDM and no licence. The player bar shows “Preview” beside the title.

SONA_PRIVATE=1 SONA_PREVIEW=1 devenv shell -- bin/sona

For the command line, go run ./cmd/playspike -preview plays a preview and watches it advance.

Use private mode

Private mode stops Sona reporting plays to Apple and scrobbling them. Anything that plays music runs in it.

Setting	Effect
Development build	Starts private, whatever the saved setting says.
SONA_PRIVATE=1	Forces private mode in any build.
SONA_PRIVATE=0	A development build follows the saved setting, for a deliberate live check.

Keep your session and library safe

Only one Sona may own your real session bus. For anything that doesn’t need your desktop, start the app under dbus-run-session with private XDG directories, so it neither clashes with a running Sona nor touches your real settings and library:

env XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$PWD/.tmp/config XDG_DATA_HOME=$PWD/.tmp/data \
    XDG_STATE_HOME=$PWD/.tmp/state XDG_CACHE_HOME=$PWD/.tmp/cache \
    dbus-run-session -- bin/sona

Set the XDG variables outside dbus-run-session, so the services the private bus starts use them too.

To run two development builds on one session bus, give each a name with SONA_DEV_INSTANCE=<name>.

Preview the docs

devenv shell -- docs starts the documentation site. See Writing Docs.

Go further

docs/development.md lists every devenv script (probe, release, spikes) and describes the Widevine CDM. docs/platforms.md covers macOS and Windows.