Preparations - AO Cookbook

The Awakening Begins
You've always known there's more to this world, just outside of your reach. You've been searching for it, not even knowing what it was you were looking for. It... is ao.We begin our journey by installing the aos client and starting a new process. This will allow us to interact with the ao computer and complete the rest of the tutorial.

Video Tutorial

System requirements.

The local client of aos is very simple to install. Just make sure you have:

NodeJS version 20+. (If you haven't yet installed it, check out this page to find instructions for your OS).
A code editor of your choice.

Though it's not required, we do recommend installing the ao addon into your text editor of choice to optimize your experience with aos.

Installing aos

Once you have NodeJS on your machine, all you need to do is install aos and run it:

npm i -g https://get_ao.g8way.io

After installation, we can simply run the command itself to start a new aos process!

aos

Welcome to the rabbit hole.

The utility you just started is a local client, which is ready to relay messages for you to your new process inside the ao computer.

After it connects, you should see the following:

          _____                   _______                   _____
         /\    \                 /::\    \                 /\    \
        /::\    \               /:::\    \               /::\    \
       /:::\    \             /::::\    \             /:::\    \
      /::::\    \           /::::::\    \           /::::\    \
     /::/\::\    \         /::/~~\::\    \         /::/\::\    \
    /::/__\::\    \       /::/    \::\    \       /::/__\::\    \
   /:::\   \::\    \     /::/    / \::\    \      \::\   \::\    \
  /::::\   \::\    \   /::/____/   \::\____\   ___\::\   \::\    \
 /::/\::\   \::\    \ |::|    |     |::|    | /\   \::\   \::\    \
/::/  \::\   \::\____\|::|____|     |::|    |/::\   \::\   \::\____\
\::/    \::\  /::/    / \::\    \   /::/    / \::\   \::\   \::/    /
 \/____/ \::\/::/    /   \::\    \ /::/    /   \::\   \::\   \/____/
          \::::/    /     \::\    /::/    /     \::\   \::\    \
           \:::/    /       \::\__/::/    /       \::\   \::\____\
           /::/    /         \::::::/    /         \::\  /::/    /
          /::/    /           \::::/    /           \::\/::/    /
         /::/    /             \:::/    /             \::::/    /
        /::/    /               \::/____/               \:::/    /
        \::/    /                 ~~                      \::/    /
         \/____/                                           \/____/

ao Operating System

aos - 1.8.9
2024 - Type ".exit" to exit
aos process:  1xM1_lDZ428sJHpTX7rtcR6SrDubyRVO06JEEWs_eWo

aos>

Let's walk through the initial printout after running aos:

aos print

After running aos in your terminal, you should see:

An ASCII art image of AOS.
A Welcome Message
The version of aos you are running.
An instructional exit message.
Your process ID.

If your OS version is different than the latest version, a message asking if you'd like to update the version will appear. If so, simply exit the process by pressing "Ctrl+C" twice, run npm i -g https://get_ao.g8way.io to update, and then run aos again.

Welcome to your new home in the ao computer! The prompt you are now looking at is your own personal server in this decentralized machine.

Now, let's journey further down the rabbit hole by exploring one of the two core concept type of ao: messaging.

Overview

In this tutorial series, you'll walk through an interactive steps that will help you deepen your knowledge and understanding of the aos environment.

Messaging

Messaging in ao