NWClient Build & Deploy

Automated tools for building NightWorld libraries (NWClient) and deploying the output JARs to your Minecraft development environment.

Quick start

# Build Cosmetic (top-level project, includes all deps) and deploy
python build.py

# Deploy only (after manual build)
python deploy.py

# Preview what would be copied
python deploy.py --dry-run

Files

File	Purpose
deploy.toml	Configuration: target path + JAR copy rules
deploy.py	Copies built JARs to the configured target directory
build.py	Runs Gradle build + deploy + optionally launch in one step

Configuration

Edit deploy.toml to set your Minecraft libraries path:

target = ".lexplosion/libraries/org/nightworld"

You can use environment variables in the path:

target = "%APPDATA%/.lexplosion/libraries/org/nightworld"   # Windows
target = "$HOME/.lexplosion/libraries/org/nightworld"        # Linux / macOS

Relative paths are resolved from the workspace root (where deploy.toml lives).

JAR mappings

Each project section maps glob patterns to destination subdirectories:

[projects.Cosmetic]
"build/libs/*.jar" = "Cosmetics/1.0/"
"build/out/*.jar" = "Cosmetics/1.0/"

• The key is a glob pattern relative to the project root (e.g. build/libs/*.jar)
• The value is the destination subdirectory under target
• Projects with dots in their name must be quoted: [projects."MinecraftApi.Runtime"]
• All JAR variants (vanilla, forge, fabric, raw) within a project go to the same version folder

Target directory structure

After deploy, the target directory will look like:

{target}/
├── Cosmetics/
│   └── 1.0/
│       ├── Cosmetics-1.20-1.0.jar
│       ├── Cosmetics-fabric-1.20-1.0.jar
│       ├── Cosmetics-forge-1.20-1.0.jar
│       └── Cosmetics-vanilla-1.20-1.0.jar
├── LaunchLinker/
│   └── 1.0/
│       └── LaunchLinker-1.0.jar
├── MinecraftApi/
│   └── 1.0/
│       ├── MinecraftApi-1.20-1.0.jar
│       ├── MinecraftApi-fabric-1.20-1.0.jar
│       ├── MinecraftApi-forge-1.20-1.0.jar
│       └── MinecraftApi-vanilla-1.20-1.0.jar
├── MinecraftApi.Runtime/
│   └── 1.0/
│       ├── MinecraftApi.Runtime-1.20-1.0.jar
│       ├── MinecraftApi.Runtime-fabric-1.20-1.0.jar
│       └── MinecraftApi.Runtime-vanilla-1.20-1.0.jar
└── ReflectionTools/
    └── 1.0/
        └── ReflectionTools-1.0.jar

Usage

build.py — build + deploy

# Build Cosmetic (default) and deploy
python build.py

# Build a specific project and deploy
python build.py MinecraftApi

# Build multiple projects
python build.py MinecraftApi MinecraftApi.Runtime

# Build all 5 projects in dependency order
python build.py --all

# Build only, skip deploy
python build.py --no-deploy

# Preview deploy (dry-run) after building
python build.py --dry-run

# Include postBuild remapping (Windows only)
python build.py --remap

# Use a portable JDK from a folder (no system install needed)
python build.py --java-home D:/portable/jdk-17

# Build + deploy + launch the game
python build.py --launch

# Launch the game directly (skip build + deploy)
python build.py --launch-only

deploy.py — deploy only

# Copy all matched JARs to target
python deploy.py

# Preview only
python deploy.py --dry-run

# Minimal output
python deploy.py --quiet

Workflows

Daily development (Windows)

# Build + deploy with remapping (produces remapped JARs in mods/)
python build.py --remap

Daily development (Linux / macOS)

# Build + deploy (remapping.bat requires cmd.exe, skipped automatically)
python build.py

Build a specific library

python build.py MinecraftApi
python deploy.py --dry-run  # verify mappings
python deploy.py            # copy to target

Full rebuild of everything

python build.py --all

Cross-platform notes

Platform	build.py behavior	deploy.py behavior
Windows	Runs ./gradlew build including postBuild (remapping)	Works natively
Linux	Runs ./gradlew build -x postBuild (skips Windows-only remapping)	Works natively
macOS	Same as Linux	Works natively

The postBuild task runs remapping.bat via cmd.exe, which only exists on Windows. On Linux/macOS, build.py automatically skips it with -x postBuild. The raw compiled JARs in build/libs/ are still produced and deployed.

To run remapping on non-Windows, you would need to port remapping.bat to a shell script — that's outside the scope of this tool.

Portable JDK (no system install)

If you don't want to install Java system-wide, use a portable JDK:

1. Download a JDK 17 archive (e.g. from Adoptium) and extract it to any folder
2. Point to it with --java-home:

python build.py --java-home D:/portable/jdk-17.0.12

You can also set the JAVA_HOME environment variable once in your terminal instead of passing --java-home every time:

set JAVA_HOME=D:/portable/jdk-17.0.12    # Windows cmd
$env:JAVA_HOME="D:/portable/jdk-17.0.12" # PowerShell
python build.py

Launch configuration

The [launch] section in deploy.toml defines the Minecraft launch command. It uses these template variables:

Variable	Resolves to
{java}	Java executable from --java-home or JAVA_HOME
{target}	The deploy target directory
{libraries}	Parent of target (the libraries/ base)
{root}	Parent of libraries (the .lexplosion/ root)
{cpsep}	Classpath separator (; on Windows, : on Linux/macOS)
${VAR} or %VAR%	Environment variable expansion

To update the command, edit the command value in deploy.toml under [launch].

How it works

1. build.py runs ./gradlew build (with or without postBuild) in each requested project
2. After all builds succeed, it calls deploy.py
3. deploy.py reads deploy.toml, expands glob patterns per project, and copies matched files to target
4. If --launch is set, build.py reads the [launch] command from deploy.toml, substitutes variables, and runs it
5. If a project hasn't been built yet (no matching files), it's silently skipped

Adding a new project

1. Add its name to the PROJECTS list in build.py
2. Add a section to deploy.toml with its JAR mappings
3. Done — python build.py --all will pick it up

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
deploy.py says "no files matching"	Project hasn't been built yet	Run python build.py <project> first
'target' not set	Missing or misconfigured deploy.toml	Check the target field
build.py says "no gradlew script"	Gradle wrapper not generated	Run gradle wrapper in the project dir
Remapped JARs missing on Linux	postBuild is Windows-only	Use raw JARs from build/libs/ or port remapping.bat
tomllib import error	Python < 3.11	Run pip install tomli or upgrade Python
JAVA_HOME not set	No JDK installed/found	Use --java-home D:/path/to/jdk with a portable JDK folder
Launch says "no Java"	--java-home missing or wrong path	Pass correct --java-home (JDK root, bin/, or java.exe)
Launch command broken	Classpath needs updating	Edit the command in deploy.toml's [launch] section