README.md

λ-間

λ-間 is a small actor space for ma-runtime and zion. It is not runtime code; it is a flat set of actors and a generated bootstrap YAML for people who want to clone, fork, and reshape it.

Think of it as our rough equivalent of lambdamoo-core: a basic functional set of world objects that gives a new runtime enough language to become a place. The point is not to preserve λ-間 exactly as shipped, but to give builders something useful to extend, replace, and mutate inside their own runtime.

LambdaMOO grew out of the MUD tradition at Xerox PARC in the early 1990s. Its lasting idea was not just rooms and exits, but a programmable social world: the database, verbs, objects, and local customs could be changed by the people living in it. lambdamoo-core was the small seed database that made a fresh MOO bootable and habitable before its own culture took over. λ-間 aims for that same role in the ma stack: enough root, avatar, room, and exit behaviour to start creating, while staying small enough that a runtime can make it its own.

What is here

actors/root.ma          deterministic avatar factory
actors/avatar.ma        avatar-mediated command endpoint
actors/room.ma          room policy, occupants, claim/owner, dig/go, exit ownership
actors/exit.ma          traversal between rooms
kinds/                  kind definitions used by the generated bootstrap
scheme-actor/           generic ma-scheme actor Wasm crate and stdlib
Makefile                publishes actor sources and generates dist/lambda-ma.yaml

The generated bootstrap reads its kind registry from kinds/*.yaml, then fills in CIDs for the local ma-scheme actor and actor behaviour sources. It currently includes the generic ma-scheme actor kind built from scheme-actor/, the λ-間 actor kinds, the scheduler, #root, and the initial #construct room.

The bundled ma-scheme actor implements the core random builtin from ma-scheme-v1: (random n) returns a non-cryptographic integer in [0,n). It is practical randomness for ordinary actor choices such as exits, fortunes, and dice rolls. It is not security randomness: do not use it for keys, nonces, capabilities, tokens, proofs, authentication challenges, or anything where prediction changes authority or privacy. The reference implementation uses a runtime/entity-seeded 64-bit PRNG.

For a full first-run guide, including Kubo/IPFS setup, installing ma, generating dist/lambda-ma.yaml, bootstrapping a runtime, generating a reusable root CID, and changing your first rooms, see HOWTO.md.

For the canonical lambda-ma world protocol contract (routing, enter ctx, authority model, actor verbs, and state-key conventions), see REFERENCE.md.

Build

Kubo/IPFS must be running locally.

The Rust Wasm target must be installed because make builds the local scheme actor before publishing the bootstrap inputs:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

make

This builds scheme-actor/actor.wasm, publishes it together with scheme-actor/stdlib.ma and actors/*.ma using ipfs add, and writes:

dist/lambda-ma.yaml

To see the scheme actor, stdlib, and world behaviour CIDs:

make show-cids

To publish just the reusable kind/behaviour registry for applying to an existing runtime without replacing entity state:

make kinds-cid

To verify that the generated YAML has no unresolved placeholders:

make check

Bootstrap a runtime

make root-cid

The command prints a runtime root CID. Start ma with that CID or save it in the daemon config according to your usual runtime workflow.

make bootstrap is kept as an alias for make root-cid.

For an existing runtime, prefer the kinds-only upgrade path after changing kinds/*.yaml, actors/*.ma, or the scheme actor shared runtime:

make kinds-cid

Then apply the printed CID live with CRUD:

@runtime/kinds: /ipfs/<printed-kinds-cid>

or pass it at the next daemon start:

ma --kinds-cid <printed-kinds-cid>

Wire zion to the world root

/config/root is runtime manifest config, not part of this world bootstrap template. Set it once after the runtime is up and zion has discovered @ma:

.ma!discover
@ma/config/root: @ma#root
.enter @ma

After that, zion routes focus shorthand through the avatar created by #root.

Building rooms

Rooms are owned by bare DIDs, not avatars. An avatar is only the DID principal's current command costume. For normal focus commands the avatar acts as a delegate and forwards the DID principal's DID to the room; direct room RPCs still use the message from DID as the caller.

help                   show avatar/avatar-mediated commands
help here              ask the current room what is possible here
claim                  claim an unowned room through your avatar
owner                  show the current room owner through your avatar
owner did:ma:<target>  transfer the room to another bare DID through your avatar
look                   look around
l                      alias for look
say hello              speak here
dig north to Garden    create an exit and a new room owned by you
look north             inspect an exit as a first-class object
lock north             lock an exit
unlock north           unlock an exit
exit-message north blocked The gate is locked.

Colon-prefixed methods bypass the avatar and target the focused room directly:

:help
:prop name Biblioteket
:prop description Et stille bibliotek.
:prop description
:exit north :lock
:exit north :unlock
:exit north :message blocked The gate is locked.
@ma#construct!help
@ma#construct!prop name Biblioteket
@ma#construct!prop description Et stille bibliotek.
@ma#construct!prop description

The last form resets description to the default.

Only the current owner may create or remove exits from a room. Newly dug rooms are owned by the digger automatically, so a builder can give someone a room with owner and that DID can then build outward from there. Linking to an already-existing room is allowed when the target room confirms that the same DID principal owns it too. Exits are first-class inspectable objects owned by exit actors; rooms resolve directions and can forward direct :exit <direction> <verb> commands to the exit. Avatar/avatar-mediated commands such as lock <direction> and exit-message <direction> <slot> <text> are shorthand for that forwarding. fill <direction> removes the exit link and terminates the exit actor, but leaves the target room intact.

Develop

Edit the .ma files or the local scheme actor crate, then run:

make clean
make

Commit the source files and template, not dist/, scheme-actor/target/, or scheme-actor/actor.wasm.