# Bread **A reactive automation fabric for Linux desktops.** Bread is a modular desktop automation runtime built around a single idea: your desktop should behave like a programmable system, not a collection of disconnected config files. Instead of scattering behavior across shell scripts, compositor configs, udev rules, and ad-hoc daemons, Bread centralizes runtime awareness into a coherent layer that can observe, interpret, and react to system state dynamically. > **Status:** Early development. The daemon (`breadd`) is stable. The Lua automation API is active and feature-complete for daily use. --- ## How it works Bread runs a long-lived daemon (`breadd`) that: 1. Ingests raw signals from your compositor, hardware, and OS 2. Normalizes them into stable, semantic events (`bread.device.dock.connected`, `bread.hyprland.monitor.connected`, etc.) 3. Maintains a live model of your desktop state 4. Delivers those events to Lua modules that implement your automation Your automation lives in Lua. You subscribe to events, read state, and call APIs: ```lua local M = bread.module({ name = "dock", version = "1.0.0" }) bread.on("bread.device.dock.connected", function(event) bread.profile.activate("desk") bread.exec("waybar --config ~/.config/waybar/desk.jsonc") bread.notify("Dock connected", { urgency = "low" }) end) bread.on("bread.device.dock.disconnected", function(event) bread.profile.activate("default") end) return M ``` --- ## Architecture ``` breadd/ Rust daemon — event pipeline, state engine, IPC, adapter supervision bread-cli/ CLI frontend — talks to breadd over a Unix socket bread-emit/ Tiny fire-and-forget IPC emitter (hooks / command bus) bread-module-host/ Out-of-process sandboxed Lua module runtime bread-shared/ Shared types — RawEvent, BreadEvent, AdapterSource packaging/ systemd user service unit (bakery installs this) ``` The daemon is structured in four layers: - **Adapters** — interface with Hyprland IPC, udev, power state, network interfaces, and Bluetooth (BlueZ) - **Normalizer** — transforms raw adapter signals into semantic Bread events - **State engine** — maintains runtime state and dispatches events to subscribers - **Lua runtime** — loads your modules, registers handlers, executes automation --- ## Requirements - Linux (Arch recommended) - Wayland compositor (Hyprland for full functionality) - Rust toolchain (stable, 2021 edition) - `udev` (standard on systemd systems) Optional but preferred: - UPower (for battery events via D-Bus rather than sysfs polling) - rtnetlink (for network events; falls back to sysfs polling without it) - BlueZ (for Bluetooth device events and control) --- ## Installation ### From source ```bash git clone https://git.breadway.dev/Breadway/bread.git cd bread ``` Run the install script — it builds, symlinks `breadd`, `bread`, `bread-emit`, and `bread-module-host` into `~/.local/bin` (override with `BIN_DIR=…`), installs the systemd user service, and starts the daemon: ```bash bash scripts/install.sh ``` Or step by step (system-wide install): ```bash cargo build --release sudo install -Dm755 target/release/breadd /usr/bin/breadd sudo install -Dm755 target/release/bread /usr/bin/bread sudo install -Dm755 target/release/bread-emit /usr/bin/bread-emit sudo install -Dm755 target/release/bread-module-host /usr/bin/bread-module-host ``` ### Via bakery Prebuilt binaries ship through `bakery` (the bread-ecosystem package manager), not a PKGBUILD / pacman package: ```bash bakery install bread ``` ### systemd user service ```bash mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user cp packaging/systemd/breadd.service ~/.config/systemd/user/ systemctl --user daemon-reload systemctl --user enable --now breadd ``` --- ## Configuration Bread reads from `~/.config/bread/breadd.toml`. All values are optional — the daemon runs with defaults if the file doesn't exist. ```toml [daemon] log_level = "info" # trace | debug | info | warn | error [lua] entry_point = "~/.config/bread/init.lua" module_path = "~/.config/bread/modules" [adapters.hyprland] enabled = true [adapters.udev] enabled = true subsystems = ["usb", "input", "drm", "power_supply"] [adapters.power] enabled = true poll_interval_secs = 30 [adapters.network] enabled = true [adapters.bluetooth] enabled = true [events] dedup_window_ms = 100 [compat] legacy_hyprland_event_names = true # dual-emits bread.hyprland.* alongside legacy flat names; see Documentation.md [notifications] default_timeout_ms = 5000 default_urgency = "normal" notify_send_path = "notify-send" [modules] builtin = true # load built-in modules (monitors, devices, workspaces, binds, rules) disable = [] # list of built-in module names to disable ``` For the common "when event X happens, do Y" case, you don't need Lua at all — drop rules straight into `~/.config/bread/rules.toml` and skip `init.lua` entirely: ```toml # ~/.config/bread/rules.toml [[rule]] on = "device.dock.connected" run = "~/.config/bread/scripts/dock-connected.sh" [[rule]] on = "power.ac.disconnected" notify = "Unplugged" ``` It's optional and purely additive alongside `init.lua` — see [Getting started in Documentation.md](Documentation.md#getting-started) for the full schema (`run` vs `exec` vs `notify`, wildcard `on` patterns, and how a malformed rule surfaces via `bread doctor`). For anything beyond a single action per event, your automation lives in `~/.config/bread/init.lua`. Modules placed in `~/.config/bread/modules/` are auto-loaded after `init.lua`: ```lua -- ~/.config/bread/init.lua bread.on("bread.system.startup", function(event) bread.profile.activate("default") end) ``` --- ## CLI reference All commands communicate with the running daemon over a Unix socket at `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/bread/breadd.sock`. ```bash # Daemon bread ping # Check daemon connectivity bread health # Daemon version, uptime, PID bread doctor # Diagnose daemon and module health bread doctor --json # Output raw JSON # Lua runtime bread reload # Hot-reload all Lua modules bread reload --watch # Watch config dir and reload on changes # State and events bread state # Dump full runtime state as JSON bread state network # Read a single path from state bread state --json # Output raw JSON bread events # Stream live normalized events bread events bread.device.* # Stream filtered events bread events --since 60 # Replay events from the last 60 seconds bread events --fields event,data # Limit output to specific fields bread events --json # Output raw JSON bread events --tree # Render as a causality tree (caused_by) instead of a flat stream bread emit # Manually fire an event (for testing) # Profiles bread profile-list # List defined profiles bread profile-activate # Activate a named profile # Modules bread modules list # List installed modules and daemon status bread modules install /local/path # Install from a local module directory bread modules remove # Remove an installed module (--yes skips confirmation) bread modules info # Show full manifest and daemon status bread modules audit # Scan a module's Lua source and suggest a [[permissions]] block # Hooks bread hooks install-shell [shell] # Install precmd/preexec/chpwd shell hooks (auto-detects $SHELL) bread hooks install-git # Install git hooks (post-commit/checkout/merge) in the current repo ``` --- ## Module system Modules are Lua files (or directories) installed to `~/.config/bread/modules/`. Each module must declare itself with `bread.module()` and have a `bread.module.toml` manifest. ### Installing modules Modules install from a local directory only. By default a module runs in-process with full, ungated `bread.exec()` privileges — the same trust model as before — so to use a module published on a git host, clone it yourself and review the Lua before installing from the local checkout. A module can opt into a smaller, enforced footprint by declaring `[[permissions]]` in its manifest: it then runs out-of-process under an OS-level (Landlock) sandbox limited to exactly what it declared, with a `bread` table that only exposes the granted namespaces. See [Capability-scoped modules](Documentation.md#capability-scoped-modules-since-v15) and [Out-of-process module sandboxing](Documentation.md#out-of-process-module-sandboxing-since-v16) for the full permission taxonomy and what's enforced at the kernel level versus what isn't yet. ```bash git clone https://github.com/someuser/bread-wifi ~/src/bread-wifi # review ~/src/bread-wifi, then: bread modules install ~/src/bread-wifi ``` ### Writing a module A module directory looks like: ``` ~/.config/bread/modules/ └── wifi/ ├── bread.module.toml ← required manifest └── init.lua ← entry point ``` `bread.module.toml`: ```toml name = "wifi" version = "1.0.0" description = "WiFi management for Bread" author = "someuser" source = "/home/you/src/bread-wifi" installed_at = "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z" ``` `init.lua`: ```lua local M = bread.module({ name = "wifi", version = "1.0.0" }) bread.on("bread.network.connected", function(event) bread.log("Network up: " .. (event.data.interface or "unknown")) end) return M ``` --- ## Event reference, Lua API, and IPC protocol These are fully documented in [`Documentation.md`](Documentation.md) — the single canonical reference (event catalogue, per-function Lua API, runtime-state schema, and IPC protocol), versioned as **Bread Automation API v1**. This README no longer keeps a parallel copy, to avoid the two drifting apart. - [Dictionary: Event reference](Documentation.md#dictionary-event-reference) - [Dictionary: Lua API](Documentation.md#dictionary-lua-api) - [Dictionary: Runtime state schema](Documentation.md#dictionary-runtime-state-schema) - [Dictionary: IPC protocol](Documentation.md#dictionary-ipc-protocol) - [API Stability & Versioning](Documentation.md#api-stability--versioning) --- ## Contributing Bread is early-stage software. Contributions, issues, and feedback are welcome. The daemon (`breadd`) is the most stable part of the codebase. Active development is happening across the Lua API and module system. --- ## License MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).