Developer overview

This section is for people changing Quasar itself. If you are installing, administering, or tuning an instance, use the other sections of this knowledge base. You should not need a Go, Rust, or Node toolchain to operate Quasar.

The repository is the authority for developer workflows. Start at the root:

make help

Then read CLAUDE.md for architecture, invariants, frozen contracts, and current phase context, followed by AGENTS.md for the operating and verification rules. The complete command catalogue is in docs/developer-tooling.md.

These pages are an entry point, not a second runbook

Commands and contracts change with the code. The repository’s CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, root Makefile, and component documentation remain canonical when this public site and a checkout disagree.

Repository map

Path	Responsibility
control-plane/	Go API, authentication, scheduling, signaling, and persistence.
node-agent/	Rust GPU-host agent, session lifecycle, media pipeline, and app containers.
web/	React web client and administration interface.
protocol/	Frozen wire contracts, maintained as a submodule. Generates the Control-plane API reference.
deploy/	Compose stacks, image builds, deployment scripts, and validation harnesses.
scripts/dx/	Canonical developer and diagnostic commands behind the Makefile.
docs/	Design records, configuration reference, plans, and developer tooling.
site/	This Astro/Starlight public knowledge base.

The main development loop

1. Initialise and inspect the checkout.
2. Make one bounded change.
3. Run the verification level required for the files you touched.
4. Validate GPU or streaming changes on a real GPU host.
5. Keep commits scoped to one coherent unit of work.

Continue with Set up a checkout.