Library Manager lists every package installed in your Asterobot. From there you install, create, import, copy, export and remove packages, and each package has a page of its own with its details.
The Library Manager page
The buttons at the top are Check for updates on the left, and Import a .zip, Download package and New package on the right.
Under them, a Filter... box narrows the table to the rows that contain what you type. Click the Name, Version or Provenance heading to sort by that column. The table shows 10 rows per page, and says "No scripts installed yet." while the library is empty.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The package's name. Click it to open the package's page. |
| Version | The installed version. Each version of a package has its own row. |
| Provenance | Local, Community or Official. See What is a package. |
| Compatibility | Compatible or Incompatible, only for a package that states which versions of Asterobot it works with. |
| Dependencies | How many packages this one depends on. Hover the number for their names. Empty when there are none. |
| Update | An Update to button, once a check for updates found a newer version. See Update packages. |
| Last column | The row's menu. Right-clicking anywhere on a row opens the same menu. |
Row actions
| Action | Offered for | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Edit code | Local packages | Opens the package in the editor. See The editor. |
| Copy to a new version | Local packages | Opens the Copy this package dialog. See Copy a package. |
| Export | Every package | Downloads the package as a .zip file. See Export. |
| Remove | Every package | Opens the Remove this script? dialog. See Remove a package. |
Only Local packages can be edited or copied. A package with a Community or Official badge stays as it was installed.
A package's page
Click a package's name in the table to open its page.
The top of the page shows the name, the version, the provenance badge and, when the package states it, the compatibility badge. On the right: Update to once a check found a newer version, Edit code for a local package, and the same menu as in the table.
The details card has a row for each fact that applies:
| Row | Shown for | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Marketplace packages | The publisher part of the package's name. |
| Compatible with | Packages that state it | The versions of Asterobot the package works with, such as >=1.5.0 <2.0.0. |
| Source | Packages installed from the marketplace | View on asterobot.net opens the file the package came from. |
| Updates | Packages installed from the marketplace | The update check for this package. See Update packages. |
The Manifest card lists what the package declares about itself: its Dependencies, with the version of each, its Permissions, and Compatible with. For a local package, the card is a form where you add and remove dependencies and permissions, then click Save manifest, or Reset to undo your changes. For any other package it's read-only and says "Published by someone else, so this is read-only". Editing a manifest is explained for authors in The manifest.
Other versions installed appears when your library holds other versions of the same package, with a button to open each one.
Bots playing this version lists the bots set to this exact version, whether their script runs or not. Click a bot to open its page. With none, it says "No bot is set to play this version."
If the package doesn't exist any more, for example because it was removed in another tab, the page says "This package isn't installed (or was removed)."
Create a package
New package opens the New local package dialog: type a Name, keep or change the Version (1.0.0 by default) and click Create and edit. Asteroboard creates a package with starter code and opens it in the editor. Create a package walks through it for script authors.
When that name and version are already installed, a warning appears saying they already exist and would be replaced, but Create and edit stays greyed out: unlike importing or copying, creating a new package never replaces one that's already there. Change the name or the version to go on.
Import a .zip
A .zip file is how packages travel outside the marketplace: what Export produces, and what you get when you download a package's file from asterobot.net yourself.
- Click Import a .zip. The Import a package from a .zip dialog opens.
- Drop the file on "Drop a .zip here, or click to choose one", or click that area to pick it.
- Type a Name. A plain name, such as
my-harvester, makes a local package you can edit. A name in the form@publisher:nameis allowed too, and makes a Community package, or an Official one with@asterobot:, which can't be edited. - Check the Version. When the file's name ends with a version, as in
my-harvester-1.2.0.zip, Asteroboard fills the field in for you, unless you already typed something. - Click Import.
Package imported appears with the package's name and version.
The name and version always come from the dialog, never from the file. The archive holds the package's .js or .mjs files and its asterobot.json if it has one, with index.js at its root, the way Export builds it. It can't be larger than 32 MiB.
Important
Compress the package's files, not the folder that holds them. Asterobot accepts an archive of a single folder only when it lists nothing but that folder's contents, and many archiving tools also add an entry for the folder itself: the import then fails. Zip files and the command line gives the exact rules.
Importing doesn't install the packages this one depends on. Install them first, or the package won't start.
An imported package has no link to the marketplace, even when its files came from there: no Source row, no updates, and no check that its files stay as they were (see Trusting a package). To keep those, install from the marketplace instead.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
This replaces the installed <name> <version>. |
A package with that name and version is already installed. Importing replaces its files. Change the name or the version to keep both. |
A local package name can't contain ':' or '@'. |
A plain name can't contain those characters. |
A marketplace name looks like @publisher:name. |
A name that starts with @ needs a publisher, a : and a name. |
A marketplace name has exactly one ':' and one leading '@'. |
Remove the extra : or @. |
| Couldn't import the package | The import failed. The notification gives no reason: the file may not be a .zip, have no index.js at its root (often because a folder was compressed instead of its files), be larger than 32 MiB, or contain an invalid asterobot.json. |
Export
Choose Export in a package's menu. Your browser downloads the package as a .zip file named after the package and its version, without the @ and with - in place of the :: version 1.0.0 of @alice:mining becomes alice-mining-1.0.0.zip.
The file holds the package's code, and its asterobot.json when it has one. Use it as a backup, to move the package to another Asterobot with Import a .zip, to read a package's code, or to publish your own package: see Share it.
Copy a package
Copying a local package is how you carry it forward to a new version, or start a variant under another name.
- In the package's menu, choose Copy to a new version. The Copy this package dialog opens, with the same Name and a Version whose last number is one higher:
1.0.0becomes1.0.1. - Change the name or the version if you like.
- Click Copy.
A notification says Copied to followed by the new name and version, and the editor opens on the copy. The code, the dependencies, the permissions and the compatible versions come along. The original package isn't touched, and bots keep playing it until you move them.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
That's the package you're copying. Change the name or the version. |
Copy stays greyed out until the name or the version differs. |
This replaces the installed <name> <version>. |
That name and version already exist, and copying replaces them. Change the version to keep both. |
A new package is local, so its name can't start with '@' - those are assigned by the marketplace. |
A copy is always local. Remove the @. |
| Couldn't copy the package, with a reason | The copy failed. The reason is shown in the dialog. |
Remove a package
- In the package's menu, choose Remove. The Remove this script? dialog opens. It names the version it removes from the local library, and reminds you that a bot running it keeps running until its script is stopped.
- Read the warnings, if there are any. One says how many installed packages depend on this one and lists them with their versions. The other says how many bots are set to this package and lists their names.
- Click Yes, remove.
Neither warning blocks the removal. Once the package is gone, a script that's running keeps running, but its next start fails with Couldn't start the behavior, and so does the next start of any package that depended on it. Bots stay set to the removed version, with their package settings, until you give them another package.
If removing fails, Couldn't remove the script appears.
From the command line
Asterobot has three commands for the library: library install installs a package from a folder, library list lists every installed version with its provenance and publisher, and library remove removes one version. See Command line, and Zip files and the command line for authors.
Where to go next
- Trusting a package
- Files and folders, to find where the library is stored