Overview

Console Overview

The Cade Console is an interactive REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) for debugging and testing the Cade scoring system. It provides real-time inspection of game state, expression evaluation, event triggering, and variable monitoring.

Operating Modes

The console operates in three modes, selected automatically based on terminal capabilities.

TUI Mode

The default mode when running in an interactive terminal. TUI mode provides a full Terminal User Interface with multiple visual panels, real-time monitoring, tab completion, command history, and color output.

cade console
cade console --config my-game.cade

Pipe Mode

The console automatically detects piped input and switches to a non-interactive mode suitable for scripting and automation.

echo "eval 2+2" | cade console

cat <<EOF | cade console
set var.score 1000
eval ${var.score} * 2
exit
EOF

cade console < my_debug_script.txt

echo "inspect score" | cade console | grep "Value:"

Fallback Mode

When the terminal does not support the full TUI, the console falls back to basic line-editing mode. Fallback is triggered when:

The TERM environment variable is set to dumb
No TTY is available (pipes, Docker without -t, SSH without PTY)
The CI environment variable is true
The terminal does not support required capabilities

In fallback mode, basic line editing is available but cursor movement within the line, tab completion UI, color output, and Ctrl+R history search are not.

Mode Comparison

Feature	TUI Mode	Pipe Mode	Fallback Mode
Visual panels	Yes	No	No
Color output	Yes	Optional	No
Tab completion	Yes	No	No
Command history	Yes	No	Stored only
Scriptable	No	Yes	No
Stdin commands	No	Yes	No

Terminal Compatibility

Full Support

Linux – Complete readline with all features in modern terminal emulators (Alacritty, Kitty, GNOME Terminal, Konsole)
macOS – Full support in Terminal.app and iTerm2
Windows 10+ – Full support in Windows Terminal

Platform Notes

On Windows, use Home/End instead of Ctrl+A/Ctrl+E and Ctrl+Left/Ctrl+Right for word navigation.
On macOS, Meta key combinations may conflict with system shortcuts.

Launching the Console

# Start with the default configuration
cade console

# Load a specific game configuration
cade console --config my-game.cade

# Force pipe mode (disable TUI)
cade console --no-tui

# Enable debug logging
cade console --log-level debug

Once launched, the console displays the prompt:

cade:debug>

Type help for available commands or press Tab for completions.