Building From Source

Axon is open source. You can build the editor from source to test the latest changes, contribute patches, or create custom builds.

Prerequisites

Node.js 22.x.
npm 10 or later.
Go v1.25.1 or later.
Git for cloning the repository.
make is optional for build scripts.

Clone

git clone https://github.com/axon-editor/axon
cd axon

Development Mode

The root development command builds shared packages, starts axon-core, starts Vite, and launches Electron together:

npm install
npm run dev

Development uses an authenticated Core service on 127.0.0.1:17777. Packaged launches choose a private random port unless AXON_CORE_PORT is explicitly set.

Production Build

npm run build
npm --workspace axon run pack

Platform packages:

npm --workspace axon run dist:mac
npm --workspace axon run dist:win
npm --workspace axon run dist:linux

Build output goes to apps/editor/release/.

Language Servers

npm --workspace axon run build:language-servers

Project Structure

axon/
├── apps/editor/          # Electron, React, Monaco, preload, and main process
├── services/core/        # Go backend, PTY sessions, filesystem, and agent CLI
├── packages/             # shared extension, protocol, IPC, and config contracts
├── extensions/           # built-in and local marketplace extension packages
├── build/                # repository build orchestration
├── tools/                # maintenance and validation scripts
└── docs/                 # release and engineering notes