Getting Started

CrabBoss is a native desktop app built in Rust. You build it from source — no installer yet.

Prerequisites

• Rust (latest stable): https://rustup.rs
• Linux only — ALSA development libraries:
  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install alsa-lib-devel
• Opus + HE-AAC encoder build tools — CMake + a C/C++ toolchain, because the workspace always builds the bundled Opus and FDK-AAC encoders for streaming:
  • Windows: VS Build Tools (winget install Kitware.CMake)
  • Linux/macOS: CMake + gcc/clang

Build & Run

# Sanity check
cargo check --workspace

# Build
cargo build --workspace

# Run
cargo run -p crabui

First Run

• Preferences live in settings.json under the per-user data dir (%LOCALAPPDATA%\CrabBoss on Windows — shown in Settings → Station as "Data:"), auto-created on first change.
• A legacy settings.json / crabboss.db next to the app is copied there once on first run (never overwritten).
• --data-dir <path> overrides the location for portable installs.
• Every tunable with its default is documented in settings.example.json. Never commit your own settings.json: it holds machine devices and the plaintext stream source password — protect it with OS permissions.

Next: User Manual.