Part 12

Rebuild your environment, not your memory

The most valuable automation is not always a business task. Sometimes it is the ability to arrive at a new hosting account, place a small Core, run one explicit recipe and recover the tools and habits you trust.

Your environment is a recipe plus state

Installed modules, interface packages, startup scripts and preferences describe how the terminal behaves. Project files and databases are a different layer of state. Keeping those ideas separate makes migration and recovery much easier.

Write down what must be recreated automatically and what must be restored from backup. A setup recipe should describe tools and safe defaults; it should not smuggle application data or credentials into a new host.

Before writing a recipe, inspect the environment you already use

core gives the compact Core/UI/module picture, install -l lists installed modules and packages, include shows interface-package storage, and upgrade -c checks current module versions without writing.

This inventory is the difference between “I think I need these tools” and a reproducible bill of materials. Remove obsolete habits before you preserve them in installation automation.

core

install -l

include

upgrade -c

`setup.lil` is a one-time bootstrap, not a permanent startup script

Current Core notices a regular setup.lil beside lil.php, runs it after authorization when needed, and removes it only after every statement succeeds. If the full Installer is not present, Core can fetch it and resume the original install operation.

Keep setup explicit. Installing several modules in one install call is compact and readable; exact -v releases are useful when you intentionally need a recipe fixed to a specific version. Do not put passwords, private keys or project-specific database credentials in this file.

install help history upgrade dir pwd md mf edit find stat hash run

`autoload.lil` is for small recurring session-start actions

run checks autoload.lil once per authorized session and does not delete it. That makes it suitable for lightweight checks or environment preparation that should repeat, not for one-time installation.

upgrade -auto check is a good example: it manages a small block in autoload.lil and checks updates once per session. Automatic update is a stronger policy and remains opt-in; important environments are often better served by check first, review, then update.

upgrade -auto check

upgrade -info

Reproducibility means knowing which freedom you chose

install <mod> selects the current compatible public release; install <mod> -v <ver> asks for a specific published version. Both forms still obey the active Core generation and the module dependency metadata.

Earlier generation-1 milestones shown in History are reference-only and are no longer installation targets. The current release is the supported target. From the next published release onward, numbered releases are intended to remain available as exact targets unless a release is explicitly withdrawn.

install hash -i

install hash -v 1.1.3

The browser interface is a package layer, not the command runtime

include manages composable CSS/JavaScript packages such as lil, hotkeys and code. Session mode is temporary; -s creates persistent .lil.css and .lil.js composition.

This separation is valuable when moving hosts: PHP command modules can be correct even if your preferred UI package is absent. Rebuild functionality first, then presentation. If the interface layer becomes confused, kill -include resets that layer without deleting Core.

include -l

include lil -i

include -lil -s

A setup recipe is not finished until you test it somewhere disposable

The best proof is a clean installation: deploy a fresh Core, run the recipe, then compare core, install -l and upgrade -c with the environment you intended to reproduce.

Testing the recipe catches invisible dependencies — the command you installed manually months ago, the interface package you forgot about, or the extension available on one host but not another. Reproducibility is discovered by rebuilding, not by declaring.