1. Installation

System Requirements

DishPy requires several system tools for downloading and managing VEX components. The requirements vary by operating system:

Linux/macOS

• curl - for downloading files
• unzip - for extracting archives
• bsdtar - for advanced archive operations
• git - for cloning repositories
• bash - for running installation scripts

Most Linux distributions and macOS include these tools by default. If any are missing, install them using your system's package manager:

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl unzip libarchive-tools git bash

macOS (using Homebrew):

brew install curl unzip libarchive git

Windows

⚠️ Important: DishPy requires Unix-like tools and bash scripts that are not available natively on Windows. Windows users must use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Install WSL: 1. Open PowerShell as Administrator 2. Run: wsl --install 3. Restart your computer 4. Set up your Linux distribution (Ubuntu recommended) 5. Install the required tools in WSL: bash sudo apt update sudo apt install curl unzip libarchive-tools git bash

Python Environment Setup

Make sure you have uv installed.

If you are installing a version of DishPy pre-1.0, which you probably should not be doing, add the following to your .zshrc, .bashrc, etc.:

export UV_INDEX_STRATEGY="unsafe-best-match"
export UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL="https://test.pypi.org/simple/"

Open a new terminal to apply changes, and then run dishpy:

$ uv tool run dishpy
# or
$ uvx dishpy
# or, for an old version
$ uvx dishpy==0.5.0
# outputs something like
╭─────────────────────────────────── Help ────────────────────────────────────╮
│ dishpy 1.0 - VEX Competition Development Tool                             │
│                                                                             │
│ Commands:                                                                   │
│ create    Create new directory and initialize project                       │
│                 Options: --name <name> (required) --slot --package          │
│ add       Add a previously registered package to a project                  │
│                 Options: package                                            │
│ mu        Build and upload project to VEX V5 brain                          │
│                 Options: --verbose                                          │
│ build     Build project to out directory                                    │
│                 Options: --verbose                                          │
│ upload    Upload project to VEX V5 brain                                    │
│                 Options: path                                               │
│ vexcom    Run vexcom with specified arguments (auto-installs if needed)     │
│                 Options: args                                               │
│ debug     debug DishPy CLI internals                                        │
│ package   Package management commands                                       │
│   list         List all available packages that have been registered with   │
│ DishPy                                                                      │
│   register     Register a package with DishPy                               │
│                 Options: package_path                                       │
│                                                                             │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

First Run

When you first run DishPy commands that require VEXcom tools (like mu for uploading), DishPy will automatically download and install the necessary VEX tools. This process may take a few minutes and requires an internet connection.

The tools are cached in your system's cache directory and only need to be downloaded once.