⚡ Bolt CLI (Universal Edition)

Build Faster, Compile Smarter.
The Universal, Lightning-Fast Framework & CLI for MIT App Inventor 2 Extensions.

Features • Installation • Commands • Compiler Daemon • Diagnostics • D8 DEX Caching • Live Testing • Mini-NDK • Unit Testing • Licensing • Compatibility • bolt.yml • Build from Source • Credits

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🚀 Overview

Bolt CLI is a modern, high-performance universal command-line tool designed to revolutionize how you develop and build extensions for MIT App Inventor 2 and its distributions (Kodular, Niotron, AndroidBuilder, etc.).

Powered by an in-process Kotlin & ECJ JVM compiler engine, Bolt runs universally on Windows, macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon), Linux, and Android Termux without platform-specific native binary dependencies.

Important

Credits & Acknowledgements: Bolt CLI is built upon the excellent foundation of the original Rush CLI project created by Shreyash Saitwal. We express our sincere gratitude and credit to Shreyash and all the Rush contributors for their pioneering work in building compilation toolsets for the App Inventor community.

• Thanks to Fast CLI by jewel to innovate me to there features functions ideas to help us the excellent innovation develop and implement on Boltcli.

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✨ Key Features

• 📦 Advanced Multi-Tier Dependency System: Support for runtime dependencies: (Local JAR/AAR in deps/ or remote Maven coordinates with automatic inline comment stripping), compile-time only compile_time: stubs (strictly excluded from AIX), and companion provided_dependencies: (excluded from final AIX).
• 🖥️ Real-Time System Diagnostics & Clean Terminal Output: Clean, distraction-free bullet logs during bolt build, paired with detailed .bolt/BuildLog.txt recording real-time device specs (CPU cores, physical RAM Used/Total GB, storage disk space, Android/Windows OS detection) and exact build duration.
• 🧩 Auto-Injected Helper Enums (OptionList): Scaffold dropdown block helpers (bolt generate helper <type> or bolt create -t <int|str>) with automatic helper class imports and demo @SimpleProperty dropdown methods injected directly into your main component class.
• 🛡️ 100% App Inventor Build Server Compatibility (AAPT & D8): Clean .aix packaging layout with zero duplicate class collisions, XML comment stripping in AndroidManifest.xml, shorthand component expansion (.MyService -> <pkg>.MyService), ${applicationId} substitution, and automated min_sdk verification.
• 🎨 Extension Assets Validation (assets:): Declared assets in assets/ are validated with automated warnings if file size exceeds 5MB to prevent AIX upload rejections, and auto-packaged directly into the .aix archive.
• 🛡️ R8 Minimization & Code Preservation (minimize:): Custom exclude_dependency and exclude_project directives automatically generate -keep class <pkg>.** { *; } rules in .bolt/minimize-rules.pro to prevent essential classes from being stripped during shrinking.
• 🌐 Extension Homepage & Auto-Versioning: Declare homepage: to render clickable links in component metadata and out/extension.txt, and enable auto_version: true to increment component version on every successful build automatically.
• ⚡ Lightning-Fast In-Process Builds (bolt build): Compiles Java, Kotlin, AIDL, ProGuard, R8, D8 Dex, and packages the .aix bundle in sub-3 seconds without external JVM spawn overhead.
• 🔥 Persistent Compiler Daemon (bolt daemon): Keeps JVM dependencies, HotSpot JIT, and compiler classes warmed up in RAM for sub-4 second incremental builds.
• ⚡ D8 DEX Compilation & Incremental Caching (--dex, -dx): Compiles Java/Kotlin bytecode into Dalvik/ART classes.dex with incremental MD5 checksum caching for instant cache hits.
• 🔄 Dev Sync (bolt sync dev): Automatically fetches and updates desugar_jdk_libs:2.1.5 and configuration files directly from Google Maven.
• 🧪 Real Unit Testing (bolt test): Execute unit tests locally powered by the official JUnit 5 Platform Console Standalone Runner with automatic test scaffolding and live progress trees.
• 📱 Live Hot-Reloading (bolt run): Instant live extension hot-reloading to an Android phone over WebSocket (port 9000) and Wi-Fi UDP auto-discovery (port 9001) without rebuilding APKs.
• 🔨 Mini-NDK & Native C/C++ (JNI & NDK) Support: Build ultra-compact C/C++ shared libraries out-of-the-box (2-3 KB) using -Oz, -flto, and --strip-all without requiring the full Android Studio NDK!
• ⚙️ JNI Native Library Support: Package .so native libraries across architectures (armeabi-v7a, arm64-v8a, x86_64, x86). By parsing @UsesNativeLibraries, Bolt intelligently maps ABI suffixes like -v7a into component_build_infos.json and bundles physical binaries into the .aix per official MIT App Inventor build server specifications.
• 🎨 Custom XML Integration (@UsesXmls): Custom layouts and manifests specified via @UsesXmls are extracted and injected into .aix via component_build_infos.json, maintaining compatibility with Kodular and Niotron.
• 🧩 Multi-Component & Android 11+ Manifest Extraction: Build projects with multiple @DesignerComponent classes, and automatically extract <uses-feature> and <queries> tags into component_build_infos.json.
• ✂️ Annotation Stripping (deannonate): Strip heavy App Inventor metadata annotations silently post-compilation using an ASM-based remapper for maximum binary efficiency.
• 📄 Automatic Documentation & Helper Enums: Automatically generates an out/extension.txt Markdown file alongside your .aix summarizing properties, methods, events, and Helper Enums (OptionLists) with parameter tables, return types, and binary size.
• 🔐 Automated Offline RSA Licensing (bolt auth): Secure your premium extensions with offline RSA-2048 public/private key licensing automatically tied to customer App Inventor email addresses.
• 📂 Project Scaffolding (bolt create): Scaffold complete Java or Kotlin projects with pre-filled skeletons (str, int), IDE support (IntelliJ, VS Code, Eclipse), and GitHub Actions workflows.
• 📦 Smart Dependency Management (bolt add & bolt sync): Search Maven Central directly via CLI (bolt add <group>:<artifact>) and resolve remote dependencies automatically.
• 🌳 Project Tree Visualizer (bolt tree): Display a beautiful visual hierarchical representation of project files and export clean output to tree.txt.
• 🔄 Seamless Legacy Migration (bolt migrate): Port legacy projects (Rush, Fast, Extension-Template, AI2 sources) into modern Bolt projects with automatic pre-migration ZIP backups.
• 🛡️ Bytecode Shading & Protection: Built-in JarJar relocation (shading), StrGuard string encryption, ProGuard obfuscation, and R8 shrinking with clean noise-filtered logs.
• ☕ Modern Java & Kotlin Support: Write extensions in Java 8/11/17/21+, Kotlin, or both in the same project with full AIDL, AndroidManifest, and native App Inventor type resolution (YailList, trove4j, kawa).

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📥 Installation & Setup

Bolt requires a Java Runtime Environment (JRE or JDK 11+, JDK 17 recommended) to execute.

Note: Bolt bundles its own Eclipse Compiler for Java (ecj.jar), so a standalone javac compiler is not required. Any standard Java 11+ runtime (java) is sufficient to run Bolt CLI.

🪟 Windows (PowerShell)

Default location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Bolt (e.g. C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Bolt)

Run in PowerShell:

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install.ps1 -useb | iex

To install in a custom directory:

& { $(iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install.ps1 -useb) } -InstallPath "D:\Tools\Bolt"

To skip Java check/download:

& { $(iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install.ps1 -useb) } -SkipJava

🍎 macOS & 🐧 Linux

Default location: ~/Bolt

Run in Terminal:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install.sh -fsSL | sh

To install in a custom directory:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install.sh -fsSL | sh -s -- --path /opt/Bolt

To skip Java verification:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install.sh -fsSL | sh -s -- --skip-java

📱 Android (Termux)

Default location: ~/Bolt

Build and compile extensions directly on your phone:

termux-setup-storage
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install-termux.sh -fsSL | bash

To install in a custom directory:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install-termux.sh -fsSL | bash -s -- --path ~/my_custom_bolt

To skip Termux OpenJDK installation:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechHamara/bolt-cli/main/scripts/install/install-termux.sh -fsSL | bash -s -- --skip-java

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💻 Commands Reference

here

Command	Description
bolt build [path]	Compiles the extension into a production .aix in out/
bolt create <name>	Scaffolds a new extension project (Java or Kotlin)
bolt clean [path]	Deletes old build artifacts, temporary files, and .bolt caches
bolt tree [path]	Visualizes project file hierarchy in terminal and exports to tree.txt
bolt add <dependency>	Searches Maven Central and adds dependency coordinate to bolt.yml
bolt sync [path]	Downloads and syncs project and dev dependencies into deps/
bolt sync dev	Automatically fetches desugar_jdk_libs:2.1.5 & config from Google Maven
bolt sync ndk	Verifies and checks Mini-NDK installation in ~/.bolt/libs/ndk
bolt deps <sync|tree>	Inspects and resolves project dependency trees
bolt run [path]	Starts Live Testing hot-reload server for Android companion (ports 9000/9001)
bolt test [path]	Executes real unit tests locally via JUnit 5 Console Platform Runner
bolt auth <init|generate>	Extension licensing system (RSA-2048 keypair & customer license generator)
bolt generate helper <int|str>	Scaffolds OptionList dropdown helper and injects @SimpleProperty into main class
bolt migrate [type]	Migrates legacy projects (Rush, Fast, Template, AI2) with auto ZIP backup
bolt daemon <start|stop|status>	Manages the persistent background Bolt Compiler Daemon
bolt upgrade	Upgrades Bolt CLI to the newest available release

Command Options

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• -r / --proguard: Force ProGuard bytecode obfuscation and optimization
• -s / --r8: Force Google R8 shrieker and tree-shaking task on build
• -o / --optimize: Optimize extension bytecode size
• -dx / -x / --dex: Generate desugared Dalvik/ART classes.dex via D8 with incremental caching
• -m / --keep-manifest: Keep manifest components (Activity, Service, Receiver) in ProGuard rules
• --no-daemon: Bypass the background compiler daemon and compile locally in-process
• --deannotate: Strip internal App Inventor metadata annotations post-build for smaller binary size
• -t <str\|int> / --template <str\|int>: Scaffold pre-filled extension skeleton with helper enum on create
• -p <package> / --package <package>: Specify root package identifier on create
• -l <Java\|Kotlin> / --language <Java\|Kotlin>: Set primary programming language on create
• -v / -d / --verbose / --debug: Enable verbose diagnostic logging
• -c / --color: Enable or disable ANSI terminal colors
• -V / --version: Display version information

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⚡ Compiler Daemon

here

Bolt introduces a persistent background compiler daemon that keeps all toolchains (ECJ, Kotlin compiler, D8, ProGuard) resident and warm in RAM:

# Check daemon status
bolt daemon status

# Start daemon in background
bolt daemon start

# Run builds (automatically delegates to daemon!)
bolt build

# Stop daemon when finished
bolt daemon stop

When active, bolt build automatically delegates to the daemon on port 19090, reducing build times to under 3 to 4 seconds! If the daemon is stopped, Bolt transparently falls back to local in-process compilation.

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📄 Documentation & Wiki

For comprehensive usage guidelines, configurations reference, and architectural deep dives:

• Refer to Documentation.md
• Read the Installation & Setup guide: here

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🤝 Contributing & Support

Got an issue, feature request, or just want to help build Bolt?

• Issues / Bug Reports: Open an Issue
• Pull Requests: We welcome PRs! Please fork the repository and create a pull request with your proposed changes.

🤝 Donations & Support

• Donate on Paypal
• Donate on BuyMeCoffie1
• Donate on BuyMeCoffie2

❤️ Thanks

Built with ❤️ for the MIT App Inventor Community.

🚀 Recent Powerful Features

• Live Hot-Reloading (bolt run): Push Java code changes directly to the App Inventor Companion in milliseconds over Wi-Fi!

• Automated Licensing (bolt auth): Secure your premium extensions with Offline RSA licensing automatically tied to the customer's MIT App Inventor email!

• Live Performance Monitor: Catch memory leaks instantly in the CLI dashboard while hot-reloading.

• Mini-NDK Support: Build native C/C++ extensions out-of-the-box without installing the full massive Android Studio NDK.