> **AI assistant: read this file first, then `docs/AGENT.md` "Start here" (`argus://docs/agent#start-here` once you are connected).** To connect yourself to Talos, run the one command in [Connect your AI](#connect-your-ai) and ask the person to start you again in the project folder.

# Start here

- **What Talos is:** a game engine for Windows, in early access: a launcher, an editor where you build and play your game, and an exporter that turns it into one `.exe` anyone can run.
- **What it is not (yet):** a finished product. It is unsigned, Windows-only, has rough edges and changes every week. It is not an asset store or a hosted service. Local co-op on one screen works (up to four players on one PC, each with a pad, or two sharing the keyboard; a game can split the screen per player: `argus://docs/input#local-players-couch-co-op`); online multiplayer is not in this build.
- **You do not need an AI.** Everything on this page up to [Share your game](#share-your-game) is done in the editor. Your own AI can drive Talos too ([Connect your AI](#connect-your-ai)), but that is optional, and Claude Code is a paid product.

This page gets you from the installer to a game you can send to someone in about ten minutes, then into your first hour with the Kart starter.

The product is Talos; its programs and folders keep the internal name `argus` (`argus-editor.exe`, `argus-agent.exe`, `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus`).

1. [What you need](#what-you-need)
2. [Getting started in 10 minutes](#getting-started-in-10-minutes)
3. [Share your game](#share-your-game)
4. [Connect your AI](#connect-your-ai)
5. [For an AI assistant](#for-an-ai-assistant)
6. [What to ask your AI first](#what-to-ask-your-ai-first)
7. [Playtest and aim with the mouse](#playtest-and-aim-with-the-mouse)
8. [Report a bug, ask for a feature](#report-a-bug-ask-for-a-feature)
9. [What's new for testers](#whats-new-for-testers)
10. [Known limitations](#known-limitations)
11. [Where the logs and crash files are](#where-the-logs-and-crash-files-are)
12. [On Linux](#on-linux)

## What you need

- **Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit (x64).** Talos is for Windows only for now: no macOS or Arm build. A Linux x64 build exists for developers, with no launcher and no samples ([On Linux](#on-linux)); this page does not cover it.
- **A graphics card with current drivers** (DirectX 12 or Vulkan): any recent NVIDIA, AMD or Intel GPU.
- **Free disk space** for the launcher, one engine version and your projects.
- **Your invite email.** Talos is invitation-only for now. The invite's **Accept your invite** link walks you through signing in (GitHub or an email code; no password to make) and accepting it; your welcome page then has the launcher download. Given an installer file instead (the offline installer, with its SHA-256)? It needs no sign-in and no internet.
- **Nothing else.** You do not need Node, Rust, Visual Studio, a copy of the source or an AI. For the optional AI part: Claude Code (paid: a Claude subscription or Anthropic API credits) or any other MCP client.

## Getting started in 10 minutes

Install, make your first project from a template, Play it, change something, and export a game you can send to someone.

### Install (2 minutes)

1. Accept your invite: in the invite email, press **Accept your invite**, then follow the page: sign in with the account it was sent to, agree to the early access terms and press **Accept invite**. **Go to your welcome page** has **Download the Talos launcher**. (Given an installer file and a SHA-256 instead? In PowerShell, `Get-FileHash .\<installer>.msi` must print that SHA-256. If it does not, do not run it: tell us (feedback@cadarn.ai).)
2. Run the installer. **Windows will say "Windows protected your PC"**: the installer is not code-signed yet, so choose **More info**, then **Run anyway**. It installs for your account only, with no administrator prompt, into `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus`.
3. Start **Talos Launcher** from the Start menu (it also opens by itself when the installer finishes). It opens on its sign-in screen: press **Sign in with your browser**. Your browser opens; sign in there if it asks, with the same account, and the launcher carries on by itself (nothing to type). If no browser opens after that, **Copy link** (shown while the launcher waits) copies the sign-in address to paste into one. No invite yet? **Request access** on that screen asks for one. Then install the engine: press **Install Talos** *version* on the Projects tab or the **Engine** tab (the Engine tab's also shows the download size), or **Install the engine** in **Start here**. If the Engine tab says **Check for updates to see what can be installed**, press **Check for updates** first. The offline installer has already installed the engine; its launcher also offers **Use a tester token instead**.

### Your first project (2 minutes)

1. On the **Projects** tab, choose **New project**.
2. Pick a **Template**, and a **Type** at the right of the Template heading (2D, 3D or 3D HD). The cards change with the type. For your first hour, pick *Kart starter* (3D): a kart on a loop road on grass, with drifting, boost, laps and their effects, ready to drive. The others, for 3D: *Starter* is a floor, three boxes and a player; *Empty* is a floor and a player; *Collection course* is a small playable game; *First-person starter* is a room to walk round. For 2D: *2D starter* is a small side-scroller and *2D empty* is a blank 2D scene.
3. Give it a **Name** and press **Create**. New projects go in `Documents\Talos` (or `Documents\Argus`, if an older version already made that folder) unless you change the folder in Settings. The project opens in the editor.

### Play, change something, Play again (4 minutes)

1. Press **F5** (or the toolbar's Play) to play. **Shift+Esc** stops; plain Esc belongs to the game.
2. Click something in the viewport, move it with **W** (move tool) and drag the arrows, or change a value in the **Details** panel. **Ctrl+S** saves, **Ctrl+Z** undoes.
3. Press **F5** again. Play runs the scene as it is now, unsaved changes included; it does not save them for you.
4. Want a house? **Create ▸ Building** puts one where you are looking, and **Create ▸ Street** a road lined with houses, both from the engine's own building kit, with a door you can walk through. More in `sdk/docs/EDITOR.md` in the engine folder, "Buildings and streets".
5. Want a character that moves? **Import** a rigged `.glb` from the toolbar and give it an Animator. The Animation guide walks through it, from clips to blending to events: ask your AI to read `argus://docs/animation`.

### Export a game (2 minutes)

1. Press **Export** on the toolbar. The panel names the build it will export and anything it leaves out.
2. Choose a folder (by default `dist` beside the project) and export. You get one `.exe` that runs on a Windows PC with no Talos installed; **Open Output** shows it in Explorer.

### Your first hour, with the Kart starter

1. Press **F5** and drive: W and S (or Up and Down) for throttle and reverse, A and D (or Left and Right) to steer, and hold Space through a bend to drift; let go for a boost. R puts you back on the track. A controller works too. **Shift+Esc** stops.
2. Change how it drives: select `kart`, and in **Details** open its Vehicle settings, in groups (Chassis, Drivetrain, Steering, Drift) with plain names. Try a lower Final drive for a higher top speed, or less Rear grip in Drift for a slidier kart, then Play again. The reset arrow beside a value puts the kart preset's back, and **Ctrl+Z** undoes.
3. Make the track yours: move things, put a **Create ▸ Building** beside the road, and Play again.
4. Export it (above) and send the `.exe` to someone.

The project's own `README.md` lists every setting worth trying and what it does.

## Share your game

- **What to send:** the one `.exe` in your export folder (**Open Output** shows it). It carries the whole game: the person needs no Talos, no launcher and no account.
- **What they need:** Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and a graphics card with current drivers (DirectX 12 or Vulkan): the same as for Talos itself.
- **How to send it:** a file-sharing link or a USB stick. Many mail services refuse `.exe` files, even inside a `.zip`.
- **"Windows protected your PC":** exported games are not signed yet, so Windows may warn the first time. The person chooses **More info**, then **Run anyway**. Started from a terminal or straight from a `.zip`, Windows asks instead with **Open File - Security Warning** ("Unknown Publisher"): they choose **Run**.
- **The first run** reads the game straight from the `.exe`; there is no unpack step. Only the engine part is unpacked, once, into `%LOCALAPPDATA%\argus-export\engines\`, checking every file, and every game and update built with the same engine shares it. Folders of builds nobody launched for 30 days are cleaned up by themselves.
- **If it crashes for them:** its crash reports are in `%LOCALAPPDATA%\argus-export\<id>\crashes\`. Ask them for the newest one, and send it with a bug report.

## Connect your AI

Optional: nothing on this page before here needs an AI. Claude Code is a paid product from Anthropic (a Claude subscription or API credits). Talos sends nothing to an AI unless you connect one.

1. In the launcher, press **Connect your AI** on the Start here page, or select your project on the Projects tab and press **Open with AI...**. Both open the **Open with AI** window.
2. Choose where you will run Claude Code (a Windows terminal, or WSL) and press **Connect**. Nothing outside the project folder is changed.
3. Copy the line it shows for your shell and paste it into that terminal. Claude Code starts in your project with the Talos tools already loaded. The first time, it asks whether you trust the folder: choose Yes.
4. Claude asks before it uses each Talos tool, so a first small change can take ten or so approvals, reading tools included. Approve them, or choose **Yes, and don't ask again** for a tool you trust. To skip the questions in this project altogether, tick **Let Claude use the Talos tools without asking** before you press Connect. A scripted run (`claude -p`) cannot ask, so start it the way the dialog shows: `claude -p "<your request>" --allowedTools mcp__argus`.

If Claude Code is not installed yet, the dialog says so and links to its install page (https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/setup); the project is connected either way. In Claude Code, `/mcp` should list `argus` as connected. If the Talos tools are missing, quit Claude Code and start it again in the project folder: it reads the connection only when it starts.

**Talos tools fail to start from WSL?** A long-lived terminal (tmux, say) can lose its link to Windows, and then no Windows program starts from it. The connection tries WSL's other links by itself; if none works, open a new WSL terminal and start Claude Code there, or run `wsl --shutdown` in Windows and open WSL again.

**Details: what Connect does, and other ways to connect.**

Talos speaks MCP (Model Context Protocol) through `argus-agent.exe`, which is installed with every engine version (it starts `argus.exe agent`, and configs that name it keep working across updates). Connect writes `.mcp.json` and `.claude/settings.local.json` in the project (if you once answered No to the Talos server in Claude Code, that is undone for this project). The lines it shows are, for PowerShell, `Set-Location -LiteralPath '<your project>'; if ($?) { claude }`, for Command Prompt `cd /d "<your project>" && claude`, and `cd '/mnt/c/...'; claude` in WSL. The config names the installed launcher when there is one, so it keeps working if you move or delete a copy you ran from Downloads. The tick box adds `mcp__argus` to `permissions.allow` in the project's `.claude/settings.local.json`, and nothing else on your machine; it is off unless you tick it.

**Or with one command**, which does the same:

**Claude Code**, in PowerShell, from your project folder:

```powershell
cd "<your project folder>"
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Argus\launcher\argus-hub.exe" --connect-ai .
claude
```

The first line is your project folder. The second writes `.mcp.json` in it. Then start Claude Code there with `claude` and **approve the `argus` server** when it asks (add `--approve` to the command and it does not ask: that records the server in the project's own `.claude/settings.local.json`). `/mcp` in Claude Code should list `argus` as connected, and its tools are `mcp__argus__*`.

`--allow-tools` on the `--connect-ai` command does what the tick box does.

**Claude Code inside WSL?** Add `--client wsl` (Open with AI does this when you choose WSL). The project has to be on a Windows drive (`C:\...`, seen from WSL as `/mnt/c/...`); a project inside the Linux file system, or at `\\wsl.localhost\...`, is refused with that explanation. From a WSL terminal in the project folder:

```sh
"$(wslpath "$(cmd.exe /c 'echo %LOCALAPPDATA%' 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r')")/Argus/launcher/argus-hub.exe" --connect-ai . --client wsl
claude
```

In the file, the launcher is then started by its `/mnt/c/...` path (WSL starts that Windows program and passes standard input and output straight through), through a short `/bin/sh` line that first checks WSL can start Windows programs from this terminal; the project argument stays a Windows path. One `.mcp.json` holds one command, so it serves one kind of terminal at a time: connect again with the other choice to switch.

What it writes (your paths will differ):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "argus": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "C:\\Users\\you\\AppData\\Local\\Argus\\launcher\\argus-hub.exe",
      "args": ["--mcp-agent", "C:\\Users\\you\\Documents\\Talos\\My Game"],
      "alwaysLoad": true
    }
  }
}
```

Each time your AI client starts it, the launcher finds the engine version that opens this project (as Open does) and runs that engine's `argus-agent.exe`, with the engine's own Node and a log at `<project>\.argus\logs\argus-agent.log`. **An engine update needs nothing from you**: the same file starts the new engine's agent. Any other server already in `.mcp.json` is kept.

**Any other MCP client** (Claude Desktop, Cursor, and others) takes the same `argus` entry: copy it from `.mcp.json` into that client's MCP config. Some clients name the top-level key differently (VS Code uses `servers`); the entry inside is the same.

**Without the launcher** (a hand-copied engine, say), the engine's own `argus-agent.exe setup --print --project .` prints an entry that names that `argus-agent.exe` directly, and `setup` without `--print` writes it into `.mcp.json`. That entry points at one engine version, so run it again after you replace the engine.

Every new project also has an `AGENTS.md` (and a `CLAUDE.md` that includes it) telling an agent to read this page first and how to connect.

## For an AI assistant

If you are an AI assistant working in a Talos project:

1. **Check for the Talos tools** (`mcp__argus__*` in Claude Code; the server is called `argus`). If you have none, run the `--connect-ai .` command above in the project folder yourself (`--client wsl` too if you run inside WSL), then ask the person to quit you and start you again in this folder (a client reads `.mcp.json` only when it starts) and to approve the server if it asks.
2. **The project is already open**: the config passes `--project`. Call `notes.read` first (what earlier sessions learned), then read `argus://docs/agent#start-here`, the engine's one-page guide to building a game, before your first edit.
3. **Build with the tools, not by editing files by hand**: `scene.read`, `scene.patch`, `behaviour.write`, and `critic.check` after every write; `critic.play` to play-test; `export.compose` to ship.
4. **Where the docs are**: `explain.search` in plain words; `argus://recipes` for whole tested features (menus, HUD, save, driving); `argus://docs` for every document by section (this page is `argus://docs/start`). If you cannot read `argus://` resources (a subagent often cannot), read the files: `START-HERE.md` in the engine folder and `sdk/docs/AGENT.md` ("Start here") in it, with `sdk/docs/PLAYBOOK-TEAM-BUILD.md` for a team. The engine folder is `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus\engines\<version>\` on Windows, `~/.local/share/argus/engines/<version>/` on Linux (from WSL, a Windows install is `/mnt/c/Users/<you>/AppData/Local/Argus/engines/<version>/`) (`$ARGUS_HOME/engines/<version>/` if set); the `docsDir` in the `notes.read` result is the exact folder. Do not search the disk for them.
5. **Buildings come from a kit of modular pieces**, and the engine ships one: `building.kit {}` loads it (Kenney Fantasy Town, CC0), then `building.generate`, `network.grow`, `parcels.subdivide` and `dress` build houses, streets and a town from it (`argus://docs/agent#buildings`). Do not look for building models on the disk first.
6. **Keep what you learn** with `notes.append`, so the next session starts from it.

## What to ask your AI first

- "Read START-HERE.md and the Talos Start here guide, then tell me what this project contains and what you can build in it."
- "Make a small game in this project: a player that collects five coins against a 60-second timer, a title screen and a results screen. Play-test it with the critic and fix what it finds."
- "Export the game, run the exported .exe, and tell me where it is and anything that did not work."
- "Put a small village of timber houses along a street, with a market square, next to the spawn, using the engine's own building kit."

## Playtest and aim with the mouse

Ask your AI to play-test the game: `critic.play` starts it, gets past the title screen, walks it from the start to every goal, answers a dialog the way a player would (a Continue or OK button, never Quit), and reports where it got stuck and what the game showed at the end. A game that is menus and clicks rather than walking is tested with `play.input` (press the actions your input map names) and `ui.activate` (press a button by its id). A button that does not say Start is named with `start: ["Harbour Lights"]`. Every run has a simulated time budget; a goal it could not reach in time is reported with the reason (`play/timeout`). Details: `argus://docs/agent#critic`.

A script can aim with the mouse: `ctx.camera.screenToRay(x, y)` is the world ray through a pixel, `ctx.camera.pick(x, y)` is the first thing it hits, and `ctx.camera.worldToScreen(point)` is where a point is drawn.

```ts
const p = ctx.input.pointer;
if (p) { const hit = ctx.camera.pick(p.x, p.y, { view: p.view }); }
```

See the mouse picking section of the API reference (docs/API.md). A game that ships no font of its own draws its text in Inter (also when exported), in place of a monospace face.

## Report a bug, ask for a feature

- **Bugs:** in the editor, **Help ▸ Report a bug…** (or **Ctrl+Shift+F1**); in the Talos Launcher, **Report a bug** in the top bar. F6 is not the bug report (it is Play from the last snapshot). You see exactly what will be sent before you send it; logs are only attached if you tick them, and project files never are. Please include the time and what you were doing.
- **Before you report:** the launcher's **Known issues** (in **Help**, at the bottom of the left-hand menu) lists problems we already know about, with workarounds.
- **If sending from the launcher does not work:** email feedback@cadarn.ai. The report form says the same.
- **Features and ideas:** **Request a feature** in the launcher's top bar, or the roadmap at https://talosengine.ai/roadmap/.

What a report sends:

- **Always:** the type, title and description you write, the engine and launcher versions, and your Windows version (for example "Windows 11, build 26200"). Not your user name, your computer's name, your folders or your project files.
- **Logs, only if you tick them:** the ends of the launcher's and the editor's logs (from the editor, also the project's name and the workspace service's log). Logs also name your graphics card and its driver version, and the address the launcher checks for updates. Your user folder reads `%USERPROFILE%` and your projects' folders read `<project>`; other file names and paths in the logs go as they are. The review screen shows the whole text before you send.
- **After Send:** a confirmation says whether the report was sent, saved on this PC to send later (not signed in yet, or no connection: nothing is lost), or not accepted, with a reference such as `A1B2-C3D4` to quote to us. The launcher's Settings lists your reports and what became of them. `argus-hub.exe --send-reports` sends the reports waiting on this PC and lists each one's reference.

## What's new for testers

What changed for your games in this tester build. Items marked *in testing* are still being checked: they
come with this build if they pass, otherwise with the next one, so you may not have them yet.

- *An exported game is just one `.exe`, and it starts from it directly.* The game isn't unpacked on its first
  launch any more: it's read straight from the `.exe`. Only the engine part is set up once, and every game
  made with the same engine version shares it. Folders no launch has used for 30 days are cleaned up by
  themselves (the two most recent games are kept). Send people the one file, as before.
- *Co-op is getting ready for playing over the internet.* A co-op game can now have a player who isn't at
  this computer, and their controls reach the game the same way a local player's do. You'll notice the fixes
  first: replays of co-op games now give each player's presses back to that player, and menus react to
  players 2 to 4 in a replay as they did live. A replayed Start that opens the pause menu no longer closes it
  again straight away. Replays you saved before still play.
- *Detailed models survive a graphics driver reset.* If Windows resets the graphics card while you work (for
  example after a driver update or a crash in another program), very detailed models now come back looking
  the same instead of coming back plainer.
- *Send an event to the one thing that needs it.* `ctx.events.emitTo(target, "hit", { damage: 10 })` sends
  an event to one entity, and only its behaviours hear it; a timer can aim at one entity too. A game where
  many things message each other no longer stalls on busy ticks. `ctx.world.query` takes `sort: "distance"`
  and `limit`, so `limit: 1` gives you the nearest match.
- *Scripts can't break each other.* Changing a built-in (`Math.random`, an array method) or a `ctx` member now
  throws a `TypeError`, where it used to change it for every other script. Your own objects and error classes
  work as before.
- *A 2D project set to the high-definition renderer draws with the standard one*, and says so.
  The high-definition renderer can't draw a 2D camera, so such a game used to show only sky.
- *The browser version matches the desktop* (in testing). It runs physics with the same maths as the desktop
  engine, and sprites, the character controller, teleporting and sound work as they do on the desktop (sound
  starts after your first click or key press, as browsers require).
- *Getting ready for multiplayer.* Multiplayer isn't in this build yet, but the rules scripts will run under are
  settled: wait with `ctx.time.after` instead of `async`, write `Math.pow(x, y)` instead of the exponent operator, and don't recurse
  more than 256 calls deep. Writing scripts this way now means they will be ready.

Check before you update: a character's `land`, `jump`, `moving` and `idle` events now reach only that
character's own behaviours. To hear every character's, subscribe with `ctx.events.on(name, handler, { every: true })`.

## Known limitations

- **Windows only, x64.** The launcher, the samples and this guide are Windows only, and exported games are Windows `.exe` files (the editor's Export panel also offers Linux and Web targets, not covered here). A developer build for Linux exists ([On Linux](#on-linux)).
- **Invitation only**: you need an invite to sign in.
- **Unsigned for now**: "Windows protected your PC" on install is expected (More info, then Run anyway).
- **No runtime file access yet**: a game cannot read or write arbitrary files while it runs.
- **The 2D editor is new**: expect rough edges, and please report them.

## Where the logs and crash files are

- Launcher log: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus\logs\argus-hub.log`
- Editor log: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus\logs\argus-editor.log`
- Editor crash reports: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus\crashes\` (the newest twenty)
- An exported game's crash reports: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\argus-export\<payload id>\crashes\`
- Bug reports waiting to be sent: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus\reports\outbox\`
- The AI tools server's log: `<project>\.argus\logs\argus-agent.log`

More detail for your AI: `sdk\docs\AGENT.md` in the engine folder (everything the agent interface does).

## Removing Talos

Close the launcher and any editor, then Windows **Settings ▸ Apps**, then **Talos Launcher ▸ Uninstall**. It removes the launcher, every engine version it installed, its downloads, the launcher's settings and your sign-in on this PC. It keeps your projects, your games' saves, logs and crash reports (`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Argus`) and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\argus-export`: delete those folders yourself if you want them gone. Your Talos account isn't touched.

## On Linux

Not part of the first hour above, and not offered with an ordinary invite: the Linux build is for developers who ask for it. It is one archive, `argus-<version>-linux-x64.tar.xz`, with the engine, the editor and the agent server; it has no launcher and no samples. Nothing needs root.

1. Check and unpack it: `sha256sum` on the archive must print the SHA-256 that came with it; then `tar -xf argus-<version>-linux-x64.tar.xz` and `cd` into the folder.
2. Run `./install.sh`. It puts the engine in `~/.local/share/argus/engines/<version>/` and links `argus`, `argus-editor` and `argus-agent` into `~/.local/bin`. If it says `~/.local/bin` is not on your PATH, add it and open a new terminal.
3. Check it: `argus --info` (the version and what it was built with) and `argus --help`, `argus-editor --help`, `argus-agent --help` all print and exit 0.
4. Start the editor with `argus-editor`, or `argus-editor <project folder>`. It needs a display: a Wayland or X11 desktop (under WSL, WSLg). With no display it exits and says so; it has no offscreen mode.

Keep the engine folder whole. The editor is one of several programs in `~/.local/share/argus/engines/<version>/`: next to it in `bin/` is the workspace service it starts for every project, and beside `bin/` is `sdk/`, which builds your TypeScript behaviours. The editor looks for both in its own folder, also when you start it through the `argus-editor` link, so run it as installed and don't copy `bin/argus-editor` (or `bin/` alone) somewhere else.

What else it needs:

- A Vulkan driver for your graphics card (your GPU vendor's, or `mesa-vulkan-drivers`). Under WSL there is often none, and the engine draws on the CPU, slowly.
- Under X11 (or Xvfb, or WSLg with `WAYLAND_DISPLAY` unset), the editor needs `sudo apt install libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxcb-xkb1`; without them it stops as it opens its window. Wayland does not need them.
- For sound, ALSA (`libasound2t64` on Ubuntu 24.04), and under WSLg also `libasound2-plugins`. With no sound device it plays silent and says so.

Projects and samples on Linux:

- New projects come from the editor (File, then New project) or from your AI (`project.create`), with the same templates as on Windows.
- The samples (Kart Starter, Hop Lane and the others) come only from the Windows Launcher today. A sample installed on Windows is an ordinary project folder: copy the whole folder into your Linux home and open it. A project on a Windows drive (`/mnt/c/...`) is refused by the Linux editor.
- Connect your AI as above with the Linux agent: `argus-agent setup --project .` in the project folder. Its Play tools use the running editor; on a machine with no display your AI can still Play, because starting the editor there starts the project without its window.

If it doesn't start:

- "there is no workspace service to start" (it names the places it looked), or a warning that starts "no authoring SDK": the editor was run from somewhere other than its installed folder. Start it with `argus-editor` after `./install.sh`, or run `~/.local/share/argus/engines/<version>/bin/argus-editor`. If you keep the engine somewhere else on purpose, set `ARGUS_WORKSPACE_SERVICE` to its `bin/argus-workspace-service` and `ARGUS_SDK` to its `sdk` folder.
- The editor stops as its window opens, or says no display is set: under X11 install the two libraries in "What else it needs" above, or use a Wayland desktop. Under WSL you need WSLg; on a machine with no display at all the editor can't run, but `argus run` can, and your AI can still check and Play the project.
- A project or sample on a Windows drive (`/mnt/c/...`) is refused, because its workspace belongs to Windows. Copy the whole project folder into your Linux home and open it from there.

Logs are in `~/.local/state/argus/logs/`, crash reports in `~/.local/state/argus/crashes/`. To uninstall, run `uninstall.sh` in the engine folder; it leaves your projects, logs, saves and `~/.cache/argus`.

