Vvvv Startup

Covers launching vvvv gamma from the command line or programmatically -- normal startup, opening specific .vl patches, command-line arguments, package reposi...

Security Scan

This is an instruction-only helper for launching and locating vvvv gamma; its requests and guidance are consistent with that purpose and it doesn't ask for credentials or install software.

Purpose & Capability

Name and description match the content: the skill documents CLI arguments, filesystem locations, package-repo flags, and methods to locate an installed vvvv gamma. Nothing requested (no env vars, no installs) is extraneous to this goal.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md explicitly instructs reading Windows registry uninstall keys and scanning Program Files / user folders to find vvvv installations and describes exactly which files/paths to use. Those actions are directly relevant to locating and launching vvvv; there is no unrelated file access or data-exfiltration behavior described.

Install Mechanism

No install spec or bundled code is present (instruction-only), so nothing will be downloaded or written to disk by the skill itself.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables or credentials and its instructions do not reference secrets or external services. It asks to read common local paths and registry keys which are appropriate for finding a local installation.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request permanent presence or special privileges. It does instruct operations (filesystem/registry reads) that require local agent permission when invoked, which is expected for this use case.

Assessment

This is an instruction-only, Windows-focused helper for starting and locating vvvv gamma. It will guide an agent to read Program Files, %LOCALAPPDATA%/%USERPROFILE% locations and the HKLM Uninstall registry keys to find InstallLocation — these reads are expected for the stated purpose. There are no network calls, downloads, or credential requests. If you’re comfortable allowing an agent to examine your local vvvv installation paths and registry (read-only), this skill is coherent; if you prefer to avoid any registry/filesystem access, do not install or invoke it. Also note this targets Windows paths (C:\Program Files, HKLM), so behavior is OS-specific.

Launching vvvv gamma

Filesystem Paths

Location	Path
Install directory	C:\Program Files\vvvv\vvvv_gamma_X.Y-win-x64\
User data (AppData)	%LOCALAPPDATA%\vvvv\gamma\
Documents root	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\
Sketches	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\Sketches
Exports	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\Exports
User packages	%LOCALAPPDATA%\vvvv\gamma\nugets
Log file (when enabled)	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\vvvv\gamma\vvvv.log

Preview builds use gamma-preview instead of gamma in the above paths.

Normal Launch

# Launch vvvv (opens with default empty patch)
"C:\Program Files\vvvv\vvvv_gamma_7.0-win-x64\vvvv.exe"

# Open a specific patch
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl

# Open multiple files
vvvv.exe --open "FileA.vl;FileB.vl"

Package Repositories and Editable Packages

These two arguments work together and are the most important for development:

• --package-repositories tells vvvv where to look for packages. Provide the parent folder of each package (the folder containing the package directory, not the package directory itself).
• --editable-packages tells vvvv which packages from those repositories to load from source instead of pre-compiled cache (read-only). Glob patterns are supported.

You must use both together when working on a package from source:

# Given this folder structure:
#   D:\Projects\
#     VL.MyLib\           <-- the package
#       VL.MyLib.vl
#     VL.MyOtherLib\      <-- another package
#       VL.MyOtherLib.vl

# The parent folder "D:\Projects" is the package repository
vvvv.exe --package-repositories "D:\Projects" --editable-packages "VL.MyLib*" --debug

# Multiple repositories (semi-colon separated)
vvvv.exe --package-repositories "D:\Projects;D:\SharedLibs" --editable-packages "VL.MyLib*;VL.SharedUtils" --debug

# Open a specific help patch for testing
vvvv.exe --package-repositories "D:\Projects" --editable-packages "VL.MyLib*" -o "D:\Projects\VL.MyLib\help\HowTo Use Feature.vl" --debug

Without --package-repositories, vvvv won't find your local package sources, and --editable-packages will have no effect.

Common Argument Combinations

# Development: debug symbols + allow multiple instances
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl --debug --allowmultiple

# Troubleshooting: skip cache, enable logging
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl --nocache --log

# Minimal startup: no extensions, no backend (fast launch for patch editing)
vvvv.exe --noextensions --disable-backend

# Paused on startup (runtime won't start until you press play)
vvvv.exe MyProject.vl --stoppedonstartup

# Skip splash screen
vvvv.exe --no-splash

For the complete argument reference, see cli-reference.md.

Detecting vvvv Installations

To find vvvv programmatically:

1. Windows Registry: Enumerate HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for subkeys starting with vvvv_gamma_. Read the InstallLocation value.
2. Default path: Scan C:\Program Files\vvvv\ for directories matching vvvv_gamma_*.
3. Version parsing: Extract version from directory name format vvvv_gamma_MAJOR.MINOR[-PREVIEW-HASH-PLATFORM].
4. Filtering: Exclude -beta, -alpha, -rc, -test, -dev, etc. variants if not explicitly requested.
5. Selection: Sort by major DESC, minor DESC, preview number DESC. Pick the latest and ask the user if that or another one should be used.

The executable is at <install-dir>\vvvv.exe.