Get started

Bring up the workstation

1. Have Docker running: Docker Engine on Linux, or Docker Desktop on macOS or on Windows with WSL2.
2. Clone Basalt and start it. Images are pulled the first time; startup prints the roster with the ports each service publishes.
   $ git clone https://github.com/genworks/basalt

   $ cd basalt && ./basalt up
3. Open the editing console. When the deployment is up it adds a shell command, rmacs, that attaches a terminal Emacs to the running editing console, with the Gendl engines reachable over SLIME from inside it.
4. Connect an agent, if you use one. Startup writes MCP client configurations for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex and Grok, covering every service in the deployment.

Readymacs, the editing console, also runs on its own, as a standalone container or directly on your host.

Learn the language

The training material at genworks.dev starts from the first define-object and works up. The reference documents every built-in object and function. The demos run live in the browser, with their source.

Commercial licensing

Genworks GDL Professional and Enterprise are licensed per seat; the terms are on the Licensing page. Closed-source distribution of a Gendl application is covered by the royalty program.