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name: zo-space description: > Comprehensive guide for building and managing zo.space routes (pages and APIs). Use this skill whenever creating, editing, or debugging zo.space routes. Covers architecture, available packages, patterns, limitations, and gotchas. compatibility: Created for Zo Computer metadata: author: skeletorjs version: "1.0" category: Community

zo.space Development Guide

Read this skill before creating or editing any zo.space route. For deeper reference on specific topics, read the files in references/.

Architecture Overview

zo.space is a per-user web presence at {handle}.zo.space. It runs:

• Runtime: Bun 1.2.x
• Server framework: Hono (all HTTP routing)
• Frontend: React 19 + Vite 7 (SPA with client-side routing via react-router-dom)
• Styling: Tailwind CSS 4 with @tailwindcss/vite plugin + tw-animate-css
• Icons: lucide-react and @tabler/icons-react are both available

Routes are NOT files in the user's workspace. They exist only in the space system at /__substrate/space/routes/. Manage them exclusively through the space tools.

Tools

Tool	Purpose
list_space_routes()	List all routes (paths, types, visibility)
get_space_route(path)	Get a route's full source code
update_space_route(path, route_type, code, public)	Create or update a route
delete_space_route(path)	Delete a route
list_space_assets()	List uploaded static assets
update_space_asset(source_file, asset_path)	Upload a workspace file as a static asset
delete_space_asset(asset_path)	Delete an asset
get_space_errors()	Check for build/runtime errors

Route Types

Page Routes (route_type="page")

React/TSX components rendered client-side. Default export must be a React component.

import { useState } from "react";
import { Globe } from "lucide-react";

export default function MyPage() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  return (
    <div className="min-h-screen bg-background text-foreground p-8">
      <Globe className="w-8 h-8 text-primary" />
      <h1 className="text-3xl font-bold">Hello</h1>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(c => c + 1)} className="mt-4 px-4 py-2 bg-primary text-primary-foreground rounded-lg">
        Clicked {count} times
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

Visibility:

• public=false (default): requires auth (only the user can see it)
• public=true: anyone can view

Pages are compiled by Vite into the SPA bundle. They run in BrowserRouter, wrapped in ErrorBoundary and Suspense.

API Routes (route_type="api")

Hono handler functions. Default export must be a function that takes a Hono Context and returns a Response.

import type { Context } from "hono";
export default async (c: Context) => {
  return c.json({ message: "Hello from the API" });
};

API routes are always public regardless of the public parameter.

The handler receives ALL HTTP methods through app.all(). Check c.req.method to handle different methods:

import type { Context } from "hono";
export default async (c: Context) => {
  if (c.req.method === "GET") {
    return c.json({ items: [] });
  }
  if (c.req.method === "POST") {
    const body = await c.req.json();
    return c.json({ created: true });
  }
  return c.json({ error: "Method not allowed" }, 405);
};

How the Build Pipeline Works

When you call update_space_route():

1. The route code is written to /__substrate/space/routes/api/{name}.ts or /__substrate/space/routes/pages/{name}.tsx
2. An index file is regenerated that imports all routes
3. For pages: vite build runs, compiling all page routes into the SPA bundle at /__substrate/space/dist/
4. For APIs: routes are dynamically imported by the Hono server at startup
5. The zo-space supervisor service is restarted

This means:

• Page route updates trigger a full Vite rebuild. This takes a few seconds.
• All page routes are compiled together. A syntax error in one page can break all pages.
• API routes are loaded via dynamic import. An error in one API route won't break others.

Path-to-filename mapping:

• / becomes _home
• /hello becomes hello
• /api/hello becomes api-hello
• /users/list becomes users-list

Reserved routes that cannot be overwritten:

• /api/_health (health check)
• /api/_error (client-side error reporting)

Available Packages

These are pre-installed and available without any extra setup:

Server-side (API routes):

Package	Version	Notes
hono	^4.10.x	Web framework. Import Context type from "hono"
stripe	^17.7.x	Stripe SDK for payment processing
marked	^17.0.x	Markdown parser
zod	^4.1.x	Schema validation

API routes also have access to:

• All Bun APIs: Bun.spawn(), Bun.file(), Bun.write(), Bun.serve(), etc.
• Node.js built-ins: node:fs, node:path, node:child_process, etc.
• process.env: All environment variables including secrets from Settings > Advanced
• File system: Full read/write access to /home/workspace and the rest of the system
• Shell commands: Via Bun.spawn() -- can run duckdb, python, etc.
• Network: Can make outbound HTTP requests via fetch()
• ZO_CLIENT_IDENTITY_TOKEN: For calling the Zo API (https://api.zo.computer/zo/ask)

Client-side (page routes):

Package	Use
react / react-dom	^19.2.x
react-router-dom	^7.9.x -- client-side routing
lucide-react	^0.562.x -- icons
@tabler/icons-react	^3.35.x -- icons
recharts	^3.6.x -- charts and data viz
@tanstack/react-table	^8.21.x -- table component
@dnd-kit/*	Drag and drop
class-variance-authority	Variant styling utility
clsx + tailwind-merge	Class name utilities
sonner	Toast notifications
vaul	Drawer component
reveal.js	^5.2.x -- presentations
next-themes	Theme switching (dark/light/system)
@tailwindcss/typography	Prose styling for rendered content

Radix UI Primitives (via shadcn/ui pattern):

avatar, checkbox, dialog, dropdown-menu, label, select, separator, slot, tabs, toggle, toggle-group, tooltip

Note: Only card and chart shadcn components are pre-built in src/components/ui/. For other Radix primitives, import directly from @radix-ui/react-*.

Styling

Tailwind CSS 4

Tailwind 4 uses CSS-first configuration. The theme is defined in /__substrate/space/src/styles.css using CSS variables and @theme inline.

Key semantic color classes (use these, not raw colors):

• bg-background / text-foreground -- main page colors
• bg-card / text-card-foreground -- card surfaces
• bg-primary / text-primary-foreground -- primary actions
• bg-secondary / text-secondary-foreground -- secondary elements
• bg-muted / text-muted-foreground -- subdued content
• bg-accent / text-accent-foreground -- accents
• bg-destructive -- destructive/error actions
• border-border -- standard border color
• bg-input -- input backgrounds
• ring-ring -- focus rings

Chart colors: text-chart-1 through text-chart-5

Dark mode is class-based (.dark on <html>). The ThemeProvider handles this automatically. All semantic color tokens have dark mode variants defined.

Border radius uses --radius variable: rounded-sm, rounded-md, rounded-lg, rounded-xl.

tw-animate-css

Animation utilities are available. The @import "tw-animate-css" is already included.

@tailwindcss/typography

The prose class is available for rendering rich text/markdown content:

<div className="prose dark:prose-invert">
  {/* rendered markdown here */}
</div>

Patterns and Best Practices

Fetching data from API routes in pages

Pages can call API routes on the same domain using relative URLs:

const [data, setData] = useState(null);
useEffect(() => {
  fetch("/api/my-endpoint")
    .then(r => r.json())
    .then(setData);
}, []);

Querying DuckDB from API routes

async function queryDb(sql: string): Promise<any[]> {
  const proc = Bun.spawn(["duckdb", "/home/workspace/Data/tasks.db", "-json", "-c", sql], {
    stdout: "pipe",
    stderr: "pipe",
  });
  const stdout = await new Response(proc.stdout).text();
  const stderr = await new Response(proc.stderr).text();
  await proc.exited;
  if (proc.exitCode !== 0) throw new Error(stderr);
  return JSON.parse(stdout || "[]");
}

Calling the Zo API from API routes

const token = process.env.ZO_CLIENT_IDENTITY_TOKEN;
const response = await fetch("https://api.zo.computer/zo/ask", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "authorization": token,
    "content-type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ input: "Your prompt here" }),
});
const result = await response.json();

Using Stripe webhooks

The stripe package is pre-installed. Use process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY and process.env.STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET from Settings > Advanced secrets.

Reading workspace files from API routes

const file = Bun.file("/home/workspace/path/to/file.json");
const content = await file.json();

Using static assets

1. Upload from workspace: update_space_asset("/home/workspace/image.png", "/images/hero.png")
2. Reference in pages: <img src="/images/hero.png" />

Assets are served from /__substrate/space/assets/ and are always public.

Gotchas and Limitations

Build failures break all pages

A syntax error in any page route will cause the Vite build to fail, breaking ALL pages. API routes are more resilient since they're imported individually. Always check get_space_errors() after updating page routes.

No hot reload

Route updates require a full rebuild + server restart. The server is managed by supervisord as zo-space.

API routes get ALL methods

Handlers are registered with app.all(), not method-specific routes. You must check c.req.method yourself if you want to restrict methods.

No shared state between API routes

Each API route file is a standalone module. There's no shared in-memory state between routes (except through file system, databases, or env vars). The server does maintain module-level state within a single route between requests.

Server crash loop

The zo-space server can enter a crash loop if it fails to start (e.g., port conflict, bad route code). Check /dev/shm/zo-space.log and /dev/shm/zo-space_err.log for diagnostics. The supervisor will keep trying to restart it.

Page routes are single-file

Each page route is one TSX file. You can't split a page into multiple component files. Put all components inline in the same file, or fetch shared data from API routes.

No custom npm packages in routes

You can only use packages already installed in /__substrate/space/node_modules/. You cannot add new npm dependencies via route code. Work with what's available or implement logic inline.

import.meta.env.VITE_HANDLE in pages

To get the user's handle in page routes, use import.meta.env.VITE_HANDLE.

process.env only works server-side

Environment variables via process.env are only available in API routes, not in page routes. For pages, use import.meta.env.VITE_* variables.

No path aliases in routes

The @/ alias resolves to /__substrate/space/src/. Routes live in /__substrate/space/routes/. Importing from @/components/ui/card works but it's reaching into the SPA source. Use it for the pre-built shadcn components, but don't rely on it for custom code.

Error reporting

• Build errors: written to /__substrate/space/.errors/_build.json
• Runtime errors: written to /__substrate/space/.errors/{route}.json
• Client errors: posted to /api/_error by the ErrorBoundary
• All retrievable via get_space_errors()

Proxy logs

Request logs are at /dev/shm/zosite-3099-proxy.log. Server logs at /dev/shm/zo-space.log.

Debugging Workflow

1. get_space_errors() -- check for build or runtime errors
2. Read /dev/shm/zo-space.log for server output
3. Read /dev/shm/zo-space_err.log for crash/restart info
4. Read /dev/shm/zosite-3099-proxy.log for HTTP request logs
5. If server is in crash loop, check error logs and fix the offending route
6. After fixing, the supervisor will automatically restart the server